Need Help with Single Crochet Graph Pattern

[brenna]

Hi I am trying to do a graph of Elvis and am doing it in single crochet. The graph says to do it from the top down. The graph has a row count that a lady was gracious  enough to do for me. Here is my problem I was told to do the row count from right to left on odd rows and left to right on even rows. Well this is the second graph I have tried to do and it just does not look like the graph at all. Either the row count is wrong or I was told to do the row count the wrong way. This graph is done in  Moez which is doing it from right to left and with a large Moez hook which you put the stitches on the hook in row one and take them off on row two. I prefer doing it in single crochet because it looks so simple to do that way. Is there anyone who has done graphs with single crochet that can help me out with this. I have just spent hours and hours trying to do two different graphs and I just cannot afford to spend anymore time on this if it is being done wrong. Any help with this would really be appreciated. I cannot find anyone who can tell me anything about single crochet graphs so sure would love to hear from someone who has done this before.

 

Thanks

Brenna

[nancybanta]

Brenna - I have never, ever done a graph afghan from the top down.  I have always worked it from the bottom up.

 

I also just use tunesian crochet so I read the graph the same way for each row.

 

So for you doing single crochet - start at the bottom.  Read the first row from right to left, the next row from left to right (to compensate for you turning your work) and just keep alternating rows right to left and left to right.

 

I never trust the row counts - I always work from the graph.  Depending on who did the row counts (and lots of different ladies do them on the MoEZ site - someone even wrote some program to do the counts - I just don't trust that someone is counting properly.  Maybe it goes back to my counted cross stitch days.

 

You are truly better off working from the graph itself.

[brenna]

Thanks for all of the information Nancy I really appreciate it. Unfortunately for me I trusted the row count and there lies my problem. Maybe this lady did not know that the graph was worked from the top down when she did the count. Now I am ripping out the whole thing and I am going to do the count myself from the bottom up. I have spent hours and hours on this and this is the second graph I have tried so I have learned my lesson and will do the row count myself as I go along. Is that how you do it row by row or do you do the count and then start? I am new at this and learning as I go because no one seems to want to share their knowledge with me. Thanks again for helping me I really appreciate it.

 

Brenna

[nancybanta]

What I do is go row by row and count as I go.  Say for instance - the graph is a circle so each row of the circle is wider than the one before.  The very first row I might count 10 stiches of background color, 10 stitches for the circle, 10 stitches for the background.

 

After the first row, I basically just look at the graph - I don't count every single row.  You can see that the circle is one stitch bigger on each side so I crochet one less of the background and one more of the circle. 

 

As I said, I used to do counted cross stitch for a long time so I'm used to doing it that way.  To me counting an entire pattern and then crocheting it is a waste of time AND there is so much room for error because = let's face it - don't you go bleary eyed when you're trying to count all those little squares?!!?

 

A highlighter to mark off those rows you've crocheted is a must!!!

 

I have done many, many afghans just doing the first row and then working from that and I've done complicated afghans.  This is one I did last year for my sister.  I did not count every single row - I did the first row - obviously when I hit the flowers I had to count at least one row of that - but always as I went - count one flower, crochet one flower - but after that, I worked off of the row below.

 

[Granny Square]

I don't mark off each row, but I put a tic mark at the end of each row I complete.

 

Example, if the first row is worked right to left, I put a tic mark on the left side when done.  Row 2, worked left to right, a tic mark goes on the right side when I'm done.  This way, there's no question where I left off, or which direction I need to work the next row if I've put it down for a few days. 

 

Another thing I do is put a ruler covering the stitches ABOVE the row I'm working on.  This way, I'm looking at the pattern only from the current row and below, which matches the progress of my work, which helps considerably to keep me oriented.

 

As Nancy said, after the first row or so you only need to count in short bursts, the current row in relation to the row(s) below.