Design getting carried away

[VikingRunnerGirl]

I started designing a graph-ghan with a space walking astronaut and the space shuttle, inspired by my little boy's current fascination with all things rocket-y. I'm using a cross-stitch designing program and kept boosting the stitch width until I was happy with the detail level, but didn't calculate yet how big it would turn out. Just had sort of a vague guesstimate in my head based on a graphed square I did last month.

 

Well, I finally sat down and did the calculations... and at the yarn weight/hook size I assumed I'd be using... the afghan was going to be 9 feet wide. And the design is longer than it is wide.

 

I think I may be bumping down a notch or two on the yarn weight. And I'd been seriously considering seeing what it would look like if I made the pattern size bigger... you know, try to get that NASA logo nice and clear on the shuttle and all... nope! Don't think so!

 

(Though I did just trim the pattern edges down a lot; there was a lot of unnecessary negative space.... Hmmm... maybe if I go back and edit the edges of the source picture, and then re-import it with a wider stitch count... )

[FrLopLady]

Can't wait to see the finished project~

[TheKnottyMale]

Try searching YouTube for some helpful videos. I'll bet that you would probably find quite a few.

 

Good Luck!

[VikingRunnerGirl]

I watched Carol Ventura's flat tapestry crochet video tonight, and that combined with the fact I'm looking at a craft supply buying moratorium for the near future means it's probably going to be a while before this gets done. I mean, I'm going to have to practice left-handed crocheting for a while before I can start on this, after all. Although if I did just dive in, I'd probably get real good at it real fast!

[MonkeyDad]

I do flat tapestry crochet quite a bit and I found that doing reverse crochet was easier for me to pick up than trying to crochet left-handed. I think my left hand is all thumbs!

[VikingRunnerGirl]

I just can't figure out how to go back across once you've finished a reverse sc row! None of the instructions I found continued on past just completing the reverse sc, and when I tried it myself it didn't look like it was going to be at all intuitive as far as figuring out where in the stitch the hook should go. I tried the left-handed next, and it really wasn't too bad! I go pretty slow, and I have to choke up on the hook a lot more - but then, I was pretty slow with the reverse sc, too, since it was an unfamiliar movement.

[Granny Square]

Were you using the reverse sc which is also known as the crab stitch?  The standard rsc is an edge stitch and doesn't create an edge that is meant to be crocheted into. 

 

Carol Ventura's video's second technique (working flat--starts at 7 min. into the video) is quite a bit like purling in knitting. 

 

Mini knitting lesson: 

The knit stitch is a mirror image of the purl stitch; the front of a purl looks like the back of a knit, and vice versa. 

Knit stitches are made holding the yarn in the back, poking the needle front to back (like we do in right handed crochet )

Purl stitches are made holding the yarn in the front, poking the needle back to front.

 

In Carol's video, she turns the work, makes scs in the normal (for hight handers) left to right direction, but she's inserting the hook into the work differently--like purling--from back to front instead of front to back.  These stitches have normal edges that can be crocheted into in the next row.

[VikingRunnerGirl]

I'll have to look at the video again. That makes a lot of sense.

 

ETA: Oh! I think I do remember her going over that! I don't remember what she said, I think because I was already messing around with the off hand version. I just remember her saying "This is the method that most of my students like, talk talk talk." So I still have to look at the video again.

 

The finished fabric when switching hands did make me think of knitting! It's like the difference between stockinette and garter. I love how smooth it comes out!