Double Crochet Shell Granny Stitch Hat

[lovecraftri]

Hello my friends,

I finished  R2 of the Columbia crochet hat, I'm miffed by the instructions for round  3 forward.  It appears to be so simple. Please walk me  through exactly what is meant by the following: "....Repeat Round 2  six more times, working an additional dc sh between increase points until you have 5 dc sh between increase points, or for 6 rounds - 160 sts, 40 dc sh...."

Thank you.

[nancybanta]

Please either post a link to the pattern or write out round 2.  

 

When an instruction refers to the previous row, you're only guessing where to do things unless you know what that row says.  Looking at the pattern instructions would be best though.

[magiccrochetfan]

It's the Columbia Beret, right?  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-columbia-beret

 

It's increasing like a granny square.  You set up the 5 inc points in rd 2, the spots where you did 2 shells in one ch sp.  now from round 3 on, you continue the incs at those spots and also in the ch sps between the incs, you do a dc sh.  The photo is really easier to understand than the written words.  

[magiccrochetfan]

Basically you are making a granny pentagon, tutorial here http://www.crochetcabana.com/html/round_grannyshapes.html#pentagon

[Granny Square]

In reading a lot of granny square questions here from people who have never done them before, I have the impression that the issue is often not being able to "see the corners".  

 

In your case for a pentagon, you have 5 corners.  Maybe you could mark them - I like to use bobby pins for markers, you could use paper clips or safety pins too but they might be snaggier.  

 

What happens is that in each row, the corners build up on top of each other, and 1 dc grouping -- in your pattern, they are called a 'dc sh' (double crochet shell) -- is added to each 'side' between the corners.  So each round is a corner, a straight side that is 1 shell longer than the row below, a corner, and so on.

 

If you look at the bottom photo of your pattern, it shows the starting point.  The center looks like a 5 petal flower, this is the setup round. Round 2 has 2 DC Shells with a chain between 'sprouting' out of each of the chain-1 spaces in the setup round - these 2 shells together are the 5 traditional 'granny' corners .  

 

Travel up 1 more round, there are granny corners sprouting out of the corners below, and another single shell added between them.

 

I hope this makes sense--it's a lot simpler than all these words, really.