Crocheting down side of blanket.

[Christy.lee1989]

I have finished a blanket, and now I want to go around the entire thing and put a border around it. But the only thing is, the side that doesn't have the stitches there, hope u know what I mean, I don't really know how to crochet into the side of a stitch. It's made of dc. Usually I just goes as to where to put it but I want to learn he real way. I looked at videos on YouTube but I don't think I worded it right, not sure how to put it, but if someone could help me if u can understand me, I would love it!

[magiccrochetfan]

Actually I think guessing is the "real way"   Most of the time we really have to improvise on this.  So much depends on individual gauge, the yarn used, etc.  Some people can do 3 sts into each dc, some only do 2, some alternate between 2 and 3.  One thing that really help is to mark the edge every X number of inches, and put the same number of sts between each set of markers; you can count stitches on the top edge and see how many sts you have per inch there, and go by that.  you also have a choice whether to sttich over the dc, which creates a hole, or to work into the side of the dc which can be hard to do evenly.  

 

And don't forget, at the corners you ned extra sts so the corner will lay flat.  

[Galathiel]

Interesting topic for future reference.   If someone had some visual examples that would help (at least me).  I know on my first afghan, it didn't look great and I ended up taking it out.  Would love to see some of the experts' stitches up close.

[Christy.lee1989]

Ok. I was kinda hoping that there was a way to do it that I wasn't thinking about. Hah. I hate going over the wholeq stitch cause I don't really like the big hole it creates so I usually work into the side and it's kinda difficult to do. But thanks or answering.

[greyhoundgrandma]

Another thing to watch for...if the side stitches aren't lying flat, you are probably putting to many in...if they are stretched, you probably need to put more stitches in the space. You are generally looking for the main afghan piece and the side stitches to lie flat with even tension.

[Granny Square]

^Agree with all of the above.

 

What I tend to do for DCs along the side is put 1 border stitch around the post of the DC, and 1 into the spot where you inserted the hook to make 1 DC over another when you were working on the blanket, if that makes sense.  It's sort of a tight spot.

 

This works (and lays flat) for my personal tension; it makes a little gap on the sides, but it's consistent and I consider this to be a design feature not a problem.

 

Also...if I'm making a thing in color A and want to edge it in color B, I make a base edging round in color A, then the next round(s) in color B.  Reason is, it looks much neater because the contrast color is going into tops of stitches all the way around.  The first edging round will always look more jagged on the sides, which you don't notice if it's all the same color.