Turning popcorn stitch into words.

[Mary Shultz]

I have recently purchased a pattern for an afghan that has words on it made with popcorn stitches. It is a beautiful pattern by Jody Pyott. I think with the wedding and the new baby patterns it would be great to add names and dates. I just don't know how to figure the stitches. If anyone could possibly help I would be very grateful.

[Granny Square]

What a sweet baby blanket!

 

There are a lot of charted alphabet patterns in different fonts that you can find on the internet.  There are a bunch at Antique Pattern Library, do a search on "alphabet" (ctrl+f in Windows).  Some are flowery and others are more plain for stitching.

 

You will want to pick one where the stitch height is an odd number.  Count the number of bumps and not-bumps in height and width of your pattern; I believe your pattern has a puff or popcorn in every other stitch and row, so you'd need an odd number to have a bump at the top and bottom of the letter. 

 

You'll need some graph paper (you can download blank graph paper) to plot out your message.  If you want to center it, mark the center grid and count the letters for placement of the center letter or space of each line; 1 space between letters in a word and 3 spaces between words works nicely.

[magiccrochetfan]

Hi, Mfshultz, welcome to the ville

 

Good morning, GrannySquare 

 

Have you started working on the pattern yet?  I would make a piece or 2, to see how the letters are set up within the rectangles.  then proceed with making graphs so the spacing would be the same.

 

Also I would look at the pattern's comments and posts on ravelry.  the designer has made several comments recently re counting stitches and other tips.  and thre may be helpful notes in the projects.  Some people have had difficulty understanding the pattern.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/breath-baby-blanket

[Mary Shultz]

What a sweet baby blanket!

 

There are a lot of charted alphabet patterns in different fonts that you can find on the internet.  There are a bunch at Antique Pattern Library, do a search on "alphabet" (ctrl+f in Windows).  Some are flowery and others are more plain for stitching.

 

You will want to pick one where the stitch height is an odd number.  Count the number of bumps and not-bumps in height and width of your pattern; I believe your pattern has a puff or popcorn in every other stitch and row, so you'd need an odd number to have a bump at the top and bottom of the letter. 

 

You'll need some graph paper (you can download blank graph paper) to plot out your message.  If you want to center it, mark the center grid and count the letters for placement of the center letter or space of each line; 1 space between letters in a word and 3 spaces between words works nicely.

Thank you I am going to try this.

[Granny Square]

Hi Magic!  

 

Good point, I was just thinking about writing on a big blanket 'page' and forgetting about the rectangles.  I hope the pattern is written as a chart (grid) and not just words, that would make it easier to re-plot.

 

I was going to suggest that you could try to use the same font (and design missing letters & numbers yourself) as the pattern for your message, but it doesn't have caps, so you'd probably need a new font that included these.  You might have to choose a taller font to accommodate the caps.  If you choose a too-small font, especially with the every-other-row bumps, it may be hard to read.

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

HI Kathy & GS!  GS you were just posting again as I was typing.  LOL

 

I just finished this type of blanket.  I got mine from Nancy Liggins on ravelry.  She has 118 designs.  Quite a few of them have places for names.  Her designs are only $5 and she charges $5 for personalizing.  However, the graph that I got had so many words, that it would be easy to figure out the graph for any word/name that I wanted and have it be the same size and font.  Then it's just a matter of spacing. 

 

Her graph was super simple to use, because she has the spacing typed in between the baubles.  They look like popcorn stitches, but are made like baubles.  For popcorn, you drop the last loop, insert your hook in the first and last loop and do a chain to pull it together.  For a bauble, it's more doing a dc4tog in the same stitch.  Also, GS is right, the baubles are spaced at least 1 stitch and 1 row apart. The rows alternate between just sc and a combination of sc and baubles.

 

The bottom line, is that if you can't find a font or figure out the lettering from what you have already, you could either contact her and she may do just the letters you want for $5 or you can buy one of her patterns that have a lot of words and use the lettering from that graph.

Edited September 15, 2016 by redrosesdz

[Granny Square]

Hi Redroses!   Those are awesome, and some wedding ones in there too.  

[redrosesdz]

The wedding one I just finished is her design. I was drooling over her designs for quite a while just waiting for an excuse. Lol

[Mom4dragons]

what size graph paper do you guys use to create your own project? I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to graph what i created and have no idea where to start.  Help. Me. Lol

[Granny Square]

So you have stitched up something already, and want to create a graph for it? 

Is this just for you, or are you wanting to publish it?  For publishing you'd probably want a computer-generated graph for clarity.  I use a spreadsheet program, a whole lot easier to copy/paste repetitive areas, or copy and create a mirror image with a click or 2.  (I'm not a designer, just fiddle with pattern ideas or modifications for myself).

If this is just for you, and you are trying to plot a whole blanket, which is not a repetitive design, and would rather use paper than a computer, you are going to need some really tiny graph paper, not the usual 4 or 5 grids per inch stuff that you will find at Walmart or wherever.  If you think about it, that's not an unusual gauge for your actual crocheted SC stitch using worsted weight yarn, so you'd have to past together sheets of paper that will end up the size of your blanket.

Rather than list them here, google 'graph programs for crochet', there are a bunch of offerings - I'm not familiar with any so can't recommend one over another.  Or, if you know how to use a spreadsheet but don't have Excel at home, Office Libre and Open Office are free.  I have dabbled a bit with Open Office, it looks like an older version of Excel so is intuitive.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Granny Square