What am I doing wrong. Joining continuous rows for hat?

[Ashley Neville]

Iam somewhat of a newbie. I have always had troubles with joining my rows together in anything I have crocheted..specifically in my current project I am doing a simple beanie. Started with a magic circle, hdc and increased as I went along but the seam seams to bump outwards. I had the normal seam stick out like a sore thumb and I searched youtube on how to hide the seam and it was success but the seam area still stuck out like a bump in the hat. I provided a picture.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong??

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

I'm not sure what you mean, because it looks normal to me.  It's very even and uniform.  I think you did a great job!

 

I'm guessing that you don't like the look of hdc rows.  Hdc is a thicker stitch, so the definition from row to row is more apparent.  There are 3 things that you can try that will change the look.

 

1. Normally for rounds you go around and around.  Instead you can turn at the end of each round, like you do a flat project.  When you read the end of a round, slip stitch to the beginning of the round.  Chain up 2 and turn.  This will create a seam where you turn, but it isn't very noticeable when you wear the hat.

 

2. Normally you crochet into the top of the previous row's stitch.  Try crocheting into the space between the previous row's stitches.  This means that instead of inserting your hook in the >, insert it under the strand under the >.  It will be under 3 strands of yarn.  I did this for an hdc project to make it smoother.  You can see the effect here.  (Note: that project is in rows, not rounds.)

 

3. You can change is to dc.  The dc stitch is slightly taller, so you may need to fiddle with your increases (for example, adding another increase every other row) to get it to curl properly.  Dc is also thinner, so the definition from row to row is less apparent.

 

I hope something I wrote helps!  If not, maybe someone else has a suggestion.

[greyhoundgrandma]

It looks great. I can't see your seam.

[Ashley Neville]

I have managed to hide the seam yes. But when I open the hat it isn't a round crown shape. I have folded it where the seam is on the edge on the right in the picture. It goes up and then down instead of the gradual down slope like the left side. Maybe I can take a better picture....here. thanks for the compliments and help so far!!

[Ashley Neville]

Where the rows join(seam?) it has a growth lol sometimes this happens and sometimes not on my hat projects. I follow patterns normally. No idea what I do when this happens. Instead of chain 2 and start row, I chain one then when I come back around I hdc in that chain 1 and sl st in the back of the first hdc. That's a move i had picked up out of a video to somewhat hide the row seam. I took it apart and re-did the beanie because the seam was so noticeable and now it's not but the "growth" was there and still is!! What the **#@

[redrosesdz]

OH!  You're talking about the seam from when you turn.  I didn't see that you had a join seam in the original picture.  That's why I was confused about what you meant.  What you described would definitely create a bulky stitch, which would stick out.

 

Try going around without turning.  When you get to the end of a round, just make the next stitch in the top of the first stitch.  (Use the hint below for going around without turning.)

 

Hint: Use a running stitch to mark the beginning of a round.  Get a piece of yarn in a different color, about 6-12" long.  Lay one end across the first stitch in the round.  Every time you come to the first stitch, flip the yarn over the top again.  When you're done, pull it out.  It will show you where each round begins and helps with counting.

 

Or you can try something else to hide the turning chain.  Instead of chaining 2, chain 1 loosely.  Don't count the ch1 as a stitch.  Make your first stitch in the first > and your last stitch in the last >.  Ignore the ch1, just like you would for sc.

[Ashley Neville]

I'm going to pull apart and try again. I think I picked up something from what you have said I read your post a few times over and did some thinking!!

[Granny Square]

^ I second treating HDC like SC (not just in the round), chain 1 to bring the yarn up to the next row's level, but don't count it as a stitch.  

 

For this pattern, you might have a problem (appearance-wise) working in a spiral since you have a stripe in there: it would cause a jog in the stripe, 

[magiccrochetfan]

Where the rows join(seam?) it has a growth lol sometimes this happens and sometimes not on my hat projects. I follow patterns normally. No idea what I do when this happens. Instead of chain 2 and start row, I chain one then when I come back around I hdc in that chain 1 and sl st in the back of the first hdc. That's a move i had picked up out of a video to somewhat hide the row seam. I took it apart and re-did the beanie because the seam was so noticeable and now it's not but the "growth" was there and still is!! What the **#@

I can see the uneven curve even in the photo where the hat lays flat. It looks like right at that bump you increased too much, then below it there are much fewer increases.

 

One factor is the incs need to be evenly spaced around in each row. If you accidentally group some at one point that causes a bump, too few a flat spot.

 

Carefully count the stitches per row and see if some rows are off count. Then check the location of increases, are they evenly spaced? (You don't want to always stack them in same place as that makes a hexagon or octagon etc not a circle)

 

I think your join hiding method is causing accidental incs and decs which caused the bump appearance.

 

Personally I would take a visible seam method if that enables me to make a smoothly shaped hat.

[Ashley Neville]

Thanks everyone. Going to give it another go with some of your tips. This is the pattern I'm going off of (pic)

[Amy]

I know you were trying to be helpful to those helping you, but it is copyright infringement and against our site policies to upload a pattern without permission of the copyright holder. I've had to remove the screenshot of the pattern instructions, but you are very welcome to give us some Information about where the pattern was published or a link to where the designer/publisher has made it available online.