graphghan help

[drea82]

hello everyone,

I am starting a grahghan and need some help. I have found out how to make a swatch and figure out my guage but i am having problems with the picture i want to use. i have tried to use knitpro but no matter what i do the picture is very blurry. so then i tried stitch fiddle and the picture seems to big and very pix-elated. below is the picture that i would like to use. The throw measurements are 48x48. using my swatch 4sts= 1in. i figured i need 192 boxes to gain the width that i would like.So on top of all that i could also use some advise on how to figure out the height and how to make sure everything is centered. also if anyone one has any suggestions on how to change the font i would greatly appreciate it.

 

thank you so much!

[Granny Square]

What a sweet message!

I have a non-graphghan technique suggestion.  I'd use surface slip stitch crochet.  It would be a chain stitch wide, but you can easily write in cursive with it, in your own handwriting or copying the above. Here's a tutorial https://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-surface-crochet-or-surface-slip-stitch/

You pretty much always have to clean up some portion of the pixellated results from knitpro, by choosing (in your case) which of the grey pixels you want to be black or white.  If you use surface slip stitch, you'd narrow it down to 1 pixel in each row for each line.  You'll need to imagine each stitch not as a solid filled box, but a box with a line either across the top or bottom, or diagonal / or \

Make a plain 1 color afghan in SC, and plot out the lettering by hand using graph paper.  I'd plot out the lettering in something less than the 192 boxes across; maybe give it at least a 6" margin on each side.  You will probably have more than 192 rows, because most of us make SC stitches a little short of square.

So, 6 inches, x 4 stitches per inch, is 24 stitches for each margin, times 2 sides is 48.  192 minus 48 is 144, so you have 144 stitches to work with.  Note, I'm making numbers up, you may decide that you want a wider or narrower border--I'm just picking numbers to show you how to get the letters centered.  Half of 144 is 72.  So, the center is between stitch 72 and 73 of the center portion of your blanket which contains lettering (in other words,  excluding the border), or between stitch 96 and 97 of the whole blanket, if it's easier to imagine that way.  I'd mark the center, maybe with a temporary basting stitch, to help orient you.

Looking at your pic, the center line splits the letter R in are, the T in sister, (because the i is skinny), the I in got (because of the big I, and the space), and between the Os in choose.

Another thought, because surface slip stitch lets you do a more fine-line lettering than the graphghan method, which is comparatively less tidy...you could reduce the size of the lettering and put it (example) the top left corner, and maybe the heart in the bottom left.  The heart could be either graphghan style (maybe with surface slip stitch around the outline to smooth out the edges), or a sewn-on applique.  You'd still have to plan out the placement of the text, but it would be a similar concept, just not literally in the center of the blanket.  Just a thought, I thought it might look nice, a little quirky/artsy.  Also maybe a bit easier to read.

Or...after saying all that about surface slip stitch, you could just clean up the pixellation using more than 1 pixel width and just gone graphghan colorwork style--same concepts to get it placed and centered.

[drea82]

Thank you for you response and help Granny Square ☺ One more question. If I use a 5mm H hook or smaller and sc would it look less pixelated (after cleaning up) I was using a 5.5mm hook and hdc.

[Granny Square]

You're welcome!  And, going down 1 hook size (from I to H) will help a tiny bit, but not a lot; I think I'd go by how I liked the less drapey fabric, or not. The SC will help more, I suspect, but try a little swatch in 2 colors (and 2 hooks for that matter) and see what you think.  

[drea82]