How to solve ‘rainbow’ effect

[SUSANPA]

Hi - need help!! Have been crocheting away , tried a square granny blanket and pulled it out 3,times and decided to do a blanket using straight lines and granny stitch.  Looks great as a rainbow ( a term coined by another beginner on the site. Is there anyway to repair without pulling it out ( again!) 

Thank you! 

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville! 

There's no way to fix it without ripping it out. Sorry. 

There's one thing that causes this effect. It is stitch count. In order to get a square or rectangle with straight edges, you have to do the same number of stitches every row. You're increasing the stitch count, most likely at the edges. 

Here's a tutorial for granny stripe afghans...

http://daisycottagedesigns.net/granny-stripe-blanket-tutorial/

One other thing I noticed is that your foundation chain seems tight. You can fix this by using a larger hook to make the chain, and then switch to the right hook for row 1.

[Granny Square]

Other possible culprits/contributors - a lot of us make our foundation chains tighter than our stitches, which causes 'rainbows'.  The solution is to use a bigger hook for the chain and switch to the 'right' one for the project.  The other thing I'm seeing - the white yarn looks a lot heavier than the blue yarn above and below it.  Sometimes other colors of the same 'weight' and style from the same manufacturer can vary in their thickness, and a thicker yarn over a thinner one will also cause rainbows.

 

[Avon Lady]

Another way (and one, that, for some reason, many crocheters fight!) is to make the first row in the "foundation chain stitch".  It was hard for me to learn--but I'm SO glad I did!  I usually use the sc foundation stitch, but if I'm making an afghan of mostly hdc or dc, I use the foundation stitch for the appropriate stitch.  It does NOT pull, and make a "rainbow".   

[SUSANPA]

Thank you all for your responses. Avon Lady please can you let me know what the abbreviations are: SC ( foundation stitch);hdc and dc ( double chain?). This all sounds like good advice! 

[Granny Square]

Susanpa, are you in the UK?  UK and US crochet stitch terms are different.  US terms are 'demoted' if you will, where US SC (single crochet) is UK DC, US DC is UK treble, and so on.

What Avon Lady was referring to is chainless foundation stitches, which work with some but not all patterns (works best when the first row of stitches is all the same stitch, doesn't work as well with lacy patterns).  If you google chainless foundation SC (or DC), you will find tutorials.  

Working into the back bump of a chain is the worst culprit, because it pulls the chain tight.  I was taught eons ago to use to top thread of the chain (with the chain facing you).  This doesn't tighten up the chain.  It doesn't look exactly the same on the edge as using the back bump-it looks more like a braid than a chain.  However, we all have different stitch tensions, for example my chain tension is looser than my stitch tension, so I haven't had an issue with the top thread technique (but have with the back bump, which I've tried a few times but gave up on).

[SUSANPA]

Thank you for your reply- it’s been really helpful ! 

[redrosesdz]

Don't forget to count your stitches  (or clusters), too. I counted 52 clusters on a row that I could see clearly. Then I counted 54 two rows later. It looks like you're adding 1 cluster per row. To get straight sides, you need to have the same count every row.