DEC, 3dc, repeat from * to end (24sts)

[Laurabhspt]

Hi, me again! After people were so helpful yesterday on my increased I thought I’d ask about decreases today.

pattern reads:

*dec, 3dc, repeat from * to end (24sts)

so I know I’m decreasing from 30stitches to 24, so a decrease of 6.  However, I seem to be decreasing much more rapidly... I have read the pattern as:

decrease to start, then 3 stitches, followed by another decrease.  But this then decreases the round by 10 and not 6.... what am I doing wrong? Am I doing my actual decrease stitch wrong, or am I doing the decrease too soon?

see picture for pattern, I’m on round 21, already completed 20 and despite doing it wrong I think I will leave it as is...

thanks for any help guys! Visual is very useful for me :-)

[NinaW]

Hello there, you should only be decreasing a total of 3 double crochet stitches in that row, this will give you 24 in the end.

I would decrease every 8 stitches. But only three times.

The idea is to spread three deaceases over the 30 stitches. 

Your next row the same but 2 stitch decrease.

Hope this helps

[Laurabhspt]

1 hour ago, NinaW said:

Hello there, you should only be decreasing a total of 3 double crochet stitches in that row, this will give you 24 in the end.

I would decrease every 8 stitches. But only three times.

The idea is to spread three deaceases over the 30 stitches. 

Your next row the same but 2 stitch decrease.

Hope this helps

Thank you Nina, :-)

 

[NinaW]

I hope it worked out for you!

[Laurabhspt]

2 hours ago, NinaW said:

I hope it worked out for you!

Actually I’m confused lol... I’ve ubdone it and gone back to round 20, decreasing six stitches... from 36 to 30.

*dec, 4dc repeat from * to end(30sts)

based on what you’ve said(or rather how I’ve “understood” it lol), I would do 4 dc decreases in that round... but that would make an 8 stitch decrease in total? If each decrease in dc counts as 2....?

my brain is broken lol....

 

[magiccrochetfan]

How are you making your decreases?  the most common decrease is to make 2 partial stitches and finish them off together.  this way you "change 2 sts into 1" so to speak.   So each decrease subtracts only 1 stitch, not 2.    

after you have made the decreases, when you count stitches on that row, be sure you count the top of the stitch only; don't count the legs as there will still be 2 legs, but only 1 top.

in the row where you decrease from 36 to 30, you have to make 6 decreases: each decrease will remove 1 stitch from the total count.  

[Laurabhspt]

59 minutes ago, magiccrochetfan said:

How are you making your decreases?  the most common decrease is to make 2 partial stitches and finish them off together.  this way you "change 2 sts into 1" so to speak.   So each decrease subtracts only 1 stitch, not 2.    

after you have made the decreases, when you count stitches on that row, be sure you count the top of the stitch only; don't count the legs as there will still be 2 legs, but only 1 top.

in the row where you decrease from 36 to 30, you have to make 6 decreases: each decrease will remove 1 stitch from the total count.  

Thankyou, yes that’s how I was doing it, but I’m now confused about the actual pattern reading then, what has the actual number got to do with increases? For example the 4dc?

[magiccrochetfan]

The 4 dc is the number of plain dc you make between the decreases.   It's the same idea as the previous rows when you were doing increases.  

[NinaW]

Row 21 under Head.

I just tried this before replying so I am not adding confusion.

It says

Decrease, dc3 repeat to end.

You need to decrease (double crochet 2together) then  do 3 double crochet, then do another decrease and 3 double crochet keep doing this repeat to the end of your row.

Make sure to keep a count after each row so you know you have the right amount of stitches to start, you might have picked up extra stitches and this will mess you up.

You will end up with your 24 stitches

[NinaW]

Just breathe you can do it!! 

If your not sure about the decrease YouTube it then you will see how they do it 

[NinaW]

This video may help you

Double Crochet Decrease Stitch: Crochet Stitch Tu…: http://youtu.be/pAX9tbxioKo