HELP!!! Have tried Celtic weave stitch 20 plus times and cannot figure it out!!

[ZBJ]

So, I’m what I’d call an “advanced beginning” with a lot of tenacity...

I’ve been trying to make a beanie from a pattern which calls for a Celtic weave stitch. Ive watched some YouTube tutorials and I THOUGHT I understood how it works but I keep ending up with a bit of a mess. 

Im mostly struggling with the back post portion of the stitch which starts on row 3. (No real issues with row 2 front post). I don’t know if my tension is an issue but the project just doesn’t lie very flat as soon as I’ve completed row 3. 

I’m also struggling to know where to enter for the back post stitch for stitches 1 & 2. Do I move the 3 & 4 stitches out of the way to the left or right?

I’ve just started with a sample piece to figure it out before I do the beanie. 

 

Sorry if I’ve not explained this very well, just hoping that someone out there is well-practiced in this stitch and can give me some pointers or advice for avoiding certain common mistakes?

I’m desperate to get it - I hate the idea of just abandoning it!

 

thanks in advance!

[ReniC]

Hi. Have you tried viewing any Celtic Stitch videos? This is just one of many on YouTube.

[Granny Square]

Is this a free pattern on the internet, so we can see the pattern and the hat?  There's a lot of variations of Celtic weave patterns.

One thing that strikes me as odd is your saying 'do I shove the stitches left or right'.  Neither.  Where stitches overlap, you might 'shove' the first set to the front if the second set are in the back, or vice versa, but not left or right.  You are just reaching the hook across the front or the back of the first set of stitches.  to make stitches into the skipped ones. 

It can be a little more disorienting/gymnastic reaching in back than in front maybe, because you reach behind the earlier stitches but still have to insert the hook into the skipped stitches from front to back--reach from behind, turn the hook a bit to insert the hook from front to back, scoop up a loop from the yarn held in the back and finish the stitch.

Don't feel bad.  I've been crocheting for decades and had to put what sounds like a similar pattern on 'time out' not that long ago because I was having trouble, but couldn't figure it out.  When I picked it back up a year later, IIRC I realized I was misreading 1 word on 1 row .  I totally get these patterns are a bit mindbending.

Is it this pattern by chance?  Not the same one I made (which wasn't on the internet), but very similar.