Twisting project

[raean127]

I am pretty new to crotchet and have made only a handful of items. I am working on a baby blanket. The number of stitches seemed correct in the foundation chain, except I think I crocheted way too tightly at the beginning. I have loosened my stitches on the last several rows, but I am not sure if this can be corrected. Do I need to start over or will this correct itself as I add looser rows? Just to confirm, does this seem to be due to having a few tight rows at the beginning? Thank you!

[Granny Square]

Whoa.  I think it's more than a tight chain, that is one heck of a ruffle, and actually you went the wrong way with your fix.  If it was just a too-tight chain, to keep the tension consistent you should have gone with tighter stitches /smaller hook--not that all-too-tight is a good thing, notice I said consistent.  By making the stitches exaggeratedly looser than the chain, you made the disparity worse.

When I was a new crocheter, waaaay before the internet, I crocheted super tight and realized I was forming stitches right at the tip of my hook, at the narrowest spot.  The right way is to use the shaft of the hook, which is the 'stitch sizing' part, to form the stitches consistently and to the right size, so I had to retrain myself to scoot the yarn up the hook a bit with each stitch.

How are you working into your chain?  There are 3 ways.  Look at a chain.  One way facing, it looks like a chain, or braid.  Flip it over, and there are a line of bumps facing you.

1) The way I learned (so I'm biased), but it works in every situation.  With the chain-looking side facing you, make your stitches into the top loop.  This leaves 2 unused loops underneath, which look like a 'legs crossed' chain, is not bulky, and does not pull the fabric tight.

2) With chain facing as above, insert the hook under the top loop and the back bump loop, leaving the bottom loop free.  This doesn't pull the fabric tight either, but it's a bit bulkier and a tiny bit less stretchy.  It leaves 1 loop free underneath.

3) With the back bump facing, use just the back bump.  This leaves the 'chain facing' side underneath, which looks nice, but it pulls the chain very tight.  Most people use a hook 2 or 2 sizes bigger than the project for the chain, then switch to the right size for the project.  It's also, IMO, the most fiddly.  If you used this method, I think re-starting with method 1 would go a long way to fixing the problem.

There is a fourth way, foundation stitches, which do not work in every situation and I wouldn't recommend them to a beginner.  I only use them if I have to make a bunch of stitches sticking out at a right angle from the edge, which doesn't happen too often.

Back to your project.  It is SO ruffled, I can't quite see what's going on, but yes you are going to have to rip back and start over.  Unless you really went SUPER huge with your stitches compared to the chain, I think you may have too many stitches into the chain.  

Edit - is this a free pattern on the net - if so, could you post a link to it?  Might be easier to diagnose seeing a pattern pic of the finished blanket.