Ears of DMC crochet pig cushion

[Shaw128]

Hi everyone,

I'm in need of some pattern help. I'm a fairly new self taught crocheter. Would anyone be kind enough to explain these instructions in an easy to follow way?

I can make a chain of 16 and understand the dc in the 2nd chain from the hook. It falls apart at working along the opposite side of the starting chain...

Thank you so much! 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

The first part (before 'make 16 ch) is a general description - you will be working in the round, in a spiral (meaning, you don't end the round with a slip stitch and chain up to start the next round, which is why it suggests to mark the first stitch somehow - you won't be able to tell otherwise.  Or, since this isn't horribly critical to exactly match the end of a round for a pig ear (as it might be for colorwork or stitch patterns), you could use the yarn tail as a rough indicator.

However, you won't be working in a flat circle, you will be working in an oval without increasing, and the chain will form the center of the oval--the ear will be shaped like a flat sack.  The chain will end up being the top of the ear, and subsequent rounds will form the front and back of the ear.

There are 3 ways to stitch into a chain: (1) into the back bump (I recommend NOT using this method for an oval  (2) with the chain side facing you, into the top loop, which leaves 2 free loops (3) with chain side facing, into the top loop and the back bump which leaves 1 free loop.  The second 2 methods will create a better tension to work with when working the second half of the oval.

You will be working into the chain as you usually would if you were working a flat piece for the first half of the oval.  Ch 16, skip first ch and DC across the remaining chains, to make 15 DC across.  Now for the 'different' part.  You have either 1 or 2 unused loops of the chain.  Where it says 'working along the opposite edge of the starting chain', you will be inserting the hook under all of the unused loops of the to work another 15 stitches back to the starting point (the yarn  tail end).  Then, you just keep working round and round (it gets less fiddly after the first couple of rounds).