Baby Cardigan Neck Issue

[Layali]

I'm halfway through a 6 mos. baby cardigan that I'm crocheting from the neck down. I tried it on my LO but her head doesn't go through. I've chained the foundation exactly as the pattern - size 4mm hook and 56 chs. I don't want to unravel the entire thing. How do I make the neck wider without having to redo it?

[magiccrochetfan]

There's really no way to widen your beginning edge, you do need to start over.  Your initial chain may be way too tight and that's causing the problem.  Or all of your stitches may be smaller than the pattern gauge.  

Hopefully your pattern includes a gauge so you can measure and see if you have desired number of stitches per inch.  

What yarn does the pattern recommend, and what are you using?

What is the name and location of the pattern?  

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by magiccrochetfan

[Granny Square]

I agree with Magiccrochetfan, crochet doesn't 'unravel' from the starting end; if you pick it out (which, trust me, just a few rows of 'picking out', loop by loop, is more work, and way more irritating,  than crocheting half a baby sweater), it leaves live loops like knitting that you can't easily crochet into. 

How did you stitch into your starting chain?  If you stitched into the 'back bump,' that pulls the chain tight and is a bad idea if you want  something stretchy;; you can mitigate it somewhat by using a bigger hook than the pattern calls for for the chain.  I have been crocheting for decades stitching into the top loop of the chain (as the chain faces you), and that creates a tension that is the same as the following fabric.

'Foundation' stitches, which doesn't use a chain are advertised as being stretchy, you could try that (I personally don't find them stretchier than using the top loop, YMMV)

Also - did you do a swatch first?  Did you match the designer's gauge?  Does the pattern have a schematic or give the measurements?  And...all 6 month olds aren't the same size, maybe you need to make your LO (little one?) a 9 month size--how does your LO's head measurement measure up to the pattern's schematic measurements?  Back to the swatch, try a little math with the stitch gauge.  How many stitches are supposed to be in 4"?  Babies' heads are pretty big, 56 stitches doesn't sound like a lot of stitches.  4 mm is a G hook (US).  I just grabbed a 4mm (G) hook and some Red Heart Super Saver ('medium' or worsted weight, not sure if you are in US or UK) and got 27 stitches to 4".  I don't know what weight of yarn your pattern calls for, but 4mm is typical for this weight.  4" divided by 27 stitches means 1 stitch is 0.148148" wide, times 56 stitches, is 8.3".  That is WAY too small for even a newborn's head -- of course my gauge isn't yours, or the designers, so you need to do this calculation yourself.

Here is a chart for baby head sizes https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/html_charts/hcageinf.htm  Let's look at the 50th percentile (which is average, I think - half are below, half are above, right?).  Newborn head is 35.8 cm, divided by 2.54, is 14".  6.5 month head is 44 cm, divided by 2.54 is 17.3". 

If the pattern is meant to go over the head without stretching, newborn head of 14" divided by 56 stitches means each stitch has to be .25".....for a 6.5 month baby, 17.3/56=.31" per stitch .  4 stitches per inch is not impossible with medium weight yarn, but I'd probably need something like a J or K hook to hit that gauge; 3 stitches per inch is really pushing it, and I wouldn't want to make a garment at that loose of a gauge for a baby in the first place.  Also the 'how much is is supposed to stretch' is a wild card.  

A lot of time after doing a swatch, and finding I'm missing gauge in one direction or another, I do the above calculation - how wide is 1 of my stitches.  Then I look at a pattern, for a pullover I'd look at the # of stitches at the bust and do the math like I just did above.  Sometimes, if my body is a 'medium' according to pattern, with my gauge x the # of stitches at the bust ends up with the right measurement with the 'wrong' sizes' stitch count, so I just  follow the 'wrong size' instructions for the right fit. 

 

 

[Layali]

Thanks a ton, magiccrochetfan and Granny Square. To be quite honest, I learnt the art of crochet from videos on youtube so I never invested any time in studying about the gauge or yarn weights.

Granny Square, I appreciate the time you took to educate a stranger. I went back to the pattern, looked at the gauge and other things, did some calculations, and have come to this not-so-happy realisation that I've been looking at it all wrong 🙆🏻‍♀️

Thanks to you, I'm going to read deeper into patterns now and calculate a project before even planning it.

And I live in Denmark; neither UK nor US. I always end up converting from one version to another (UK and US terminology differs) on goggle. So go ahead and use whatever terms you may like 😊

[Granny Square]

You are welcome!  Swatching and doing the math at the beginning of a project isn't 'fun', but I would rather do that than a lot of ripping later ( I do plenty of ripping anyway, but it's usually from finding stitch mistakes..).     

I think this advice was from a knitting book author, but it works with crochet too - stop and 'admire' (quality inspect) your work frequently, to make sure all is well before you get too far past a mistake or a 'hmm, this looks awfully small/big/not right...'.