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Pattern/blocking help


sillybebe

Question

I have a stitch sampler pattern and each one of the blocks give a finished measurement of “9 1/2 inches square when blocked”. My confusion is that the picture of the finished afghan clearly shows rectangular blocks and I’m doing 35 rows of 27 sc. My gauge is correct and I have a rectangular piece. Thank you in advance!

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Well, this wouldn't be the first pattern with an error in it, but that's a weird one.

However, one generic point - just because you are doing a different number of rows than stitches across does not mean it must be a rectangle.  The gauge given on a ball of  Red Heart Super Saver is 12 sc and 15 rows both equal 4".  Not that there is anything sacred about that guage, I happened to have a skein handy, and you will find most if not all patterns in plain sc will give you more rows than stitches for a 4" square of sc.  

On that Red Heart Gauge, 12 sts across = 4" means that each stich is .333" wide but .266" tall.  If you did 12 rows across, that would only be 3.19" tall, not 4".  Comparing the pattern's row and stitch count to the Red Heart generic gauge, 27 sc across would be 8.99", 35 rows would be 9.31" tall--which IS pretty close to a square.

Throwing this out there , here is designer Doris Chan's musings on different stitch-height styles.  The designer may be a lifter, and you may be a yanker (don't feel bad, I'm a yanker too).

The only thing that would concern me would be if the rectangles were assembled in such a way that the aspect ratio difference between your pattern's expectations and your results would cause problems.  

 

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17 minutes ago, Granny Square said:

The designer may be a lifter, and you may be a yanker (don't feel bad, I'm a yanker too).

This made me giggle!!! Thank you for the response. I can see how the stitches and rows could still make a square...it’s just the picture showing rectangles but saying measurements are square that is really throwing me off! It’s an Annie’s Crochet pattern if that makes a difference?

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Well, every designer is different so I'm sure there are a variety of different stitch tension styles among the designers who have submitted patterns to Annies' Attic.  In fact, my first introduction to a Doris Chan cardigan pattern (long before I saw her 'lifter' confession) was from an Annie's magazine, I didn't get too far and never finished it because I realized our height gauges were way different and I would have had to use a much taller stitch, which wouldn't have looked the same and it was a 1 piece top down raglan which I suspected would be trickier to adjust.

I make a lot of doilies and have to deal with stitch height adjustments all the time to keep them flat, but it's easier to disguise adjustments in lace, where every round is different, than other things that are plainer and harder to sneak a 'fudge' in here and there.

If your rectangles are going to end up fitting together in the same way they are supposed to, I wouldn't worry about it.  What is the name of the pattern, I'm curious to see what it looks like (don't post the actual pattern here, just the name).

Edited by Granny Square
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This one? https://www.anniescatalog.com/detail.html?prod_id=149037&cat_id=24  It's very pretty.

This might be challenging, or not, since they are all different stitch patterns there is a chance your stitch height (and maybe width) gauge may affect some stitch patterns more than others, which is where I was going with wondering how the rectangles fit together.  Your thread title mentioned blocking, I wouldn't try to block 1 for example and leave the others unblocked, that is asking for trouble and if you are using acrylic, isn't really an option.  Since there is such a mix of patterns & textures, if you have to add a row of sc at 1 end here and there to get them to fit together without stretching, cupping etc., nobody but you is going to notice and probably not even you will after a while.

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