Pattern help with guage

[RED DOG]

My pattern says the gauge should be 13 dc x 7 rows = 4 inches.  So I assumes 13 dc equals 4 inches  and 7 rows equals 4 inches using a size H needle.   I can only get 2 1/2 inches on the 7 rows  so I moved to a size J needle and I can get 3 inches.  I just want to be sure I am reading this right?

[Granny Square]

Are you saying you can get 13 dc across in 4", but only 3" in 7 rows height with the J hook?  This sort of thing happens to me all the time, as I make short stitches.

What are you making?  For a garment, I can USUALLY make it work by just making more rows; a lot of garments will just say 'continue in stitch pattern until it measures X inches" for example.  The toughest garment type to tinker with is a raglan type thing, because both directions need to be spot on - in that case, subbing a DC with an extended DC, or maybe TR, sort of scheme might work.

 

[RED DOG]

Yes thats what I get even pulling the stitches up.  I cannot imagine I would have to use a K hook.  It is an afghan.  The pattern is not all dc’s it is 1/2 dc’s and single crochets.  The first thing you make are 4 squares which I am doing now and then you go back and put animal faces on them so they have to be big enough to sew those on.

[Granny Square]

Ah, is the square center-out?   If so,...

Issue #1 - the blanket will end up a little smaller.  You could fix by either going around the whole blanket a couple of rounds if you want it bigger, or maybe add a round to each square.

Possible Issue #2 - less likely for small squares than a whole blanket made in the round, but with a short stitch height the squares might ruffle a tiny bit.  Fix would be throwing an extra stitch in here and there as needed to keep it flat.  If the ruffle is really minor it might not even need addressing.  

[RED DOG]

So do you think I should continue using the J hook?  It still gives me the right width and maybe if I pull the stitches a little higher I can at least get 3 1/2 inches.  I have plenty of yarn I can always go around it a little bit more.

[RED DOG]

You make the square from the bottom up increasing the width of your rows as you go and then decreasing when you get to the end.

[Granny Square]

Ah, so a corner to corner construction? 

A couple of ways to go about this:  right now you stitch height is only 75% as high as your width gauge, so if you follow the pattern as written, you'll get a rectangle of that proportion, not a square.  If you go to a bigger hook, that is not going to change the height to width ratio.

Try making a swatch with the hook you prefer using extended DC, and if that didn't work try using a treble (I know I personally could do taller stitch construction more consistently than trying to remember to 'pull it up' for each stitch).  This shouldn't affect the width gauge, which is right on for you.

OR, you could go with the DC and your 75% ratio with the hook that makes a fabric you like, and riff on your pattern (a little). The way to make a corner to corner rectangle, is to stop increasing on one side when you hit the width, and continue increasing as before on the other side until you hit the length on the long side, and start decreasing on both sides.  You could achieve a square this way with your row gauge by making more rows than the pattern says, or you could keep going past square if you want.

Something to consider - your too-short stitches will take more rows, and therefore yarn, than the pattern says.  Taller stitches cover the same area with (a little) less yarn, so that is a consideration--if your gauge height is 75% of what it should be, and you use DC, you should need 25% more yarn to get the same height, right?  I'm just not sure if EDC or trebles will save you 25%, but I suspect probably not that much.

 

[RED DOG]

On 7/21/2020 at 1:17 PM, Granny Square said:

Ah, so a corner to corner construction? 

A couple of ways to go about this:  right now you stitch height is only 75% as high as your width gauge, so if you follow the pattern as written, you'll get a rectangle of that proportion, not a square.  If you go to a bigger hook, that is not going to change the height to width ratio.

Try making a swatch with the hook you prefer using extended DC, and if that didn't work try using a treble (I know I personally could do taller stitch construction more consistently than trying to remember to 'pull it up' for each stitch).  This shouldn't affect the width gauge, which is right on for you.

OR, you could go with the DC and your 75% ratio with the hook that makes a fabric you like, and riff on your pattern (a little). The way to make a corner to corner rectangle, is to stop increasing on one side when you hit the width, and continue increasing as before on the other side until you hit the length on the long side, and start decreasing on both sides.  You could achieve a square this way with your row gauge by making more rows than the pattern says, or you could keep going past square if you want.

Something to consider - your too-short stitches will take more rows, and therefore yarn, than the pattern says.  Taller stitches cover the same area with (a little) less yarn, so that is a consideration--if your gauge height is 75% of what it should be, and you use DC, you should need 25% more yarn to get the same height, right?  I'm just not sure if EDC or trebles will save you 25%, but I suspect probably not that much.

 

Hi granny square,

so I have finished my first square.  The directions say 

Rnd 1:  With color B, ch1, *(sc ch2 sc) in corner, work 25 sc evenly along side; rep from * around end sl st to beg ch1. Fasten off .  Do not turn.

Rnd2: Join color D in any corner ch-2 sp, ch1, (sc, ch2, sc) in same sp, sc in each st around, working (sc ,ch2,sc) in each corner, end sl st to beg ch1. Fasten off 29 sts each side.  Since I was working corner to corner,  am I only supposed to work 25 stitches down one whole side to the other corner, or I am going work 25 stitches and make 4 corners.  Very confused.  Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

If that were the case I would be working 25 stitches down 2 sides over 42 rows and I would have 2 corners.

Edited July 24, 2020 by RED DOG
Need to add something

[Granny Square]

Your round 1  in your last post describe how you would put a border all the way around any sort of square or rectangle.  Round 1 says "repeat from * around, slip stitch to beginning ch1".  So 4 corners.

It also says "work 25 sc evenly along side".  This is a common sort of instruction, and means that you won't be putting 1 stitch into 1 stitch, but distributing only 25 stitches across 42 stitches along the sides, if I'm understanding your description correctly.  This is going to be uneven--meaning it won't be simple like 'work in every other stitch'; for something as small as this I usually 'do the math' and draw a little diagram.

What you will be doing is skipping 42 minus 25 stitches = 17 stitches skipped.  42 divided by 25 is 1.68, which is what I meant that you won't be skipping stitches evenly.  I usually draw a picture when I run into fractions.  (sorry, math/logic fail earlier-- edited the above-1.68 is the 'spacing' for an even distribution of the 17 skipped stitches, so you know that more than half of the skipped stitches will be after every 2 stitches, the rest skipped every other stitch)

Below is 42 stitches, the bold stitches below are skipped to get to 25 stitches, relatively evenly.  Spacing is easier to see the 42 starting row ends- 4 groups of 10, and 2.  It also occurred to me that 17 is close to 16, which is 4 x 4, so I reduced 4 in each group of 10, plus one more in the leftover 2.

xx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx 

Note, you could either skip the bolded stitch, or decrease it together with an adjacent stitch, which might look smoother-you are still reducing stitches, just making a thick stitch versus a hole.  Note 2-this is ONE possibility, one could come up with a couple of others, but this has a pretty even distribution of skipping 1 or 2.

Having said all that - I'm following the numbers you gave me, BUT this also sounds like a pretty drastic stitch reduction and seems odd to me for something that is presumably going to lie flat.  Did you add rows by chance to get it to look the way you wanted?  If so, you will probably want to ignore the details of the pattern and follow the concept, if that makes sense.  Can you link to the pattern, or give it's name if it's in a magazine or book?  Don't scan/post the pattern here, but if I can see what the blanket is supposed to look like rather than visualizing by your description, it will confirm I was on the right track.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Granny Square