Bonnie Schubring

[Bonnie Schubring]

I am making an afghan that requires 217 chain sts. the foundation row is dc. they say you should have 215 dc in that row. it never comes out right. i'm usually short. recounted several times, redid 3 x. I'm making it for my granddaughters wedding. what am I doing wrong????

 

[Bailey4]

Does it say you should start in 3rd chain of foundation chain?  That usually creates first dc stitch and would account for loss of 2 stitches.  When you count your stitches this weird looking "stitch" should count as first stitch.

Sometimes when I'm struggling with stitch counts I put stitch markers every ten stitches to make counting and checking for mistakes easier. 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Bailey4

[Tampa Doll]

I agree with Baily4.  One thing you can do is after you do the first DC in the chain, put a marker on the chain before it.  This will be your turning chain.

[Granny Square]

Bailey4, I'm going agree with the concept of what you said, but disagree on one detail - the general idea of what is happening is right, but not the math for how conventional patterns are written.

Conventionally, patterns will tell you, when you have finished a row of DC, to chain 3 and turn for DC (so 3 stitches 'stand in for' the first DC of the next row).

Also, patterns will conventionally have you make x foundation chains, and DC into the 4th chain from the hook to start a DC row.  This leaves 3 chains 'standing in for' the first DC. 

Thought experiment:  chain 4 in your head.  DC into the 4th chain from the hook.  This leaves the 3 skipped chains 'standing in for' the first DC, plus 1 real DC.  So you chained 4, and ended up with 2 functional DCs - therefore, if you want x DCs across a row, you chain x + 2.  Notice that is is coming up with "the loss of 2 stitches" as you described, but does so with 1 more chain. 

Bonnie's pattern is correct, technically, since it says to chain 2 more than the ending number of stitches--which allows for a turning chain of 3 to count as a stitch.  Bailey4's suggestion to use stitch markers is a good one - also, it doesn't hurt to add a couple of extra chains, I always do this for long chains even with the stitch markers and counting, because picking out chains is less work than making the first row and find I'm a couple of chains short.  

edit - for clarity, my examples are assuming the first stitch in a row is a DC.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Granny Square

[bgs]

If you are sure you are doing everything right there is always the possibility that the pattern is wrong.  One helpful trick I have learned is to always make a few chains more than the pattern calls for as they are there if I miss counted and they can easily be undone if not needed.