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Mia


Mia10

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Hello. I'm new here so thanks in advance. I'm just completing a very large dc blanket. I'm happy enough with it but it seems to keep expanding in size!  How to I keep it from growing please?

Edited by Mia10
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Welcome to the 'ville, Mia!  I assume you mean getting wider, is it doing so on both sides?

The usual culprits to examine and check off -

If it's happening on both sides, is it possible you were working with (example) an H hook, put it down for a while and accidently resumed with an I hook?

Also, sometimes, when a thing gets big and heavy, and weighing down on your hands and hook, it can affect your gauge a little.  Working at a table where you can put the weight so it isn't pulling down might help a little.

Is your stitch count now, and at the beginning, the same?  You didn't say if you were new to crochet, but sometimes new crocheters err in the way they treat the turning chain.  For any stitch taller than a SC, where the turning chain counts as a stitch, you need to 'chain up', turn, and skip the first stitch and place your first 'real' stitch into the second stitch (if you don't, you will add 1 stitch, because the turning chain 'acts like' it is a stitch IN the first stitch).  At the end of a row (except the first working into a chain), you need to make your final stich into the top chain of the turning chain in the row below (if you don't you will subtract a stitch.  One way to tell if you are adding and subtracting stitches is, if you can trace a stitch 'up' from the beginning, say 5 stitches in from an edge (meaning, find a stitch in row 1, then find the stitch that went into THAT stitch, and so on...and those stitches ceases to be 5 stitches in from the edge a few rows up, that will tell you if you are making errors at the edges.  

 

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Thanks so much for your reply. I am happy with the actual shape but I think overall  a smaller needle would have given me a tighter tension. But, it is a beautiful blanket and will go well on a Queen bed. I just don't want the weight to make it bigger! I think I saw somewhere the idea of doing long chains and weaving through - do you think that would work?

Thanks so much for your help

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I'm a little confused, I thought you meant by 'growing' that it was not keeping straight sides, like this \__/, but then you just said you were happy with it's shape.

And I don't understand what you mean by 'I don't want the weight to make it bigger'.

I personally wouldn't try to adjust it with long chains--I can only think of negative consequences.  (1) I can't imagine how the added chains themselves would look OK or not have an obvious effect on the fabric's stretchiness, or be noticeably heavier in that area (2) If it growing' enough that you notice it, pulling it tight enough to straighten might cause it to pucker.  

Using a smaller hook would have given it more stability, but will also take more yarn.  Same with working in SC (I'm assume you are using US stitch terms).  

If you are truly unhappy with it, stop.  Put it down and think about it for a few days.  If you keep working on it and continue to be unhappy with your result, you are only wasting your time.  I'm not being mean, this is tough love; I've been crocheting for decades and have faced this many times--something about the project is annoying me, not necessarily a mistake (if I find one I always rip down and fix it)- sometimes these projects get ripped and not restarted, but also sometimes I put it down and 'stew over it' for a while before coming up with an idea for a tweak that would make me happier which would only entail ripping out part of it.  

Do you have a way of attaching a photo of your blanket so far?  Would be best perspective-wise to photograph it with the side of row ends closest to the camera to see if 1 end is getting wider.

 

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Something big enough to fit a queen bed is going to be very heavy and I would be very surprised if it didnt stretch at least a little bit.  If you are not careful in supporting it when you put it on the bed and take it off the bed there is a good risk of stretching it. Same when washing it.  Some stitches and yarn will be worse than others.  I too thought what Granny Square thought and you never said whether your stitch count increased or not as that is very easy to do. Its very important to always count your stitches.  Placement of first and last stitches is very important.

https://www.edieeckman.com/2019/08/28/where-to-put-the-first-stitch-of-a-crochet-row/

Bottom line  its yours and if you are ok with it.  Me I have just ripped out a prayer shawl 3 times because my edges were not straight enough to suit me.

Edited by bgs
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Thanks for taking the time to give your great advice. The edges are fine, I am very happy with the shape. Someone at work has suggested weaving  hat elastic through. I wonder if that might work? I can imagine a slight waffle affect which may well be rather cool. Any other ideas much appreciated. 

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Elastic has a short shelf-life, that is the last thing I'd use.  I tend to be not-hard on garments and have been more or less the same size for years, and am easy on clothing and have worn the same elastic waist jeans for years, and have had to replace the elastic on most of them because the elastic has failed (dried out, it sort of got 'crunchy').  Also, you can't just run 1 line of 'something' along 1 row, you'd have to do it for every row or every couple of rows for the whole span of the blanket that is off, and that would only work for a fixing a very few inches of being 'off' before it would start to ruffle.

I think it's finally dawning on me what your issue might be.  First, "It keeps expanding"...then later "the edges are fine, I am very happy with the shape."  To me, those phrases are mutually exclusive. The first implies that something is changing, as in "it started out OK but now it is different"  (not picking on you, honest, just trying to understand what you are asking, plus the biggest "Help!" situation we see here are blankets going wonky due to stitch count errors in beginning and ending rows)

Here is my new guess - Your blanket is too big width-wise, but is nicely shaped, no stitches being gained or lost, and was that way from the beginning but you didn't realize it until now.  (This is also a common theme in this Help forum) You are trying to scrunch the whole thing up somehow to make it narrower.

There might be an easy solution...Here is a link for standard blanket sizes.  A queen blanket is 90" x 90"-100", the bigger number being the length.  How much wider is your blanket than 90"?  If your width is in the neighborhood of 100", or maybe even a tad more than 100" what about recalibrating your thinking that you are making your blanket lengthwise not widthwise?  You can always tuck more under at the foot or fold it over at the head of the bed.

 

 

Edited by Granny Square
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