Hats - my count is off - where to join and put new stitch

[jomac]

I am making baby hats for my new granddaughter and my count is always off.   I am wondering if I am joining in the right place.  The pattern says to join at the first hdc  , but my count is usually short. I would be grateful for your help!

Picture included

Joanne

 

[Granny Square]

HI Jomac, welcome to the 'ville!

I can't quite tell what is going on near the join.  I know most people don't like to hear 'rip back', but I think that is the best move here; if not all the way back, at least to a point you know that the count came out correctly.

I have been crocheting for decades, and stitch markers are never a bad idea--I use them quite a bit.  I use bobby pins because they are cheap and stay put fairly well.  Marking the first stitch for something in the round is a really good idea; I usually do, and then when you come to it, remove the marker, make a the first stitch of the new round, and put the marker back into the new first stitch.

I'm going to include a graphic I made back which pertains to joined rounds that I hope is helpful--it is showing DC but the same phenomenon happens with other stitches.  To join a round, after the last stitch of a round you slip stitch into the top of the first stitch of the round, then chain up and start the new round (the first stitch for anything taller than a SC will be the 'turning chain' for the round, as it is here-so you'd work into the loop the blue arrow is pointing to.  The slip stitch sort of makes a phantom stitch that should be ignored--see the red arrow in the photo.

[jomac]

Hi:    Wow - thank you! The picture was very clear.   I am not afraid of ripping out - we are old friends by now!  But I have not been using stitch markers, and I may be crocheting into the phantom stitch.  My pattern also confused me - it asks me to "join with sl st to rst hdc", and the "Ch2 at the beginning does not count as hdc".  This is a different instruction from what we usually do. Do you know what "rst hdc" is? I thought it was a typo for "first" hdc, but maybe I am wrong.  I really appreciate having someone to-ask - thanks again!  Joanne

 

[jomac]

Hi again:

    I was thinking about what you said, and I wonder if I need to ignore those pattern instructions, and just join in the usual way, as your picture shows.  The fact that the pattern says the "Ch2" does not count as hdc makes me think something else is going on in the instructions.  Do you think this will work? Rewrite the instructions!

Joanne

PS the pattern is below.

[Granny Square]

HDC is a bit of an odd/unconventional stitch, sometimes the pattern has you chain 1 like a SC and the chain doesn't doesn't count, some have you chain 2 and it may or may not count (but the pattern usually says how to treat the chain, like your pattern does--treat it like a SC where the chain does not count).  So what you suspicion that there is something 'wrong' by not counting the chain, is not a mistake, just one of 2 ways a designer can choose to handle HDC.

So re-imagine my photo in HDC with the blue arrow in the first HDC, not the top of the chain.  But not kidding on also marking that stitch.

I agree that 'rst' is most likely 'first', it makes the most sense.