a question about filet crochet as pertains to a solid graph

[lily]

I'm sure that title made a lot of sense. I have tried asking this question elsewhere, and I think I keep wording it wrong, because even though I get a lot of well meaning answers, I do not think the question is being understood, so I'm going to try here, and hopefully I can ask the right question this time.

 

I am going to make a graph afghan. a solid one with no holes or gaps in it. I need to try and use dc, which means that I need to use the concepts used in filet, because the dc's are off center from each other and will mess the graph up otherwise.

This much I have managed to figure out by doing a swatch and by looking at the options for stitches that came with the graph. Regular dc is not listed, but filet is.

 

SO. I do not understand how the 'shared' dc in the middle should work here.

(this is where i start to get answers about skipping stitches and making holes in filet, but I'm not making any holes. except in my head

 

i need for someone to please help me correct and complete the following statements.

 

to follow this graph, If I am doing a 3 dc filet, I chain 5 for every 2 blocks on the graph. or, if i am using 4 dc, I chain 7 for every 2 blocks, minus one because the turning chain counts as the first dc.

 

I will then chain 2 (instead of three, makes it less bumpy), and proceed to make 5 (or 7) dc's for every two blocks.

 

WHen I get to a color change, and one block is black and the other blue, and i have to split the 5 (or 7) into two colors, which color does the middle, shared stitch get to be? the first color, or the color being changed to? or does it matter, as long as i am consistent??

[Katchkan]

I think I would change on the non shared dc, Just how I personally see it coming together. I really think you could do it either way as long as like you said you were consistent. I would try a small sample swatches doing it both ways and see which appealed to me the most. Say a 1 foot square. Large enough to get the effect but not so large you waste alot of time doing it. I can see the possiblities. Good luck with your project.

[Mary838]

I can't seem to understand the chain 7, and chain 5, and the block. In filet crochet you either have open mesh or closed mesh. What is the graph supposed to be. I always say there are 4 dc in filet crochet (full mesh or whatever they call it). Open mesh would be the block to me. A dc with a 2 chain and then a dc to close it. I do filet all the time and this is of interest to me as to what type of graph you are doing? To me, you are doing dc for each stitch and just putting some type of pattern in. Please correct me on this, I'm curious now. Mary

[lily]

K. didn't mean to confuse you. see what I mean? It's hard to ask the question right. The pattern is a graph with no holes. meaning that each square in the graph represents a color, instead of some being holes and some the solid filled in, as in with a solid color filet piece. There are no open meshes/blocks.

 

In filet, from what I understand, whether you are going from an open mesh to a closed mesh, or open to open, or closed to closed, they share a dc, i.e. the first dc of each mesh is also the last dc of the previous mesh.

 

This graph, having no open meshes, is causing me a problem because, for example, If i am looking at the pattern and I have a blue closed mesh right next to a grey one, what happens with the shared DC??

 

I do not think I can ignore the shared stitch, because after doing a swatch of DC, I noticed that they do not center up correctly for this to be an option. I believe that the shared dc concept gets rid of the "off-center' problem. Then it causes another one lol

 

I can't seem to understand the chain 7, and chain 5, and the block. In filet crochet you either have open mesh or closed mesh. What is the graph supposed to be. I always say there are 4 dc in filet crochet (full mesh or whatever they call it). Open mesh would be the block to me. A dc with a 2 chain and then a dc to close it. I do filet all the time and this is of interest to me as to what type of graph you are doing? To me, you are doing dc for each stitch and just putting some type of pattern in. Please correct me on this, I'm curious now. Mary

[Linda]

What if you forget about the filet concept and try working with a square concept. You want X number of squares across the row and each square is X number of DC stitches (i.e. xxxxjjjjooooaaaa....each square is 4 DC stitches, etc.) I would definitely try this with a sample swatch. GOOD LUCK!!!

[ferosah]

Hi Lilly,

Don't think of filet when working on your graph. The shared dc will only work if you doing an actual filet piece. If you're working from a published pattern then the instructions should tell you how many dc for each block. If not then you have to decide whether you want to use 3 dc or 4 dc to work your pattern. So for every block on your graph you will make the required amount of dc. Hope this helps.

Ferosa

[Chatty]

When I work a solid graph with dc I always use two dc for each color square on the graph.

[Cuddlefish]

What if you forget about the filet concept and try working with a square concept. You want X number of squares across the row and each square is X number of DC stitches (i.e. xxxxjjjjooooaaaa....each square is 4 DC stitches, etc.) I would definitely try this with a sample swatch. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

Yeah, that is also what I would do...and what Chatty said. Since you don't have any holes, you don't need any shared stitches to separate them.