Crooked seam when making hats

[flybabytina]

Ok, I love making hats but HATE the crooked seam that I always end up with when joining my rounds! Is there any way to avoid this? Or is it just the way it happens? It wouldn't bother me if the seam was straight....

 

Anybody else have crooked seam hats???

 

Tina

[Sabra]

That is just the way it happens. I don't know why. I work in one continuous piece instead of joining the rounds, and that creates a sort of spiral, so it seems to be just the way the craft works.

[Roli]

If you join your last stitch on the row with a slip stitch to the first stitch you made, chain the required height, and then begin a new row, you can avoid the wandering seam. You just have to be careful to count your stitches because it's easy to get too many by accidentally crocheting into the slip stitch!

[photojenic]

I can't stand seams, so I don't join. I just place a stitch marker and keep on going.

[mwedzi]

I think it might also work, if you are using a short stitch like sc, to not join at all, but just to continue working in rounds. You can keep track of the start or beginning of a round with a stitch marker, or if you never have the right tools (like me), you can just tie a piece of yarn around the beginning of a row to mark it. I've done this and didn't notice much of a crooked seam. In fact, it's hard to even tell where the seam is, hence the need for the stitch marker.

[salos]

I'm assuming you're joining as you crochet the hat, and the "seam" is where the joins are, not where you sew up afterwards. Is that correct? If it is, you can cure the problem by turning at the beginning of every row.

 

The problem is that the loops on the top of a stitch are not exactly on top, but a little to the side. So when you crochet a stitch on top of a stitch without changing directions, it will naturally be a little skewed.

[Cuddlefish]

I can hardly ever seem to get sc seams straight when I join with slip stitches, while I have no problems with dc's. I guess it's just harder to make mistakes with those tall stitches.

[CrochetMonkey]

Hi Tina: I am another one who doesn't care at all for the seams in a hat. I use Tiffany's bucket hat pattern as a base for all of my hats. This pattern is also very versatile, so you can alter the stitch designs to your preference (in place of where the pattern calls for a cross stitch). You crochet this in a spiral, and in order to avoid any visible jumps if you decide to change colors, you can do an invisible join when finishing off a row. I've used this pattern in both the cotton and wool-ease yarns (2 strands of wool-ease held together) - it's easy and so much more attractive without any seam!

[playboybunnie]

i know this may seem like cheating but have you ever tryed the knifty knitter its diffrent size looms with pegs and you can make nice looking hats in like an hour it doesnt take very long once you get the hang of it . you can make alot of neat stuff with the knifty knitter . It helps out when you dont have much time to make something

[flybabytina]

Oh yes, I love my Knifty Knitters! I have made some winter hats on them and plan on making slippers. My girls really like the cute brimmed hats they have seen in my internet travels so that's what I have been working on.... doesn't matter if I do sc's or dc's or what... still get that dang sideways looking seam! I have had fun, but that dumb seam really irritates the perfectionist in me.....

 

Tina

 

BTW, can you take ANY hat pattern and go in a spiral instead of joining?

[Sabra]

BTW, can you take ANY hat pattern and go in a spiral instead of joining?

 

Pretty much, yes. There are some exceptions I have found, like going from a round of SCs to a round of DCs, but that may well be a problem with my own technique. But with a pattern that is made up in general of all one size of stitch, it's perfectly possible to work in a continuous spiral regardless of what the pattern says. I am currently working on a baby dress right now, the skirt of which is pineapple lace, and I am working it (the skirt portion) in a continuous spiral.