My "growing" problem

[buckynbabies]

I am making a shrug out of what I think is about size 3 cotton. I was using an H hook to try and get guage, and my guage swatch worked out beautifully. But as I kept going, it kept getting wider and wider! I am NOT adding stitches, I already know that. Is it because of the cotton? It doesn't seem to stretch at all in my hands. Or is it because I am using too big a hook for the type of yarn?

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

~L

[MamaHooks]

Hi and welcome to Crochetville.

 

Well, if you are not adding stitches then the only other reason I can think of is your tension. I could very well be wrong. However if your tension has not been even throughout your shrug then it would either shrink with too tight of tension or enlarge with too loose of tension. Maybe someone else will have a better idea to what is happening.

 

Wish you the best of luck on your pattern.

[queen_mo]

Could you possibly post a picture of your work so far? It would be easier to diagnose the problem.

 

It may be stretching. It may be that your tension is changing. Try frogging and doing another swatch right away. With the pattern fresh in your 'hands' you may find that your tension has evened out.

Keep us posted.

[buckynbabies]

Well, I *would* have posted pics (OOOPS!) but I frogged it back to where it seemed to be okay and tried with a smaller hook, but that just made the previous stitches ripply, so I frogged back even further! This pattern has lots of ch3 and most of it is 3dc in the ch3's in the previous row (the pattern is Spider Shrug if that helps!) If I run into problems again, I will definately remember to take pics!

 

L

[Catana]

You're probably adding a double crochet when you start each row. It's very easy to do without realizing it. It happens when you crochet into the same stitch as your dc turn chain.

[craftybutterfly]

Well, I *would* have posted pics (OOOPS!) but I frogged it back to where it seemed to be okay and tried with a smaller hook, but that just made the previous stitches ripply, so I frogged back even further! This pattern has lots of ch3 and most of it is 3dc in the ch3's in the previous row (the pattern is Spider Shrug if that helps!) If I run into problems again, I will definately remember to take pics!

 

L

 

This pattern gave me such a headache, I put it down to finish another project. I'll go back to it later. Good luck, and post a pic when you're done.