A Confession!

[SweetLilRachy00]

I've got a confession. I've been crocheting for about 5 years. I taught myself. I have used books from the library as well as the internet. I don't know if maybe I've found a wrong source or what, but I just realized that I've been doing DC's WRONG!!!! I've been going through the loop, yarn ch one, YO, pull through. I don't know what made me look up DC's last night online. But I realized that I had been doing them wrong, when I got this cool book from the library and was looking at the 'pattern' from the DC'ed hat to make. I was like,..."Hm....mine don't look like that." But it doens't look bad, and it seems to be the same "guage?" or distance away as a REAL DC.

 

 

Anyone else do this? LOL:think And of course now, learning the 'new' dc is a bit different, because of the way I've been doing it for 5 years. Hey, DS loves his blankie no matter how I made it right?????

 

Ok, so is there a name for how I've been doing it, or is that a new stitch that I just made up?

[Kiirs]

I'm having a hard time picturing the stitch you are describing, but I also realized a few months ago that I've been doing ALL my crocheting wrong. I was going through the front loops only and though I realize that is a desirable technique sometimes, it isn't all the time! I wondered why my stuff was always so stretchy and not as sturdy, and I thought the line across my rows was normal. "Real" crocheting (under both top loops) took me a while to get used to, the look and feel. Now I wonder how I could ever have done anything differently.

[Julexia]

What you described is a hdc (half double crochet) stitch. It is a very common and popular stitch. I use it alot in afghans, scarves, and hats.

 

oh wait nvm I see you put a ch 1 in there too lol -- nope I never have used the stitch you described. I dunno if it is stitch or not. But it does seem like it would have the same gauge as a dc with the ch 1 in it.

[Julexia]

Ok lol I just read your description again and I think I need to go back to bed cuz it isnt even close to being like a hdc lol. Sorry about that, my brain isnt working right now I guess.

[cgd]

Maybe you created a new stitch!

 

Like Kiirs, I did the SC only through a loop (in my case, the back loop) til I realized it should be through both unless specified in a pattern. Oh well, I had some nice ribbing on my earlier projects!

 

Chalk it up to the learning process. OTOH, maybe you can post pics of this stitch you do, and we can learn it too!

[JoBug]

Whatever you do, do not feel bad about it! Crochet is an ART, and you just created your own art, see, it isn's so bad now is it? Now you learned the "right" way to do a DC and your on your way. Happy Crocheting!

[tweety256]

When I first started to crochet I a would do all my stiches in the back loop untill I figured out that was wrong. and I never made SC and DC correct I would do what is call an extened sc or dc. so you are not along in starting to crocheting in a differnt way the traditional. But just think of it this way all your work is truely one of a kind, that is the way i think of my earlier work.

[Phoenix]

hey, when my friend tried to "teach" me to crochet, she had me doing it upside down and backwards...working from the bottom of the piece and going from left to right (i'm right handed). Oh, and she thought the slip stitch was single crochet.

 

I still can't figure out how she came up with all that...which is why I say i'm self taught. I got a book, learned how to do it, and then endured her telling me I was calling the stitches by the wrong name...I'll never forget her going "ooh, what stitch is that, I've never seen it" and me responding "um, that's single crochet"

[nucki]

When I first learned to crochet - and all the way up until just a few years ago - I crocheted into the back loop only, too. I couldn't read a pattern yet, and didn't know anyone who crocheted, so I thought the way my grandmother taught me was the ONLY way to do it. It wasn't until I was working on a project and looking at the stitches that it dawned on me that maybe I could use BOTH loops?!?!?! By this time I'd been crocheting nearly 20 years already. :lol

 

Don't feel bad... and hey... if you can't find an "accepted" stitch that matches what you did... think up a groovy name and take the credit!! Why not? Crochet has been around for so long I think it's about time somebody came up with a new stitch!

[DesertCrocheter]

Ayi! (shakes her finger) There are no wrong ways to crochet! Only different ways to crochet! Maybe what you were making wasn't a dc, but yes, it's something new so go ahead and name it (and could you make a swatch of it and post a photo--I'm having a hard time picturing what it would look like). After all, the hdc was probably created by someone making an 'incorrect' dc.

Patty

[ErinLindsey]

hey, when my friend tried to "teach" me to crochet, she had me doing it upside down and backwards...working from the bottom of the piece and going from left to right (i'm right handed). Oh, and she thought the slip stitch was single crochet.

 

I still can't figure out how she came up with all that...which is why I say i'm self taught. I got a book, learned how to do it, and then endured her telling me I was calling the stitches by the wrong name...I'll never forget her going "ooh, what stitch is that, I've never seen it" and me responding "um, that's single crochet"

 

I cant explain the upside down backwards technique, but as for her thinking slip stitch was single crochet...it's possible. Was she from Europe or England? In England, slip stitch is their single crochet. Half double crochet is their double crochet, and double crochet is their treble crochet.

 

So she didnt exactly tell you wrong, except for the upside down backwards technique.

[StephanieD]

I too was one of the ones going through the back loops only in the beginning. I'm a self taught crocheter too and the books only show the hook going through the back loop. The first project I ever made was a scarf and it was ribbed b/c I didn't know any better. I never finished that scarf, but I started another one with the bright idea to go through both loops and it came out exactly how I wanted it to.

[Beaglelady]

sorry, that got me laughing!! So maby you did create a new stitch and should take a bow! DOn't feel bad - I used to decrease the wrong way.

[croschet03]

When I first started crocheting ...mmm...about five years ago, I didn't know how to read patterns so I made my stitches in between the stitches. To this day, I have a blanket I made like that is on my bed. it's so warm. love it.

Val

[Happy_Hooker]

With time (and more ref sources) I have learned to do things differently... I don't want to say right or wrong, because there are no wrong ways...

[craftybutterfly]

I've been crocheting for about 28 years, and up until about 10 years ago, I thought hdc was a sc. then i saw how to do the sc in a crochet book. i just rolled my eyes at myself....all those years

[Mandys76]

I haven't done this with crochet, but some years ago my Mum taught me to knit. I thought I'd been doing it right until one day she caught me purling wrong....I always had wondered why my work looked strange!

 

I think we're all a bit guilty of "inventing" stitches when we start learning, it's just how long we carrry those habits for that differs.

[Starr]

It sounds like an extended single crochet to me, it's almost as tall as a double crochet.

 

Here is a tut on the stitch: http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/content.html?content_id=70

 

Extended single crochet (extended sc): Insert hook in designated st or row, pull up lp, yo, pull through 1 lp on hook, yo, pull through 2 lps on hook.

[darski]

I was thinking that it might be an extended HDC. It makes a nice stitch if that is what you did

[mythunderbird]

i agree with darski, it sounds exactly like that. honey let me tell you something in the 44 years since i been crocheting. there is not any "right" way or any "wrong way"

crochet how you feel and enjoy it , period. what i say is if the stitch don't fit the pattern, fix the pattern:lol :lol :lol

[mizduck]

Post a pic with steps to tutor us! I wanna learn, but am very visual.

[flyinghooks]

I've got a confession. I've been crocheting for about 5 years. I taught myself. I have used books from the library as well as the internet. I don't know if maybe I've found a wrong source or what, but I just realized that I've been doing DC's WRONG!!!! I've been going through the loop, yarn ch one, YO, pull through.

(SNIP)

Ok, so is there a name for how I've been doing it, or is that a new stitch that I just made up?

 

It might be an Elmore or extended sc, but I'm not exactly sure wht you've been doing! The E-sc would be this:

Insert hook into stitch or space where you want to put your esc, yo and pull through (2 lps on hk). yo, pull through one loop (2 lps on hk), yo, pull through two loops.

 

[Riohnna]

When I frst started crocheting,,,I only crocheted in the back loops for years. I didn't know any different.

[BlondieeAggiee]

The book I tried to learn with first must not have been very good, because I didn't understand the concept of having 2 loops on the hook for a single crochet, and 3 loops for a double. I thought single == 1 and double == 2, so I ended up doing some funky twisting thing to make the stitches. Nothing ever came out right, and I gave it up for awhile. Later I found a website and learned the correct methods. I felt like a doofus.

[darski]

i agree with darski, it sounds exactly like that. honey let me tell you something in the 44 years since i been crocheting. there is not any "right" way or any "wrong way"

crochet how you feel and enjoy it , period. what i say is if the stitch don't fit the pattern, fix the pattern:lol :lol :lol

 

You are so Right On Girl!