Loopy stitches when making shells

[lis]

I'm currently working on the one skein scarf from HH and it's my first time working with shells. I realised that when I start a shell, the v on my first dc always looks very loopy and loose. Is this normal?

[amberslipstitch]

I have this problem too....I just increase my tension so that it's not so loose...hope this helps!

[lis]

I did try that but it didn't seem to work too well for me. I've the most problem when dealing with the last 2 loops on the hook. For some reason, the 2 loops are always very far apart so the back loop of the completed dc always have a lot of slack.

[CrochettingMama]

It's normal for me too with the V stitch.

[CrochetDad]

To me, this sounds like a classic case of insufficient tension. I used to have this problem as well.

 

When drawing up a loop to make the (I assume) double crochets for the shell, I always pull the hook up and down while pulling back on the yarn (creating tension) to increase the tension of the yarn so there is very little "play" in the yarn.

 

Hope this helps.

[diamond]

It will appear loopy until you put stitches into the open part of the V, in other words, say you dc, ch 2, dc all in one stitch to create the v stitch. In your next row, you'll put the dc, ch 2, dc in the ch 2 space, which will in turn 'tighten' up the loopiness. I hope I explained this right. If not, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

[lis]

Looks like I have a tension problem. I'll try and see if I can adjust it. Maybe it's the way I hold the yarn. Thanks for the tips.