Working from graphs, changing colors...

[Raquel]

Oh, argh. I had this brilliant idea of making hats with a pattern on the top, so I made some graphs, one for a five section circle and one for an eight section circle and colored in a design (a star and a rune) and tried them out and now... well, they look "muddy" to me! Little flecks of color show up in the wrong places! Any suggestions??? I was switching colors by grabbing the new color at the very last step of the previous stitch...

Here are the photos of the front and back of each

 

and

 

 

Grr. Am I being too picky? Expecting too much from humble crochet?

Any thoughts you have would be great!

Raquel

[diamond]

Since it' pretty visable work, I would suggest carrying your yarn instead of taking it from the upper row. That should help I think. Wouldn't hurt to try anyhows. I was doing alphabet squares recently and noticed I was having the same problem with odd dots showing up, so I switched to carrying the yarn and the dots disappeared.

[Raquel]

Hmm . . . I'm not sure what you mean by "carrying" my yarn. . . I'm sure it's a good idea, though...

Raquel

[natalie058]

I believe Cheryl's referring to tapestry crochet, where you carry two or three or four or however many yarns with you. You work with one color and lay the rest along the top of the previous row, then crochet over them, switching colors when you need to.

 

Here and Here are a couple links with info about it, and some sample patterns.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Don't feel bad it took me forever to figure out carrying I read every tutorial out there and it finally clicked.You are basically using both strand you keep the color you're not using behind your color you're actually using, your hiding it behind the stitch it kinda goes underneath the new color.I wouldn't suggest carrying it really far but you can have bobbins of yarn for each section of color and just pick it up again.

[diamond]

Exactly what Natalie & Alisha said. You keep the unused yarn on top the previous row and crochet over it until you need it again, then you switch yarns laying the now unused one over the previous row and crocheting over it.

[Aggie May]

When you are crocheting in the round, the stitches appear to go off on a slant because the top of the stitch is before the actual stitch but when you do rows, the top of the stitch is after. Is that as clear as mud?

Are you doing SC or DCs? :think

Single crochets would be easier to keep tidy looking by crocheting over the colour you are not using. Of course, when you are increasing, that does not help either.

Another thing too, is to complete the last part of each stitch with the colour to be used next. This relates to what I said at the beginning of this burble.

Have fu.

Colleen:cheer

[Tampa Doll]

Hi,

 

 

Going to put my two cents in. The best way to work with graphs, is to carry your yarn no less than 2 stitches and no more than 6 or you will see spots of the other color. You crochet over the yarn you drop. Make yourself a couple of bobbins for the second color. It will not only look neat on the right side, but it will also look neat on the wrong side.

 

If you are still confused, go to Tinkerbell on Show and tell. I think I had a picture taken of the back of the afghan and posted it.

 

Hope this helps.

[crochet.sandie]

Mary Jo, your dolls are gorgeous. Where is Tinkerbell on Show and Tell? I'm very picky with the way the back of my work looks and this topic really interests me.

 

Thanks.

 

Sandie

[Raquel]

Thanks so much you guys. I am going to try, try again, this time with all your suggestions! I'll let you know how it turns out....

 

 

Raquel