What am I doing wrong.....

[Guest sparky69me]

I've got the stitches down perfectly - even if I do say so myself. Got a technique going and even managed to build up a bit of speed and I practised changing colour half way through

..............BUT..............and it's a big BUT.............

 

my work keeps shrinking - my piece started out as 6 inches and currently is only 3 inches (and it's 9 inches long) - an interesting triangular shape is devleoping. Everytime I think I've solved the problem - extra chain stitch at turn - making sure I'm picking up the first stitch it still shrinks - so please help me.

 

I'm feeling ready to try an actual pattern but worried that I'm going to keep shrinking.

 

 

Please help from frustrated newbie

 

Samantha

:w-sman

[MarvieN]

Well, without actually seeing the work up close, and being pretty new to this myself *Grin* I can only think that you might be skipping stitches somewhere inside the work, if youre being careful about your turning and that first stitch. But as I said, I'm not an expert so maybe others will have better suggestions.

 

Marvie

[Guest SamplerLady]

I'd have to agree with Marvie. The only things I know of that can make something consistently "shrink" like that would be missing stitches, crocheting tighter and tighter and tighter or using a smaller hook. Count the number of stitches at the begining and then again at the end and see what comes up.

 

It's not all that uncommon of a problem.... Can you post some pics and we'll see if we can see anything?

[natalie058]

I have to agree, as long as your tension is even it sounds like you're still dropping stitches... I have that problem too... It gets to be a pain but sometimes i have to count stitches every row to make sure i didn't miss any.

[Julie]

Is it the first thing you've done (you mention being a newbie)? My first few projects did that, I would learn a new stitch and then before I knew it I had a less than square item in my hands. It seemed like I learned the stitch and got comfortable with it so they were all even and they shrank toward the end. If that is the case, keep trying and you'll find that 'problem' goes away, because all of your stitches will be even and perfect. )

[Suebee42]

Sounds to me like you're doing one of the following:

 

- starting the new row in the wrong place -- usually you start at the VERY base of the turning chain. A lot of my students tend to skip it accidentally, and start the row in the second stitch on the row. Do that enough times, and things start to shrink...

 

- missing the last stitch of each row -- this can happen with different yarns that tend to stretch, making the last stitch of a row hard to see, which often leads to skipping... and also leads to the piece getting narrower.

 

I agree that counting your stitches regularly is a very good idea.

[Guest sparky69me]

everybody for your kind replies - I've decided that my problem is a combination of most of your suggestions. I am missing stitches, I am not picking up the base of the turning chain and as I've progessed my tension has got tighter - so put all that together and we have a triangular piece of crochet.

 

Today I'm going to start a new square and see if I can keep it square.

 

Thanks again

 

Samantha

:*csheep