So, I know I've been away for awhile, but it's been for good reason. Very good reason, actually. Awhile ago I was bitten by the design bug and since then it's been unstoppable. Obsessive really; it wakes me at night. I've been designing up a storm and have now submitted 4 designs to magazines with another 3 in the works at the moment. Now I know that none of them may ever actually get published, but I've got a pretty good feeling about them. And hey, I am getting out there. I am doing what I love. All the best designers started somewhere, right?
Anyway, during a design I was working on I came across a problem where I needed to increase the number of stitches but only on the left side. I am working in Tunisian crochet which presents some challenges. The right side increase is simple: chain the number of stitches you need, pick up the loops and keep on truckin'. Middle of the row increases are simple too - just place extra stitches between the posts (or something similar) in the appropriate places until the needed stitches are obtained. The left side is a horse of a different color. A fellow Raveler pointed me to a video from KnitDenise showing a left side increase using the Simple Cast On method, aka backwards E loop. A posting on Vashti Braha's blog noted the same technique. I tried it and was not pleased with my results. The bottom of the loops were too flimsy and loose for me, and didn't provide a clean edge. Of course, I have the same problem knitting into a Simple Cast On as well, so I should have guessed that crocheting into it would be no different for me. I needed the clean edge because I will be crocheting a trim onto it.
What's my solution then? Crochet Cast On! I used another hook to do a Crochet Cast On for one less than the number of extra stitches I needed. I took the last loop still on the extra hook and set it on my afghan hook. Voila! I had all the new stitches I needed, with a nice clean edge to come back and crochet over. I was so pleased I just needed to share!
Hope you find this helpful!
Congratulations on being a published designer and thank you so much for the tutorial on adding stitches to the left hand side of tunisian. I'm just venturing into the tunisian and crochetnit 'world' so any tips like this are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI love this method. I can't wait to give it a try.
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