So, I saw this great way to make
crocheted ribbing wile working horizontally. (Really, go check out the link. You won't believe it.)
David Burchall has worked out ribbing that is very effective and looks knitted. I've spent much of the day trying to figure it out before I found a tip in the
Slip Stitch Crochet group on Ravelry. It's very important when making the iB stitches to hold the yarn BEHIND the hook, rather than in front as usual. After I got that, things really clicked! I've even moved from slip stitch crochet (SSC) to single crocheted ribbing using the same principle.
Another good idea is to use a hook with a sharp tip, not a blunt one. I'd like to try this technique with a larger hook size, as is recommended, but my large hooks are round on the end (as well as uncomfortable) and it makes it nearly impossible and frustrating as all get out to try to work into slip stitches.
I'm also a tight crocheter and so working into my stitches is rather difficult. But I'm trying hard to stay relaxed. Things really went better when I switched to a smaller hook with a pointy end. But I lost drape, I think.
Also, when working in the round, I cannot work in a spiral or it won't create ribbing. So tomorrow I'll swatch with joining and turning using the new method that
Futuregirl invented. Stumbled upon? You decide.
I found that when you're working in ssc for the ribbing and then change to sc ribbing, your piece not only grows vertically, but also horizontally. This is perfect for my purposes!
And what are my purposes, you ask? I'm glad that you asked!
I'm designing fingerless gloves for my co-worker! I mentioned this long long ago. And now I'm finally getting off my butt and doing it. Uh, good thing since Christmas is in 6 days (not including today since I'm about to go to bed.)
A few nights ago, I realized that what was really holding me up was the size issue. I had used this
sizing chart to help me figure out that her hands were a woman's large, but then I didn't really want to use any of the patterns I found online. My hand falls in the small range. I definitely can't use my hand as comparison! What if it didn't fit?
This schematic is much more helpful for people designing their on gloves. But before I saw that, I thought I'd do a ribbed glove so that there would be more of a chance of it fitting. In my head, I designed a glove that had a ribbed cuff and then ribbing running up the back of the hand with sc or linked dc for the palm and maybe some small edging at the top.
Well that's great, but I'm trying to make these be a one skein project! And ribbing is tricky in sc. If I did fpdc/bpdc then I don't think I'd be able to come close to using only one skein. And I did do a glove worked vertically before so I could do blo, but I find shaping to be a bit harder. So I went looking around. And then I found the ssc ribbing! Awesome. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a larger pointer hook and I'll try to sneakily (or not) get a wrist measurement and lower hand measurement from said co-worker so I know if I'm in the right ballpark.
If all goes well, I'll take pictures of the swatches I worked on today and the finished project! I better get cracking, though. I've got one more crochet/sewing project to work on and I need to finish up another one before Christmas!
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