It’s been quite some time since I have tried to learn a new stitch. It seems like once I got my basic repertoire of stitches down my brain decided it had enough and was not going to process any more. The last time I actually tried to learn a new stitch or technique was last year with the corner to corner (C2C) crochet method. I gave up not too long after that and didn’t look back.
With the new year, I decided that maybe…just maybe, I should try to broaden my horizons. Maybe I should try to expand my skills, or fail miserably trying. To this aim, I decided to revisit C2C.
I watched multiple YouTube demonstrations of the stitch and every time I started, I ended up confusing myself more. Finally, it seemed like the switch went on in my head and it started to make sense. Huzzah! The good news is I think I can comfortably make a project with C2C; the bad news, it might have to be one color because the color change and me on this technique? Not such good friends.
I started working last night on this project; which I hope will be a pillow for a Supernatural pillow. Couple minor problems so far: (1) like I mentioned before the color changes and I are not such good friends and (2) I grossly underestimated how much yarn even a small project was going to take. I’m not sure if I have enough to finish, and I don’t want to pay $12.95 (with shipping) for a $5 skein of yarn.
On the positive side, I think I have the concept of the stitches and what I need to do down pat. And, thanks to videos from Blossom Crochet for how to manage the basics and from The Crochet Crowd for the design, I feel much more confident than I did if you would have asked me yesterday at this time.
One of the most helpful tips that I learned was from The Crochet Crowd regarding how to follow the graphgan chart. I can see the chart and I can (to some extent follow the pattern), but when you are trying to follow that a block pattern, sometimes even if you are marking off stitches as you go, there is an increased room for error. I know what colors and stitches need to be made, but once I got off track it was very difficult to get back on course again. However, from The Crochet Crowd it talked about putting it in an Excel spreadsheet to follow. I’m an accountant in my day job, so Excel is definitely my jam.
To follow along with the chart above, it is smooth sailing so long as it is one color, but once the colors start moving from white to black, it gets a little harder to follow along, even using editing tools to mark progress.
To take the graph and put it into a workbook – that was something that I could follow more clearly. This is not to say that I might not still get confused and put stitches in the wrong place, but by putting the work in before hand to count and get familiar with the pattern expectations, I feel better about handling the project. I definitely feel more prepared.
And while the chart is more compact and a great visual representation, knowing it is so simple to create your own written instructions is even that much better. It takes time to set up and I couldn’t jump immediately into the pattern, which I’m sometimes too impatient to wait, but so far I feel like I know what I’m looking for. The accountant in me reconciled my stitches as I went (increases I made sure my stitches added up to the row number, decreases the previous row’s count minus one); so I feel comfortable that I have all my stitches accounted for.
I’m really excited to see how this turns out. If this technique works for me, and if my stitches continue to look decent, I may just have opened up a new realm for myself. We’ll see if this project turns out even close to what I imagined and see where to go from here.
Hugs and cuddles,
Elisha
Lil' Luvvies 