hello everyone! i was working on some ear warmers earlier and after 50 rows of ribbing thought they were finally ready. but when i joined the ends together, it was awfully small. it was so small in fact that they couldn’t even fit my little brother, they barely fit my dog. im assuming that im doing something wrong when making the ribbing and was wondering if you guys could help. i was doing hdc in BLO for the whole thing and i have very tight tension. is my tension the issue or something else entirely? i would appreciate any tips and advice you may have, thank you!
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Just go looser. Maybe that’s obvious but i think if your stitches are done with a looser wrist and you pull the yarn less right it’ll have more hold and be stretchy. Gl <3
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how does one get looser tension? I’ve always crocheted very tightly
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It starts at your wrist. Just move it with less force then hold your hook looser and your piece farther away. That’s what I do for looser stitches but I don’t know if it works for everyone. Good luck loaf!!
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ah alright, I’ll try that next time
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For looser tension, I just go up a size in hook.
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what kind of yarn are you using? cuz I’m making pumpkins and I’m doing the same thing except I’m using super bulky yarn and a 6.0mm hook. And its pretty stretchy.
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im using worsted weight with a 5mm hook
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oh. I dunno then.
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What size hook are you using and what weight is your yarn? It could just be that the type of yarn isn’t very stretchy.
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Sorry, just saw the previous comment haha
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But it could be the texture, too. I was making a dress a while back, and my ribbing was slip stitches in BLO. The slip stitches alone I thought wouldn’t be very stretchy, but on top of that the yarn was really taught by nature, not by my tension. It was also worsted. But, when I was finished, it was actually pretty stretchy!! I was surprised, but that’s yarn for ya lol
I think it was okay because my tension is generally pretty loose if I’m in a good mood… aaaanyways, after trying that, try a different texture, it can make a big difference. Also, maybe go DOWN a couple hook sizes, sometimes the pressure of trying to get the hook into too small of a hole makes for an already stretched out piece. It kind of pushes it to the yarn’s limit. Idk if this is helpful, but lmk!! Gl
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i believe my tension is already very tight, so im not sure if going down a hook size will help me much. im still a little unsure of how to loosen my tension but will be attempting to do so tomorrow and use a larger hook to see if that helps
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It’s often easy to tighten the loop on your hook before you start the next stitch (resulting in it being smaller than the hook size because of a narrower neck), so maybe try to make sure that it stays the same size as the wider part of your hook. Also when pulling up a loop, try to do it loosely (e.g. pull it up a bit higher than you normally do) and see if that will help.
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ah alright I’ll try that, thanks!
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I am assuming it is a slst ribbing? Maybe make a bigger base stitch. So instead of slst we do a sc or hdc.
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ah no, I’ve been using hdc this actually! i honestly didn’t even know other types of ribbing existed besides hdc until i tried to google this problem
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Hmm. I am not sure. It will need to be stretched to fit nicely on the head but I assume you did that. lol. I guess just keep doing rows. I have tight tension too.
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I personally like the BLO hdc-slst, it gives a knit like stretchy result. The type of fiber you’re using could also affect how stretchy the yarn is, some materials have more give than others.
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ah that might be it, i normally work with acrylic and it’s the most affordable for me
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