Crochet help? Turning rows...

[granola_mom]

I've been knitting for two years now but just picked up crochet. I'm almost done my first project... a really simple scarf using just hdc and dc. It looks great except for the edges (it's worked horizontally, so the edges aren't that big but still). I cannot find a single decent description or video out there of how to turn a row properly, as I figure this is my problem. It seems like the further I go into my scarf, as if I'm accidentally decreasing at the beginning of the rows, so the edges are slanted. Maybe this is because I'm skipping the first stitch after the turning chain, but my crochet book says to skip the first stitch in a new row after the chain? Is that wrong?

Also, it always seems as if I can't work totally to the edge of the scarf, because the stitches drop off into the chain, which sort of makes a loop at the end of the row. Is it supposed to look like that... it sort of looks a little scalloped to me?

Thanks for your help!

[cristeen]

If you skip the first stitch in the previous row, then your turning chain becomes the first "stitch". If you don't place a stitch in that turning chain on the way back, then you're decreasing each row. That would be why you're getting those "scallops".

The easiest way to learn this is by crocheting a square. Use whatever number you like, and whatever stitch you like. At the end of the first row (not the chain row), before you turn, count your stitches. You should have the correct number. Now turn, do the next row. Count. Turn, do the next row. Count. If at any time your count comes up -1 or +1, then something's wrong. Go back over every stitch in the row. Did you skip the first 2 stitches? Did you skip the last stitch? Find the problem. Once you do, frog back to it, fix it and continue. When you've done 10 or 15 rows, you'll probably have a pretty good grasp of how to keep your piece square. If you're still making mistakes, keep going until you do have a good grasp of it.

It definitely takes practice. And there are times when I still have to stop and count to be sure, and I've been crocheting for over 20 years.

[Sagesgirl]

Another thought: Though "the" way is to have the turning chain equal the first new stitch (except with single crochet), it's not 100% necessary. Assuming you're working in DC, you can chain two or three & not count those turning chains as the new first stitch, and just crochet in every stitch. The only trick is to remember you're doing this.

Honestly, though, it sounds like you are simply running into the typical double crochet problem--that turning chain three doesn't look a thing like the rest of the stitches in the row. It's annoying (and one of the big reasons I started not counting my turning chains). One of the more common ways to fix it is to chain 2 instead of 3 for the first DC in the row.

Whatever you choose to do, I recommend you make it your standard, and stick with it as much as possible. You'll have to make mental adjustments in patterns sometimes (for instance, the starting V-stitch is usually a chain 4, but you'd go ahead & make the DC + ch 1 after your non-counting turning chains).

Bottom line, though, is what Cristeen said. You have to count. Especially as a newcomer. I don't have to count most of the time, but when I'm working on a new/complicated pattern, I not only count as I go along, I stop and re-count at the end of the row.