Help!?!?!!

[twouglyducks]

I just made one of the dandelion dreamers witches. I seriously screwed up increasing and decreasing almost every round?? What am I doing wrong? Is there someone online with CLEAR video or pictures of joining with slipstitch, or where to start the first stitch on a round? poor gabriel's "gnome" has junk in his trunk from the messed up decreases> :LOL

[mommomrebecca]

You really don't have to join every round! Just keep crocheting around in a spiral. :jack At the end finish with a slip stitch in the back and you won't even be able to tell anything. :) That's what I do anyway.

[twouglyducks]

I wonder if that would help me at all? :LOL I'll try that next time. But, for example, one round was supposed to go from 32sts down to 28, and I had probably 33 at the end??? Didn't count the round before. THen, I'd have 19 instead of 20, or 19 instead of 16. :lol: Pretty sad, actually. So, it's lumpy the armless gnome with no face right now.

[Torismom]

Here's the link I used for the decreasing. There's even a video:
http://www.stitchguide.com/stitches/crochet/stitch_pages/cro_sc_decrease.html

The increasing is just two stitches made into the top of one single crochet.
This pic isn't as clear as a video, but here goes:
http://www.wonderful-things.com/newcrochet4b.htm
Hope that helps!!

[twouglyducks]

I'm having a hard time explaining my issue b/c I don't know what it is. I get the increases and decreases. What I DON"T get is which stitch/loop exactly is the first/last of the round? Where do I slip the stitch to join? Where do I start my first sc of the round???

[dandelions2]

Hey, Davina. :) How about trying a stitch marker in the first stitch of the round so you can see which one it is when you get there? Mark that first stitch, do the number of stitches you need for the pattern, then join with that slip stitch in the marked stitch. Make sure you count the stitches at the end of every round to make sure you're doing it correctly so if you do mess up, there's not a lot to frog. After doing that for a few rounds, it'll become easier to tell where the beginning is.

The first sc of the round is made in the same stitch as the sl st. So after you sl st to join the end of the round, you ch 1 and then sc in that same st. Make sense?

[twouglyducks]

Thank you! Duh, never thought to mark the first stitch... I was marking the last one, and getting really confused.
The first sc of the round is made in the same stitch as the sl st. So after you sl st to join the end of the round, you ch 1 and then sc in that same st.
And this may have solved quite a bit of my problem.

Note to self, don't use black peace fleece on a learning project. :LOL

[dandelions2]

lol...yeah, black pf might make it a teensy bit difficult. lol