# Tight crocheting



## SilverFlame819

Hi, everyone.  So I just started crocheting earlier this year. I'm teaching myself from books and online info... So the problem I'm running into is that not only do I appear to have a big, fat head, so none of the beanie patterns want to fit my noggin, but that the things I crochet come out WAY smaller than they should. I'm used to braiding and cross-stitching, so I think I'm just pulling my yarn too tightly, but I have tried to not pull my free yarn tight when crocheting (I keep it gathered up, but not snug), and I have also tried using a larger hook to compensate. But even that doesn't seem to work, and I'm not sure how to make the stitches bigger other than just not holding onto the loose part of the yarn and letting it hang free and floppy, which sounds like a pain to work with... Does anyone have any ideas on how to help with this?

Right now, I seem to be re-writing every single pattern I try to make it bigger, but when I move on to more complicated patterns that require a certain stitch pattern and I can't just add in extra stitches (I've been working mostly on simple in-the-round type beanies with varying yarn weights), I'm going to just be out of luck. 

For example... I made a beanie last week for my niece's Xmas present. It's a copy of the beanie Bella wears in the movie Twilight. It's supposed to fit a teen-adult head, and it came out the size needed to fit a kindergartner!

Any ideas? Suggestions? 

I want to learn knitting too, but am unwilling to switch crafts and take on another until I'm good at the crocheting first! 

Thanks in advance for all your help! 

Angela


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## bluesky

Try using a larger hook than the pattern calls for. Check your pattern and see if it indicates the gauge - i.e. how many stitches you're supposed to get per inch - and then make 4x4 or larger practice swatches using successively larger hooks until you meet the required gauge. It takes time to do this but you'll end up with the desired results. Here's an article to check...

http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/content.html?content_id=591


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## PollySC

I wrap the yarn once around my little finger then under the other fingers and over the 1st finger of my left hand. I do the same when knitting and have no idea if that's the "right" way to do it. It's the way I used to see older women carry the yarn/thread. I'd try a larger size hook before altering the number of stitches. That might loosen up your work ... if a pattern calls for a size "g", use a "j", for example. Swatch a bit and see what the gauge looks like. There are also little gadgets you can wear on your yarn-carrying finger to thread the yarn through and adjust the tension, but I've never tried those.

eta: Your response, Bluesky, came up while I was typing ... didn't mean to step on your idea.


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## SilverFlame819

I have tried the larger hook idea, (as mentioned in my babbling first post ) but I've never skipped 3 hook sizes! *lol* I figured one hook should have gotten it done. I'll have to give that a go! 

I always skip the swatch step because I find it time consuming and know that my work will come out smaller no matter what I do... But now I'm thinking if I use a larger and larger hook until I get the right swatch size, that should work okay. 

Thanks, you two! Obviously I'm brain dead lately.


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## Marchwind

Whether you knit or crochet gauge is important. I'm lucky I almost always knit to gauge, which means I knit right on, not too loose not to tight. Always crochet or kit to gauge any your pattern will always turn out the correct size. It's more than okay to increase or decrease needle or hook size to get to where you need to be.


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## Mrs. Jo

How are you holding your yarn? Sometimes if the yarn is pulling tightly, I fin my crochet stitches getting tighter and tighter, so consider how your yarn is being held. Also, if you have trained your hands to crochet really tightly, you need to train them to loosen up. Try Marchwinds idea of gauge, trying to train yourself to loosen your stitches. 

My yarn is wrapped around my left index finger and drapes down. There are many ways to hold a crochet hook and yarn, so whatever works.


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## Marchwind

I think you main problem is that final tug or yank you give the yarn before or after you complete the stitch. Ask yourself, "Why am I doing that?" Are you afraid you will lose the stitch? Are you doing it out of habit? This is not braiding so you don't need to give the yarn that final tug. Make yourself conscious of your actions and really think about every little step as you preform it. You will get it eventually, maybe stop doing hats and go back to wash cloths until you can get your gauge and tension where you want it. Your hands will thank you for loosening up too.


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## PollySC

I thought maybe 2 or 3 sizes because it sounds like you're way too tight, not just a little too tight. A larger hook is probably easier to use while you learn to loosen a bit, too. Too-tight crochet will make a stiff, solid fabric and adding stitches won't fix that problem. You also might want to hold the hook lightly if you're gripping it too tightly. I don't usually pull the yarn, just let the ball rest on your lap or beside you and guide the yarn through your fingers without much tension.


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## SilverFlame819

Well, I started off just making a chunk of "fabric" with each stitch I learned. I figure I can make a weird patchwork blanket later on with all the weird pieces... But I quickly got tired of the pieces and wanted to put it to use, so I switched straight to beanies. I admit, I'm a beanie fanatic. I have a list of a few hundred already I want to do. (My name is Angela and I have a problem. *lol*)

I have done them with regular WW, chunky, and super chunky so far. Same thing with all of them. I use the hook that is recommended on the package.

For patterns, I have been using what the author recommends when it comes to hook size, but the finished product always comes out anywhere between super tiny and just an inch or so smaller than I need, so I've taken to changing the pattern to fit my head and continuing to stitch as needed...

Here are a few pix of basic stitches... Can someone give me an idea of if this looks abnormally tight to them?

This was my first piece, SC. 









DC









HDC









My first completed beanie (WW, SC), I had to alter this pattern to make it bigger.









My second beanie (Super Chunky, DC)... same thing.









A sand & surf spiral beanie I'm currently paused on. Because I used such highly contrasting colors, and the secondary color is carried between the strands of the primary, I have to pull it really tightly so you don't see the other color showing through. I have not figured out how to fix this issue, but I know I will have to alter this design to make it bigger because of this. The author used baby pink & cream for hers, so they blend enough that you don't notice the show-through... *sighs*









This is supposed to be the beanie Bella wears to the beach in Twilight. It should be big enough to fit an adult or teen, and as you can see, it barely fits my Border Collie. *lol* NO, the beanie is not for the dog. It's for my niece. But I needed a model!









This beanie is supposed to be for a child, so I'm just hoping I didn't make it so small that it doesn't FIT the child! And yes, this dog was much happier about being a model for a dorky hat than my other dog was. 









This is the beanie I'm working on now... Again, having to alter the pattern. It is WW with HDC stitches...









March, I have tried to be really lax about the stitches, but I find my hands wanting to fall into the rhythm and tautness that they're used to. If I consciously watch each stitch, I just think - they don't LOOK tight to me. My friend has also begun crocheting, and she crochets so loosely that I'm not sure how she doesn't get her yarn tangled, but I think I need to take some lessons from her! *lol*

Do these stitches look really tight to you guys??

Sorry for the huge pix, but I wanted you to be able to see the actual stitches, not just a far-away pic...


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## SilverFlame819

Okay, here's an up-close pic of the first beanie I did before it was a beanie...

This is all SC stitched. This is a much better pic of the stitches than the pic of it above as a finished beanie. It is WW. I believe I used an H (I think that's what most WW recommends?)...


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## Mrs. Jo

Can you take a pic of how you hold your work? (camera under the chin.) Your stitches are nice and tight, and sometimes we want that and sometimes we don't. 
You can try making your loops bigger, and make sure your yarn is not super tight. It's hard to help without being able to see what you are doing...another thing I noticed, I crochet tighter when my hands are tired. So relaxed hands are probably important, too.


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## jd4020

I'm no expert but your stitches look neat & tidy to me. Don't have anything to add to what has already been offered here.
When I first started crocheting dishrags the pattern called for an H hook. I ended up with a small receiving blanket. I have to use a D hook to make the pattern I use come out to the dishrag size.
jd


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## SilverFlame819

A picture. *lol* Uhhhh... Well, if I take a picture, I only have one hand, since I've been using my camera phone for everything lately. I *could* just not be lazy and use my real camera set to timer, so both my hands are in the pic, but how about the lazy way? *lol* Here's a video. I can set it to record and then just crochet a few for you guys.

I tried to go slower so it's not as mind-boggling. As you can see, I hold the free yarn in my right hand when I push the hook through the work, so it's not in the way. Then I transfer it to my left hand, where I hold the work with my thumb and index finger, and the free yarn with my middle, ring, and pinky fingers. I tried the whole "loop around the pinky, under the hand, and back over the index" traditional way of holding it and that was sooooo not working for me. I couldn't keep the yarn loose enough to use! (And yes, if any of you are observant enough to catch it, I yarn UNDER when I pull the yarn back through the work. It just seems to work easier that way. I've tried it both ways, but I find doing a yo at that point harder to pull through, and the end product looks about identical - eek! - *lol* Don't yell at me! )

I just realized that Photobucket now allows video uploads too. That's good, I won't have to fight with YouTube over the legal rights of having an Incubus song playing (oops) when I recorded this! 

Now let's see if I can get it to load!


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## Mrs. Jo

I'm pretty sure the problem is that your yarn is very tight. When I watch the video you are switching the yarn back to the right hand to hold it and this is pulling your loop pretty tight. Kind of an interesting way to crochet, but not necessarily wrong. 
Now, something you might practice is making sure your loops have 1/2 inch space in them. Make them loose. If you can't crochet with them loose the way you have been doing it then you might consider re-learning how you hold your yarn. 
Have you looked at any youtube videos? There are several good crocheters there and they have some nice videos. You can see how some other people hold their yarn.


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## SilverFlame819

Oh, man. *lol*

The reason I wasn't holding my yarn in the traditional way was because the yarn would tighten up so much that I couldn't use it... Maybe I'll work on that some tonight. 

I switch the yarn to the right side because I crochet so quickly (this video is me slowing down so it's viewable) that if the yarn is off to the left when I put the hook through the work, I often catch it in the hook. So I hand it off to the right where it's out of the way when I put the hook through the work, then hand it back over to the left to finish the stitch. I guess I'm not sure how to hold the yarn at all then except for just letting it hang loose, because this is the simplest way I've found of keeping the yarn coming without letting it tighten up on me. But if this is considered tight... well, then, I'm at a loss.

I'm not sure what you mean by making sure my loops have a large space. Isn't the working part of the yarn supposed to be big enough to fit around the hook, but not floppy? 

Ohhh, maybe it's time I suck it up and go into the LYS and join the crocheting classes. :\


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## calliemoonbeam

Okay, first off I can say you've got a death grip on that yarn, lol! Not only are you holding it too tightly, but you're pulling it tight after each stitch, and you don't want to do that.

Second, I think that small right-hand underhanded wrap you're doing is only contributing to the problem. By the time you do that and then pull it tight, you're not actually adding any length to your stitch at all.

Third, I thought when looking at your swatches that your stitches don't look quite right to me, not "tall" enough. Your single crochet looks almost like just a row of yarn overs and slipped stictches, and the double crochet looks like a half-double. Then, when watching your video, I think maybe I caught something, but I'm not sure. Is that supposed to be double crochet?

If so, on the last part of your stitch, you have three loops on the hook. You yarn over and pull through two, then it looks like you just pull that loop through the last loop without yarning over first. If you are yarning over, it's that small underhanded loop again, and it's such a small movement that I can't even catch it on video, and I watched it a dozen times, lol. 

When you're down to those three loops on the hook, you should yarn over, pull through two, then yarn over AGAIN and pull through those two loops. You should always be pulling through two loops at a time. Does that make sense? If you're missing that last yarn over, that will make your stitches too short and too tight also. 

If you ARE doing that last yarn over, again that small underhand wrap is just killing you, lol. You're not getting even half of the yarn length with that wrap that you would with the left-hand wrap. 

I think you're going to have to retrain yourself to hold that yarn in your left hand and NOT pull each stitch tight after you do it. The pulling tight I understand, I did the same thing when I started, and I still tend to crochet too tight when starting up again after a long absence. I have to force myself to loosen up, and I sometimes have to use a hook one or two sizes larger still, and I've been crocheting for 30 years. 

I don't have a camera, but here's a video that shows a left-hand wrap double crochet stitch that's pretty clear. See how much more yarn she's getting into her stitch than your way, and the last yarn over before pulling through that final loop?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1txJLRPfuE[/ame]

Lastly, this video shows the "proper way" to hold your yarn, but I can't do it like this either, lol (but look, she's making beanies!). Like you said, it just binds up my pinkie and won't flow with my work. What I do is lay it over my pinkie like she does, but then I wrap it around my pinkie and bring it up over the back side of my fingers, not in front. Then it just lays over the top of my index finger, not underneath the ring and middle fingers. It flows much more smoothly for me that way and helps loosen up my tension. Clear as mud right??

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QUoogVp3Fc[/ame]

Sorry this is so long, I just don't know how to describe things quickly, lol, but I hope this helps some. Feel free to grill me if I wasn't clear!


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## SilverFlame819

*lol* No, it's not a DC. It's a HDC. So as far as I know, it's SUPPOSED to be pulled through all three loops at once. The yarn, to me, does not feel like I'm pulling it tightly, but obviously it's more tight than it SHOULD be, because my projects are coming out way too small. 

I only do the yarn under one time - after sticking the hook through the loop. I have tried to YO like you're supposed to at that point, but it feels like I have to turn my project strangely (twist my wrists) for the hook to grab the yarn to do it that way. Turns out my other beginner friend is doing the same thing. When I pointed out to her that I also do it, but it's _wrong_, she tried doing YO's there too and was like - Whoa, that's hard! *lol*

I do pull the loose yarn after each stitch. It's what is making my stitches uniform. I guess at this point, I'm just uncertain what I SHOULD be doing instead. Leaving the yarn flopping loose just feels beyond wrong to me. I know lots of knitters who do not like crochet because it's too "holey" for them, and if I SHOULD be leaving the big holes, I guess I'm kind of thinking along those same lines... Why do a holey beanie? Isn't the point to keep your head warm?

Ohhhh. *sighs*

Back to the drawing board for me, I guess.


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## SilverFlame819

Okay, obviously my "crocheting in slow-mo" video wasn't slow enough, so here's the process even slower. *lol* You can see at the beginning how I hold the yarn in my right hand and then how I transfer it to the left. It looks as though I'm pulling the stitch super tight at the end, but really, I'm just pulling it slowly in an exaggerated fashion. I'm not gripping it to yank it tightly... But it will give you a better idea of what I'm doing so you can pinpoint where I'm going wrong, or solidify what you thought you were seeing in the first video.

Sheesh, what a pain I am! Sorry! :S


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## Michee

My take on this. Looking at the last vid you are reversing your wraps with a stitch, essentially undoing much of your gain. Yarn over in the same direction each time (this way http://crochet.about.com/od/learnbasics/ss/stchain_6.htm )and see if that helps. The switching hands isn't helping but I don't think it is the complete cause.

For just too tight, hook size is just a suggestion for a place to start. If you need to go up or down 10 hook sizes, so be it. I always go up one size in crocheting and up 2-3 sizes in knitting, check my gauge or fabric I am getting and go from there. Once you learn how your fabric compares to the average pattern, you'll know what you need before even starting a project.


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## SilverFlame819

Aah, to be a newbie! :S

Thanks, everyone!


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## calliemoonbeam

Oh shoot, I thought I caught it, lol! Well, I do think part of the problem is you're comparing it to knit stitches. Crochet is WAY looser than knitting and is supposed to be open work unless you're just doing single crochet, which is mostly only done in thread work to do what they call filet crochet. It may take a completely different mind set to learn to accept those "loose floppy" stitches.

The only other suggestion I have is to keep going up on your hook size until you get the right gauge (and that gauge swatch is especially important to people like you and me, lol, until we figure out where we fit although I agree it feels like a total waste of time!).  But you don't have to waste the yarn, once you've figured out your gauge, unravel it and use it in your project. And practice, practice, practice loosening up. Oh, another thing to think about...crocheting too tight also means a heavier, denser end product and takes much more yarn than the pattern calls for to get it to size, so buy accordingly and be aware that it may weigh twice as much as it's supposed to.

But if you honestly don't like the way the open work looks, then I think your only solution is to go back to knitting. I feel they serve two entirely different functions, and there's a place for both in crafting items. For some things, I really want that closely woven knit look, but on others I love the open lacy look of the crochet, and it seems like crochet items just go faster to me, so I do a lot more of it, but there's no wrong choice. You don't HAVE to do things in crochet. There are even converters on line to convert a crochet pattern to knit (or at least there used to be), so if it's a particular pattern you like, try that and then knit it. 

Your sand and surf beanie has such tight stitches it reminds me of the hacky sacks I made for my nephew and his friends back in the early 90s, lol.  They needed to be tight enough to keep grains of rice in! Good luck, but don't make yourself crazy over it!

P.S. I just had a flashback to my beginning crochet days. My first project was a doily in thread, and my work was so tight I had to really force my hook back through a loop for the next row, and it all just looked like I tied a bunch of knots in it, ROFL! And I did almost give up several times before it finallly clicked and I got it, so there's hope!


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## SilverFlame819

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that I've ever knitted before. *lol* I want to get good at the crocheting before I learn to knit. I just know that I've read before where knitters find crocheting "pointless" or unattractive because of the holes. I'm not saying I really MIND the holes. Obviously my purplish DC beanie has holes. But for the most part, my stitching does not have holes.

I just need a lot of practice. 

I could certainly make hacky sacks! *lol* I made myself a wallet with sock yarn. 8| There won't be any change... or dust... falling through cracks in that one! *lol*


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## Tad

When I started to knit I was haveing a hard time and for the most part being self taught via youtube I waas searching around and it suggested learn to crochet so I gave it a go. I was very tight in the beginning and what I did was I just put the yarn over my left index finger and don't wrap around the pinky. I just run it between my first two fingers and can adjust tension by puting a little preassure on the yarn but it doesn't require much. MIght be hard to change now I learned to knit funny and will be very hard to change, I knit with one needle in my left hand and the right hand needle in my lap, might pose a problem if I ever try circulars! Good luck!


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