Beginner Help Photos for Crocheting

Help Photos for Crocheting the Off Center Lines Square

I've taken some in-progress photos of my Off Center Lines Square pattern, to refer to if any questions come up while crocheting the square. The photo above shows the pattern crocheted through Row 12, with Row 12 just completed and four more rows to go, to finish the square.

Below I have explained in detail any parts that I thought beginning crocheters might have questions about as they crochet the pattern.

Sometimes beginners will be unsure of the exact place that the double crochet should be made that is made right after the chain-3 that starts the row.

The photo on the left shows the chain-3 made, that is used to turn the piece around and begin the new row. This chain-3 also counts as the first double crochet of the row.

When a pattern indicates that the chain-3 that started the row counts as the first double crochet of the row, then you will not make the next double crochet in the stitch that is directly below that chain-3 but will make it in the next stitch (which is the second stitch of the row being worked into). If you made it in the first stitch of the row being worked into, you would accidentally increase the number of stitches in the row that you are just starting. The photo on the left above shows the double crochet made after the chain-3 that started the row. You can see where that double crochet was made.

Another common error that can result in an incorrect number of double crochet in the row is at the end of the row.

It is easy to accidentally skip crocheting into the chain-3 at the very end of the row being worked into (this is the chain-3 that started the row being worked into but since the crocheted piece was turned around to start a new row, that chain-3 is now at the end of the row that is being worked into). The photo on the left shows the end of the row, with the last double crochet of the current row already made in the chain-3 at the very end of the row being worked into.

If the chain-3 at the very end of a row is accidentally skipped and not worked into, it would incorrectly decrease the number of stitches in that row by one stitch each time. This is usually the reason for a crocheted piece becoming narrower with each row, when the crocheter did not intend for that to happen.

The three photos and hints above should help to get the correct number of double crochet stitches made in rows 1 and 2 of the pattern. It is essential to have the right number of stitches in these two rows, so that the filet crochet design to follow will work out correctly across the rows, without having too few stitches (or too many stitches) to accomplish that.

This photo shows the beginning of Row 3, so if you have any questions about the directions at the start of that row, you can compare those directions to this photo to understand what those directions mean. The row begins with the chain-3, then the next double crochet is made in the second stitch of the row being worked into (as I explained above). Next, you will make a double crochet in each of the next 3 double crochet.

The direction to (ch 1, skip next dc, dc in next dc) twice, if shown without the parenthesis (but just repeated in words) would read as:
ch 1, skip next dc, dc in next dc, ch 1, skip next dc, dc in next dc. The parenthesis help to shorten the amount of text in the pattern and what is inside the parenthesis is repeated the number of times that the pattern tells you to repeat it.

You can see on the photo above how this repeat looks when crocheted (the part with the holes in the design). Where you see the group of three double crochet made after the last hole, the first double crochet of that group of three was made as part of the repeat that you just did, so the directions now tell you to make a double crochet in each of the next two double crochet.

If you were not familiar before with the meaning of directions in parenthesis, to show repeats in a pattern, hopefully my photo and explanation above has cleared that up for you so that you can go ahead with the rest of the Row 3 directions to finish the row and to be able to confidentally crochet other patterns you come across that have repeats indicated by the use of parenthesis in the directions.

This photo shows the last part of the piece after Row 4 has been completed. Once you have successfully made it across Row 3, then each stitch made in Row 4 is like the stitch directly below it (but I have written these directions out completely for you in the pattern, for you to follow). You can see in the photo how this looks.

This last photo shows all of Row 4, after Row 4 has been completed, so you can see the look of the whole row.

In the pattern, rows 3 and 4 are repeated a number of times so, once you've got those rows figured out, repeating those rows is no problem.

At the very top of this page, I've shown a photo of Row 12 just completed, so you can see the look of making a double crochet in a chain-1 space, to make that row to be in solid double crochet all the way across.

After Row 12, there are 4 more rows to do but those are just repeats of things you have already done in the previous rows, so there's nothing that needs to be explained further for those rows.

The chart and full written pattern directions for my Off Center Lines Square are on another web page on my blog, at: Click Here
That url is -
http://filet-crochet.blogspot.com/2010/01/off-center-lines-square-free-crochet.html

Copyright, Terms of Use: This photo tutorial written by Sandi Marshall, with photos created by Sandi Marshall, January 2010. This tutorial, instructions and explanations and pattern photos are copyright 2010 by Sandi Marshall. You can help me to be able to continue making more tutorials by honoring copyright law regarding my patterns and tutorial pages. In other words, do not put my blog pages, pattern directions or images on another web page, blog or elsewhere, which would be a form of republishing them (even if it would be distributed for free; which, when done without my permission would still be a violation of copyright law). Do not distribute reproduced copies of any of the contents of this page, in any form, even for free. Instead, you may give others the URL for this page so that they may come to this site for themselves. Thank you. ~ Sandi Marshall