Help! attic24 ripple blanket

[SeymoreButts]

Ok, I'm a very new to crochet, and I'm about to bombard you experienced crocheters (is that a word??) with questions.

I bought my first hook and yarn this week. I've been teaching myself from youtube and I think I've mastered the basics. I'm still getting the hang of tension (I've got really bony hands!!) but mostly it's going ok.

I'm keen to make a blanket that I can give to my mum who's really unwell at the moment. I thought I would try the ripple blanket because the attic24 tutorial is easy to follow and it looks beautiful. But it's proving a bit of a nightmare, I'm really struggling with where to put the hook in the foundation chain and my yarn keeps splitting. Is this just too complicated for a first project? Would granny squares be better?

Also, I'm in Australia and haven't got access to all the lovely yarn available in the UK. What should I be looking for, how can you tell how splitty a yarn will be?

I can't find any local crochet meetups so I'm booked onto a course in a few weeks time, but I'd love to get going before then.

Doing the first row into the foundation chain is the most soul destroying part of any crochet project. So don't panic :-)

It's either in the ripple blanket tutorial, or somewhere else in Attic's pages but there's a good photo tutorial of how to put the row in - it's really difficult to describe.

Have you got the right size hook for the yarn? If the hook is too small it may try to go into the yarn rather than around it, if that makes sense?

Are you on Ravelry? There are knitters and crocheters from all over the world and a large number from Australia. If you asked on the Yarn forum, someone might be able to help you with the yarn issue.

Good luck with it!

There are a few ways of putting your hook in the crochet chain.

CCCCCCC One is just in the top of the chains - so just through the holes in the Cs This is probably the easiest :)

C-C-C-C-C- If you look at the chain there is a line of - and another way is to put your hook through this. If it more fiddly but does give a nice look to the bottom of the blanket - TBH though when you put a border on, this doesn't notice.

The ripple is easy enough a it's just doing the same thing over and over. Provided you pay attention and make sure the increases and decreases are nicely stacked on top of each other as you add the next row, its fine. Also, remember to put the two stitched in the top of the turning chain when you get to the end of the row - this is a common error and means your rows get shorter as you go on!

Splitty yarn is a problem - you need to find a site with reviews for the yarn your using. Ravelry may have reviews actually. Also, check whether Deramores ships to Australia for Stylecraft Special fix. If you hunt down Australian crochet blogs you might get some clues - Little Woolie is one I read and I think she has a yarn shop too now.

The C-C-C- is seen if you lie the chain flat and look at one side or the other.

You poor thing! I remember the first blanket I started on was about 2m x 2m and that first row...

Agree with Daisy about Attic/Lucy's tutorial on how to do the first row - her pictures really made sense to me when I wasn't sure where the 'top' and 'bottom' were.

here

Thanks! That's all really helpful. I've just signed up to ravelry so I'll have a look for yarn info there. I think I will persist with the ripple then. The first thing I notice from the attic24 tutorial is that her yarn looks much nicer than mine, a bit softer and much more defined.

I've just had a look and deramores does ship to Australia, but they won't ship stylecraft. There is a shop in Sydney central (Morris & Sons) that looks well stocked with lovely yarn but also uber expensive.

I will try the C-C-C method. Does it get much easier after this point?

Use a bigger hook for the foundation chain. This helps LOTS. :)

The foundation chain is always a pain in the arse. Tbh I don't worry too much about it as if it's a blanket I know I'm going to put a border on it lazy, me?!

I love the ripple blanket and have done one, but I have been crocheting for about 20 years! If you are new to crochet, I would recommend the granny stripe blanket on the Attic 24 website. It is very simple to do, my 13 year old DD is making one. It also grows very quickly, so you could do a blanket for your mum in no time at all. You only need to follow the pattern at the ends of the rows and the middle part is very easy, just three trebles into every space. It's very relaxing to do!

I've just had a bash at a granny stripe using some 8ply, it was much easier! It looks a bit looser than it should, I need to get a 4mm hook (I only have 4.5mm at the mo) but would that make much difference or is it all down to tension?

Wool warehouse will ship a stylecraft special DK colour pack to Australia for a really reasonable price, yippee!

Thanks again for all the help.

That 0.5mm in hook size can actually make a big difference - I've made some Christmas decorations with the Stylecraft DK and a 3.5mm hook rather than 4mm and it is sooo much tighter (which is what I wanted though!)

Seymore if you can get Stylecraft special DK do it!! Despite being acrylic, it is an absolutely delight to work with and it looks lovely. I am only learning to crochet at the moment and I am going to make the granny stripe blanket. I have already done the recommended tester with just 21 chains and I strongly recommend you do that too. I am confident that I can crochet this blanket, the only thing stopping me right now is that I know the foundation chain will probably take me as long to crochet as the rest of the blanket!!!