Crocheting With Color Changes Within A Row, Part 2

Photo How-Tos: Crocheting Over Unused Color
Carrying Unused Strand on Wrong Side

Continued from Page 1: Basics ...

Right Side and Wrong Side

When crocheting a piece with color changes, one same side is the wrong side of the piece throughout the entire project. Unused color strands are carried along the wrong side. You may also crochet over unused strands.

What method to use? Use the method that seems right to you for the part of your project that you are crocheting. You might find that you choose to do it differently from project to project. You might crochet over unused strands sometimes and carry unused strands across the wrong side at other times during a same project, according to your own judgement. At other times, you might use separate balls of yarn or thread for each color area, and, for the most part, not be carrying them for very far across the back but will be picking up each color again as you come to it. Use the method (or a combination of methods) that you think will work best for the project that you are currently crocheting. Don't be afraid to experiment with it. You'll soon find the ways that you, personally, like the best.

This photo shows the right side of part of a crocheted piece that has color changes within a row.

This photo shows the wrong side of the same crocheted piece.

Unused colors were crocheted over, in the wrong side example above, so there are no unused strands carried across the wrong side in this area of the piece. You can see the unused strand of white yarn dropped at the point where the last stitch with white was crocheted for that row and there are no more areas of white in the rest of that same row. The white will be picked up again in that spot on the next row.

Carrying Unused Color Strands Across The Wrong Side:

This photo shows the right side of part of a crocheted piece that has color changes within a row. See below for the wrong side of this same piece.

This photo shows the wrong side of the same crocheted piece. I carried the unused navy color yarn across the wrong side when crocheting the white stitches portion. In this example, I crocheted over the unused color strand after about every two or three stitches, to "catch" the unused strand once in awhile, so there would not be long unused strands carried across.

If unused strands are too long, when carried across, it's easy to accidentally pull the unused strand too tight (when you crochet with it next), which makes the crocheted piece "buckle" in front of that "too tight" strand.

Of course, you can crochet over an unused strand for every stitch, when you wish to. In the example above, because I had a very light color with a very dark color, I chose to crochet over the unused color strand after about every two or three stitches (rather than on every stitch) because it is less likely for the dark color to show through the light color).

Another Method: Another way that the above could be done is to use two balls of navy yarn, using a separate ball of navy yarn for the opposite side of the white area, so that the navy yarn is not carried across the white area at all. If you don't like working with lots of different balls of yarn within a row, though, the crochet-over method may be more enjoyable for you.

This article and photos copyright 2003 by Sandi Marshall, licensed to About.com, Inc. Free for your own personal use only.

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