afghan stitch is driving me crazy!

[tnredro]

I'm trying to make an afghan for my sister's college graduation using panels done in afghan stitch. I've been able to do two of the panels fairly easily, but now I'm having big problems. One side of the panel is always bigger than the other. When I fold the panel in half, one side is several inches higher than the other. :bang I'm pretty sure I'm keeping my tension even. Any ideas what could be wrong? I just had to rip out over 5 inches, again, to correct the problem (for now, it always come back somewhere else in the panel :mad ). I'm getting frustrated with the whole thing, but my sister really likes the way it looks, so I want to finish the afghan for her, before mid-May. Please Help!
Rose

[MommaChelle]

Let's see if I can help any? It's been a while since I've done the afghan stitch but after you have all your loops on your hook, are you doing a chain 1 before pulling the loops off the hook? Then when you put the loops on, are you going through that very last stitch, where you did the chain 1? Are you counting the stitches as you put the loops on your hook?

[Ambersafghans]

When I did it, I know it was pretty easy to add or loose some stitches. Maybe you added some? I hope you can work it out. I know your frusteration. :grouphug
Amber

[Chatty]

It also sounds to me like you're either gaining or losing stitches.

I would count them every now and then to be sure. Or count them every row until you're sure you aren't gaining or losing them.

[xantha]

One side of the panel is always bigger than the other.

Rose, which end is bigger? I find that I both drop and add stitches in afghan/tunisian pretty frequently. If you can tell that you're getting larger or smaller by the later rows, maybe we can figure out some comon culprits (one of which Chelle already mentioned). It can be frustrating!! :hug

[tnredro]

I'm doing fine with the stitches. Its more like I'm adding an extra row on one side. If I measure the length with the stitches still on the hook, the left side is almost always longer than the right side. But if I look at the individual rows there appears to be no difference in their height on either side.

Rose

[Elegant Crochet]

My mom in law had a similar problem, so I observed her for a while...and we found the problem. She was crocheting while watching tv.....and if she stopeed for a minute to watch something, when she resumed she was taking off the wrong way...so instead of finishing the row she was on she was actually starting the reverse of that row..I hope this is understandable :) So you have to be very careful to finish the rows. It may not be whats happening to you, but it might help.

Luv
Mandy

[neenas3]

one site i wass at said to put the first loop of the row on a safety pin, and then when you are done working off loops, you put the first loop back on the hook and work it off. this supposedly keeps the one side from getting too big

[tnredro]

Mandy, I don't think that I'm doing that, but I'll pay more attention and see if I am.

[firemanshunny]

If you have the same number of stitches in each row but the starting loop is the larger side, do the safety pin idea listed above. I have that probelm when I use the stictch. By the time I got back to the first loop it would be a lot bigger from being pulled as I went along. Then I did the safety pin and that really helped!! Good luck!!