The trouble with trebles

 No, you sad bunch of Trekkies,  not "Tribbles"!

Image courtesy of the BBC

 
I've been fighting with my crochet.

I was steaming ahead (as per my previous post) but then realised I was losing stitches! There WERE 40, and then 39, and by the 7th row, there were 38!!!

The trouble with trebles is that they create arches, and I was taught, by both of my grandmas, that when you create the next row of stitches, you crochet into the arches created by the row before.

This works when you're going in circles.

For straight lines and squares, it's not so good...my work started looking a bit, errm, pyramid-like. The bottom row had 40 stitches, the next 39 (which I managed to keep for a few rows) then I'd got to 7 rows and there were only 38.

"I must be doing it wrong," I thought.

Usually, this would have heralded the end of the project; I HATE unpicking things and re-doing them. Miss Perfection here seemed to think that it was ruined now so there's  no point carrying on. Harrumph. (Accompanied by throwing the [insert crafty project name here] onto the floor) My family will tell you, there are many,  many, such unfinished projects under my bed at home!

But, somewhere along the last couple of years, I seem to have grown some patience! I hoiked the stitches out back to the last row with 40 on, and started again. I did another 5 - I was up to about 10 rows, and was going well. Then I counted. 39. Damn!

Right, I thought, I'll look at a book. I have a pretty good needlework encyclopedia, in Italian, which was given to me by my cousin Stefano's wife Anna-Lisa'a mum Maria - extended families, you understand.

I broke out the 'how not to lose stitches doing trebles' chapter. Gosh. I WAS doing it wrong. I shouldn't have been going in between the trebles, but into the top of each one.

So, in a 'very unlike me' behaviour, I pulled the whole thing out and started again!

And, I finished one whole side. And, I didn't lose a single stitch. And, I've started side 2!!!

YAY!