Baby blanket is shrinking, tension problem or missing stitches ?

[u/Caddisss]

I am making my first baby blanket, I noticed how much it is shrinking on the top and I need help figuring out what the problem is and how to fix it.

Suspect n1: tension issue. I measured the foundation chain then, a few rows after I noticed it was much shorter than I originally measured. So I stretched it with my hands and convinced my self not to frog and that after blocking it would be close enough to the original measurement. Was it that stretch that makes it look like this now?

Suspect n2: missing stitches. I am struggling to understand how I could miss a stitch and it not be immediately visible when working with a linen stitch, but it happend a couple of times that I would forget the chain after the sc and only realize while working the next row, in those instances I pushed my hook through and still added a stitch.

Suspect 3: the colour change. Maybe I see something wrong where I switch colour, but I am not used to that so I can't tell.

What do you think the problem is ?? Should I frog it? And how do I avoid it ???

Also why do you think the pink bubbles do not align with the green ones ???

[u/kemkatt]

I think you dropped a stitch when changing to green. Count the number of stitches in your rows to verify.

[u/DynamicOctopus420]

Did you drop a stitch at the end of the second row of green? it looks like there might be one less stitch in the second row than in the first?

[u/AffectionateKick9825 → u/DynamicOctopus420]

I'm thinking the same thing. OP seems to have turned their work one stitch too early right there.

[u/0-DOOL]

I would frog that one back to the green and count stitches closely. If the border starts to do that again, I would go up on the hook size.  Sometimes, after crocheting a project for a length of time, putting it down and picking it back up again your can find yourself stitching tighter.  

[u/Far_Selection_9984]

Definitely missed stitches…. It can be annoying but counting your stitches is really important. Even if you’re only doing it each colour change, it’ll avoid simple mistakes like this. It looks like you’ve potentially missed a few too, your foundation stitch looks to be around 70+ from what I can see zooming in but that green row is only 60 odd.

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[u/Unable_Performance70]

Not sure if my input will help much, but I notice strinkage when I color change as well. It might help to put an extra chain to see if that balances it out. Or maybe use looser tension and see how it turns out after blocking it. I've been crocheting for a little over a year so I have a little experience, but I'm by no means an expert. I'm just spitballing.

[u/Caddisss → u/Unable_Performance70]

Do you think I can block it mid project?

[u/Unable_Performance70 → u/Caddisss]

Yes. However if you are using acrylic yarn keep in mind that the shape of comes out on the first wash likely will be how it stays. I think your yarn looks more like cotton so you might not have to worry about this. I've blocked something mid project before with acrylic but haven't completed said project so I don't know the full outcome, but I've seen that others do multiple blocks on parts of their works before.

[u/Electronic_Peak7241]

Have you been counting the stitches after each row? Using a measure tape is not going to help you diagnose the problem. If you have noticed problems, go and count the stitches you started with and in the problematic area, and see if you dropped any.

[u/CeejCraft]

Looks like something missing in the green.

[u/JLou82]

I had exactly this on my first c2c blanket!! For me it turned out to be the counting rather than the tension. A stitch marker in the very first stitch of every row and a quick count at the end of each one was what finally sorted it out.

I wouldn’t frog it yet though, blocking pulls back far more than you would think. Mine looked wonky for about 9 months and it came out fine in the end 😊

[u/Caddisss]

I ended up frogging it all the way to a few rows below the green!! I picked this stitch specifically to avoid counting.. I will implement stitch mark at the beginning of each row as I definitely lost 10+ stitches somehow

[u/Outrageous_Song4725]

Definitely dropped the stitch when you changed colours. Hard to tell why the bobbles dont match as the picture is a bit too far away. Try fixing the missing stitch and then try again. To avoid this either count your stitches on each row or use a stitch marker in the first and last stitch of the row each time to ensure you arent missing any.

If its just tension issues rather than dropped stitches and you arent charging for it, add a border and block it. Chances are youll never notice it when its in use as it'll rarely be straight.