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You can get extra stitches in crochet at the ends by not watching where you make that first stitch after the turning chain. Skip the first stitch and make it in the second one. And I think the extra stitches could cause curling.

sue

That sounds right to me. If it's a severe curl, it's probably the extra stitches.

I made a ripple afghan once, many years ago, and I noticed that the different slants on the opposite sides of the points tended to curl oppositely, which made slight waves across the width. I think it had something to do with the way I twisted the yarn. However, I kind of liked it and the recipient didn't complain. The straight edges may have tried to curl a little but it wasn't severe enough to annoy me. I made it in Orlon acrylic; in wool it probably could have had the curl blocked out of it.

=Tamar

I have had such a hard time trying to learn the correct way to do a ripple. I have been working on one since early summer and finally finished it. I think you are adding stitches at each end, which is exactly what I was doing. I frogged so many times that I almost quit the project.

You actually need to short yourself a stitch at the end of the row, chain the 3 you normally would and skip one stitch when you start the next row. Sounds wierd, doesn't it. But if you place the afghan down flat, you will see that you need to skip the stitch so you don't keep growing on the ends. It also helps to count. However many stitches you are making in the hills and valleys, is exactly the number of stitches to make on the end, no extra. Same thing when you start a row, same number of stitches.

Here is a good pattern for a granny ripple that I have had good luck with. It uses groups or shells and is pretty, but not quite as warm.

Diane

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

That's it.

When you crochet a classic ripple afghan, at the tip of the peaks you make two stitches (one on either side of the tip stitch), and in the valley you skip two stitches. At the ends, you are dealing with an 'orphan' stitch that was added on the endmost side of the last peak. In plain wool it's possible to ignore it and block it firmly but in superwash wool, cotton, or acrylic, which don't block nicely (or not as nicely), you need to eliminate a stitch. The usual method in my experience is to do three stitches of standard crochet at each end, to make it easier to see where you need to skip a stitch.

So my advice is much like seasidestitcher's: When you are one or the other end of the row, take the chance to skip a stitch. Ideally you would have at least one extra stitch on each end (three is nice but visible) so you could skip the "next-to- last-one" and work the last stitch into the last stitch of the previous row.

I hope that makes sense.

=Tamar

Thanks so much, I tried a couple of rows using the tech. of skipping a stitch on the end and turn, this is turning out so much better. I was hating the idea of ripping out again. I laid the afgan out and it doesn't look so bad and I can deal with the ends curl cause it seems they are uncurling the more I work it, guess i was stitching the ends and the turn too tight. Thanks also for the link you sent, very useful, I also ran across a formula for the ripple, and I like the simple stitches cause of the warmth, I don't like the afgans that have too many holes. LOL Here's the link just in case you are interested.

Thanks for the link, I think it will really be usefull.

Take care, Diane

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