Crochet invisible join/rounds question

risainthesky

I'm crocheting a simple striped baby beanie.. all double crochet and changing the color after every round. I'm not liking the seam and gaps that it makes and am trying to follow the tutorial here:

http://sarahlondon.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/seamless-symmetrical/

However, doing the invisible join adds a "stitch" to each round. Do I just go with the flow and have an extra stitch every row or do I need to compensate for it?

Also, is there an "invisible" way to join the new color? All the tutorials I've looked up are about invisible joining within a row or at the end of a row and really don't have to do with rounds and if they do, it doesn't look right. I tried this:

http://minspiration.blogspot.com/2010/05/colour-change-tutorial.html

So now I'm wondering is there a way to join yarn so I don't have to do a chain since I'm not slip stitching into the top of a chain? Like go directly into a double crochet?

I thought I was a pretty decent crocheter but the more I do, the more I'm wanting a better finish to my work. Any advice/tutorials/whatever would be great! Thanks!

charlatti

How is it adding an extra stitch? I've never used that method, but from the pictures, it looks like you're joining in the same spot you always would but with a neater look, so no extra should be created.

 I've started rounds with half doubles (no chain), but it's a little hard to keep the yarn in the right configuration with a dc. You could definitely experiment with it, though.

risainthesky

charlatti:

How is it adding an extra stitch? I've never used that method, but from the pictures, it looks like you're joining in the same spot you always would but with a neater look, so no extra should be created.

 I've started rounds with half doubles (no chain), but it's a little hard to keep the yarn in the right configuration with a dc. You could definitely experiment with it, though.

It's adding a stitch because when you weave it under the next stitch and back through the original one (to create a faux stitch finish) then that would be another "stitch" you would crochet into. Otherwise you get a gap from skipping over it.

charlatti

You shouldn't have an extra stitch. Look at this photo:

(it's from the tutorial). You can count the stitches and see that the increases are as they should be for a flat circle, no extras.

risainthesky

Then I'm doing something wrong.

I feel like the whole point is to avoid the gap made by slip stitching into the top of a chain, but if I skip the "stitch" then it makes the same gap. If I crochet into it, then it creates a stitch that's not in my pattern.

I'm stuck!

charlatti

You should be able to crochet into it without creating a new stitch -- that's what I was trying to say by showing the pic to count the stitches. Can you take a picture of what you're doing? However, on a beanie, one extra stitch isn't going to make much difference at all.

risainthesky

Thanks so much for your help. Like I said, I thought I was a pretty decent crocheter but I've unraveled this too many times to count! I ended up in the ravelry help forum and found this tutorial:

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/TXCr1cket/chainless-starting-dc-in-the-round

I've decided not to change colors after every single round and this seems to work when I'm not changing colors. I used the other link on that page about changing colors for when I do.

I'll probably go back to the invisible join eventually but right now it's bothering me too much. :P

Thanks again!