Following up on last week's basic foundation stitches tutorial video, I'd thought I'd share a little trick for when you are doing foundation stitch to add stitches to a row in the middle of a project.
Right now, I'm working on a side-to-side sweater, and I used foundation double crochet to create the second side of each armhole. I also used foundation stitch to add on the thumb gusset in my Classic Crocheted Mittens pattern. The easiest way to do this is simply to make the last stitch before the added stitches be a foundation stitch and then start working your new stitches into that stitch. That works fine, but I find it creates a little gap, because the foundation stitches seem to "tug" on that last stitch before the new ones. You can see that gap in the picture on the left.
Depending on what you are making, your gauge, and your yarn, that gap might be fine. But sometimes, I don't want it to be visible. On my sweater, for instance, having that gap at the bottom of my armhole makes me feel like there's a weak point there. It probably isn't, but I feel better filling the gap. The picture on the right is an example of that.
Here's how I did it.
When you get to the last stitch of the row before you start adding foundation double crochets, work as follows:
- Yo, insert hook in same place as prev st, draw up a loop, yo, draw through 2 loops
- Yo, insert hook in next st, draw up a loop
- Yo, draw through 1 loop (that's your base ch where you are going to work the first of your new sts)
- Yo, draw through 2 loops yo
- Draw through all loops on hook.
What you've just made is a dc2tog, where the first leg is worked into the same space as the previous stitch and the second leg is worked like a foundation double crochet. Much like a 2dc cluster, it's really good for filling in spots where a gap might otherwise show up.
This post has been linked to Busy Monday, The Stitchin' Mommy, Senior Salon, and Thursday Favorite Things.
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