When crocheting a project in the round you will be doing one of three things. You will either 1. Slip Stitch to the first stitch of the round you are working, chain up then continue working the next round. 2. You will Slip Stitch to the first stitch of the current round, turn your work, then chain up and work the next round. 3. you will work in continuous rounds without a slip stitch at the end and just continue on working the first stitch of the next round into the first stitch of the previous round.
In crocheting Miss Prim’s Roses, you will Slip Stitch to the beginning of the round and turn. Here is where you could make a big mistake (specifically with Miss Prim’s Roses) if you are not familiar with the technique I’m about to breakdown for you.
What is the slip stitch space?
The slip stitch space is where you joined the end of your round to the beginning. Depending on the pattern you are working with, this space can act like a workable stitch or it will be dismissed as a stitch and skipped. For Miss Prim’s Roses, this is your first workable stitch space for the base rounds (ch3, sc in same sp). If you don’t use this space as your starting point for your rounds, your increases will not line up and your yoke will not split correctly
What does the slip stitch space look like?
This photo shows the end of a round where we slip stitch to the beginning of the previous round then chain 3.
If you look at the same example from the opposite side after turning your work, you can see that the slip stitch looks like its to the right the chain instead of the left.
You can still work a stitch here by bumping back one space, in the pattern I refer to this as the “same space”. Using the space where you joined with your slip stitch as your beginning point has its perks. For one it lines up the beginning and end of each round evenly so your seam does not “travel”. When your seam “travels” the joins do not line up and go at an angle rather than straight up and down.
Using the slip stitch space will allow it to follow a straight vertical line throughout the pattern so that the increases on each round would stack one on top of the other. Having the increases stack is important to give your yoke the corners it needs to be split for the arm holes. So without using the slip stitch space as your beginning point of each round then your yoke will not come out right at all.
So Why Does This Happen
What would it look like if we did not. If you began your next round in next stitch “1” you can see how that shifts the stiches to the left by one causing you to work into the first double crochet.
Then, when you skip 2 as the pattern indicates, you will miss the 3rd double crochet of the cluster below where the base stitch should be placed. Throwing off the look of the stitch as well as the interfering with the increases.
Using the slip stitch space for this pattern does cause an increase in stitches, it is simply a different place to start the beginning of the round.
Uh Oh, I Didn’t Do That…
Time to introduce you to Mr. Frog…😒 He thinks he’s cute, but in the crochet world he’s not. Time to rip it rip it. It’s not often I have a pattern that is this specific where it can’t be fixed with some tweaking, but Miss Prim’s Roses is. The best way to be sure you will not have to undo rounds and rounds of hard work is to make sure your increases are stacking correctly.
Outro
I hope this post helps you answer any questions you have about Miss Prim’s Roses. Just remember to work that first base stitch into the slip stitch space, directly below the chain 3, and you will be fine. Please let me know if this post was helpful. Feel free to leave a comment about the pattern or to ask any other questions you have.
