Crochet Graph Pattern Tips

By Sue Norrad

Crocheting a graph pattern can be a lot of fun. I find it hard to put down once I start working on one. It's almost like painting a picture and so much fun to watch the picture emerging row by row.

But, whenever I crochet from a graph pattern, I don't like the idea of having to weave in a lot of ends after the color changes and I don't like the bulky look of pulling the different colors along the back of the afghan.

So what I do is roll up small balls of the colors. I would use that small ball then change to the next small ball color when I had to change colors and so on with any other colors required for the pattern.

When you come back across the next row, just pick up each small ball for the color changes as you go. You will have to make several small balls of each color as you will be changing back and forth a lot. That eliminated sewing in a lot of ends and kept the back of the afghan a lot neater without pulling the different colored yarn strands across.

Now the small balls will all start to get tangled, but I just keep untangling them after each row. It might be a good idea to have a small box to place them in and have it on the floor in front of you as you work. They will tangle, but probably not bad enough that you can't pull the yarn.

Whenever one small ball is finished and you still need that color, roll up another small ball and tie it onto the end and continue as before.

In some graph patterns, there may be several places where you would only need a small amount of a certain color. I don't even roll those small amounts up into a ball. I just pulled off a 1 or 2 foot piece and let the rest hang at the back until I use it up.

This might seem complicated, but once you start you will realize that it's a lot easier this way, otherwise you will have hundreds of ends to sew in when you have finished the afghan.