It’s not always easy to tell whether you’re crocheting on the right or the wrong side – and I’m speaking from experience here. It might not even affect your project whether you’re crocheting on the right or wrong side, but sometimes the look and feel of your project may end up a little more fuzzy or fluffy if you crochet with the wrong side out.
Is it important to know the difference between the right and the wrong side?
As mentioned, it might not be important whether you’re crocheting on the right or wrong side of your project, but some patterns do, in fact, distinguish between the two sides, and in these cases it’s good to know the difference.
If you, e.g., need to crochet in the front or back loop, or a combination of the two, then it’s good to know the difference between the right and wrong side. Invisible decreases are also less visible if you crochet on the right side, which will lead to a nicer and smoother structure in your project in the end.
As you can see in the picture above, there is a slight difference in how the right and wrong side looks. Here we’ve made a magic ring, which is usually used when you have to crochet in the round.
Learn the trick - how to crochet on the right side
I learned it the hard way myself when I had to crochet a turtle as one of my first projects. It might have been a slightly ambitious project as a beginner – but then you’re started, right?
When crocheting small animals, you crochet in rounds, and it can be a little tricky to know right from wrong if you don’t have the trained eye of an experienced crocheter. The way I figured out I was crocheting on the wrong side was that I simply didn’t have enough room to work in the end, since I was still crocheting on the wrong side and hadn’t turned my work to get the right side facing out. This resulted in me not being able to insert my hook into the stitches from the inside because I just didn’t have enough room.
In reality, I hadn’t really done anything wrong because, e.g., when you have to knit a head for a small animal, you usually start from the inside with a magic ring. Then you automatically crochet on the right side, which is the side you insert the hook into the stitches from. Since you’re working in rounds, your work will slowly become circular, and the right side will eventually turn inwards and the wrong side will turn outwards. If you continue like this, you will, as in my example above, accidentally “shut yourself in”, because you’re always inserting the hook through the stitches from the right side.
If you want to avoid this, it’s a good idea to turn your work before you reach the top and have to sew it up. After my little accident with the turtle, I always turn my work as soon as it starts to get a round shape. Then I’m sure that I’ll get my work turned in time and that I’m crocheting with the right side facing out. To sum up, this means that after I turn my work I will be inserting the hook from the outside and will have the right side facing out.
I hope this helped, and that you now have an easier time spotting the right and wrong side and won’t make the same mistake that I did.
Love,
Karoline – Hobbii
