Mitered Tunisian Started

After finally figuring out how to do a mitered tunisian square without having to do a cast on without a chain on the pickup row, I have started a piece. So far it is going well.

I am using the chain with one cake of yarn, and do the first pickups with another cake of the same color. I chained more then I needed for the first square, about ten more and pulled up a very long loop. At this point of trying I didn't bother with a stitch holder and I am not having any trouble pulling out the loop from the extra chains. Still I am keeping a close watch on it.

I worked the first section in two colors. I found that if I do not cut the yarn for the different color sections and since I am changing colors for each row, that all I need to do is pick up the new color from under the old color and pull through the final work off of the row. This has worked great. I have a tiny line of the picked up color on the backside of the work but it isn't bad looking. This is not a reversible piece I am working so no big deal.

I do find that it is necessary to remove the extra chains back to the body of the last mitered section before I start my pickup. After doing the entire mitered section that section of extra chains become too loose.

I played a bit with this chain thing. First I did the chain with the same size hook as I am using for the body. Then I tried one section with doing the chain with a smaller hook and went back for the next section to the larger hook. I think that chaining with the smaller hook looks much better, but wow is it hard to do the pickup in that smaller chain with the larger hook. So I have left that one little section done in the small hook and continuing making the extra chains with the larger hook.

I only have four mitered sections done and am starting the fifth. I haven't had lots of time to work on it but I can say that this would be much further if I stopped doing other things in the meantime (I made three hats, loom knitted with built in crocheted shell stitches for the brims in a couple of different shell styles, these will be so cute for little girls). So stopping to play with other things slows me down. I have other things I need to put a bit of work into and those I might work on later today, like my cro-hooked baby ghan and baby booties. I just haven't been in a hurry with those as the babies won't be here for another six months. (reminder to self: Need pictures of those hats to post)

So back to the chain part of the pickup row for the new section. After the mitered section that is being worked is completed, then I have one loop on the hook. I pull up a long strand and drop it for the moment. I then pull the extra chains back to the base of the just finished section. Now I use the same hook I am working the stitches with to chain out the ten chains I need and add an additional ten to make sure I have plenty of space just in case those stitches get pulled.

Now pickup that last loop of the last finished square and do the pickup stitches along the side of the finished section and the pickup in the next ten chains. I am now ready to start the decreases again and I don't have funky ugly loops at the bottom of each beginning row. I like it.

I could have done one long chain, turned the chain and started my pickups but I wanted to try this. Next time I will try this other. Working the way I am working now gives you three strands of yarn coming from three cakes, skeins, or balls that can tangle. Having just two strands it can still get tangled as you drop and pickup the different colors but two is better then three.

One thing is for sure, even if you used just one long chain and that chain turned out to not be long enough for the piece you want, you could then add a third strand at the bottom of your last mitered section to make the piece larger. So that is a thought for the future. For now I will continue to work as it is. I am going to do a border around this piece when it is completed so no big deal about edge problems, like that one section with a different gauge to the chain. I can work around that.