Pixel Perfect Crochet: Gauge Matters

 I often stumble on the best solutions through much trial and error but, in the past, have foregone sharing it because… it’s obsessive, lost on my audience, pick your situation of fizzled-out attempts. However, over time, I’ve learned that people often light up because these little obsessions of mine are often information that doesn’t exist in totality and the three or four research topics I combined to create this unified, though niche, concept are often more in demand than I realize. Or like I love to counter ‘you’re never the only one’; act as if you’re looking for your fellow weirdlings!

To the point, I wanted to create pixel perfect crochet for my nephew’s next birthday gift. I’ve use sc with some success before but I’ve never bothered to use gauge, despite the fact the professionals abide by it for the legitimacy of their patterns. In my case up to now, I have always created patterns where the other elements or results are not skewed or ‘wrong’ without gauge. Even the pattern I’m working on that will feature the measurements I used for the structure will come with the instructions to work the stitch as it looks best for you, then run the easy calculations accordingly. The pattern would actually be needlessly complex if gauge was strict, considering I don’t know the exact measurements their cardboard structure will end up with but you can adjust your numbers accordingly. Math IS more complex for some, but for others, strict gauge is the tougher sell. In order to balance the skill level I’m proposing I want the user to have the freedom to crochet comfortably; simple math gives them much more freedom to successfully cover their structure.

I use this example because it’s important to express that, despite my knowledge of gauge, it hasn’t been an important component. When I wish to achieve ‘perfection’, it does not mean you use every tool in the box. It means you carefully decide the simplicity/complexity of the task by selecting the tools you believe best accomplish the job. Some will insist I can take shortcuts, others will accuse me of oversimplifying and needing more info. In every case, I have two questions: what do you think you need to understand it and after I explain it, which part could be added to the pattern to clarify without adding more confusing complexity? Annnnd I sidetracked a bit, but I wandered a bit because gauge is one of those things I have been pestered about but am willing to provide why it wasn’t necessary to achieve a successful finished project. Also to reiterate, I am very aware of it and do ask from the onboarding if it is a tool I need.

Pixel perfect crochet stitches is one that need it without exception and I’ll show and tell the way though this. To start the gauge standards are 4x4” and this was the aim throughout.

If you wish for a TL;DR, skip ahead to the Pixel Perfect Swatch subheading and I’ll include one of the special notes necessary there as well.

The Journey

To start off, I used the standard H (5.0 mm) crochet hook and 4 Medium yarn. Ch 16, single 15, ch 1, turn. Proper gauge means you can gently flatten it against the ruler without stretch to reach the 4” mark. A couple stitches short by eye so I unraveled and added two chains to reach 18. So sc count was 17, and once established, easily rested in the gauge.

Though we were good to go but the goal is to make stitch height SQUARE so that my row and column counts would be equal. This means after 17 rows, I should make the perfect square…

Unfortunately after reaching row 17, the tight but easy tension of a standard sc just seemed to fall about 3 rows short. Pixel perfect it was not.

Slightly taller, maybe more texture? I knew hdc was the next best best for a taller stitch so the start was the same: H hook, 18 ch, 17 sc. but alas…

From a glance you can see more height and more texture which should’ve clued me in; too much height and I wasn’t fond of the ‘banded look’ which was not a feature of old school gaming so much as a shitty CRT/RF (ch3/4) adapter reality of the 80s. The goal is an artistic take on a beloved game and it’s not nostalgic or likely even that interesting for my nephew like it might be for someone my age so, next.

I found a stitch referred to as single crochet cross stitch because of the way it looks in rounds; like an X. However it would not visually work for turned work but I was curious. Same parameters as before but this stitch (which I personally called power move single crochet or PMS stitch. Heh.) involves what she called ‘yarn under instead of over’ but to me looked more like giving the power move to the hook and was easier remembered as a hook OVER step. But alas, row 17 got me a little more height but was still falling short of that ideal square.

Getting there but no. It was a little extra work for a look that most people wouldn’t even see that slight difference in. But I had other ideas based off of these swatches…

Finally, I decided to switch to an E (3.5 mm) hook and added only one extra chain to reach the 4” mark. Mental math told me I was about to gain just a smidge more height if I was guessing correctly as well as an additional row. (18 sc so 18 rows to reach the goal of a square stitch).

Crocheting too loose would relax the horizontal measurement and I’d lose the advantage of the tighter loops of a smaller hook so this is where I aimed for height and tension. Not the best pic, but the idea was to ‘trust the hook’, keep the yarn over snug but slack just enough to make the hook rest parallel to the top of the previous stitch (just over the ch 1 starting the row), twist hook and pull through. Added height without loosening the width…

Note that I held below the working stitch to keep it taut and not raising with the taut but slackened loops. The creation of a controlled gap and controlled tension in a vertical maneuver is often a technique that advanced crocheters use for those long triple and longer stitches and is giving me just the slightest height without risking a slight widening. As a crochet anatomy tip, this is something that is maintained no matter how you stretch the finished work; keep your base entry tight and your towering chains will not limp out later. This also applies to strengthening the peaks; finish with tight chains or create a strong single crochet foundation for more rows to come.

And now the finale. I was devastated to see that my 18th row landed me at 3.75”. However, I wasn’t defeated; I went ahead and remastered the horizontal: 3.75”! So in trying not to widen it and effectively heightening the stitches, I actually managed to tighten the width and accomplish then perfect square. I  made sure the swatch was still relaxed, measured again to confirm and then gently stretch tested to confirm both directions had the same give and would not contort later.

Success, at last!

I already know; pics or it didn’t happen. I would do a video if I didn’t have my cat sleeping on my lap but it’s the real deal so… onto the TL;DR…

Pixel Perfect Swatch

The quick and easy is this: E (3.5 mm) hook, controlled snug tension (with listed exception) ch 19, sc 18, ch 1, turn. Exception; after base entry, y/o, pull through, hold at base to draw up slack so hook is rest above starting chain or previous stitch, parallel, yarn over and pull straight along the parallel.

This makes all the difference if you skipped ahead of the why. Finishing gauge will not be the 4x4” but 3.75x3.75”, but this means the stitches are indeed square and ‘pixel perfect’.

Conclusion

Ew. I just felt like I was writing a college paper again. But this lets the vultures pick the meat and wander off again while I add a few more notes and thoughts. This can likely be done with different hooks, yarn and stitches. Absolutely experiment and even share with your fellow weirdlings, scraping through the wasteland of internet misinformation to unearth some gems. In my case, I wanted this gauge to work for a cushion design so small stitches with fewer holes and limited stretch were my personal goal. This will give large projects a higher ‘resolution’ for your goal yet be small enough to get recognizable visual pixels in smaller projects. Want to go mini? Bust out the thin steel hooks and crochet thread. Jumbo aspirations? Grab those hilarious S and larger hooks and super jumbo blanket yarns and get to it! I’d love to add to the pixel perfect search over time but this will be a good medium for all ages. Some of our veterans just can’t see or hold those itty-bitty wonders or fatigue wrestling the anaconda-like proportions of the other end. 

Remember; do your test swatch. There are subtleties that must be experienced and it will develop the muscle memory to be consistent through the project. Get your rows and columns at the same number and at the same measurements and you can contribute to the search for great crochet pixel art!

The Love Affair with Digital Drawing

I'm not sorry that I'll probably gush about my new display tablet high for a while, but I'd also like to continue to talk about the pros and cons I come across, as well as how I make lemons into lemonade.

I've talked before about how Macs, while often perfect for my needs, aren't exactly flawless. For one, any lingering updates often gum things up. My Macs are also almost a decade old so they're not exactly spring chickens. My display driver got temperamental with me a couple of times, but the fixes were easy enough that it was only a hiccup. So here are a few of those incidents:

1.  Pen stopped working, mouse worked fine- this actually wasn't just from the pen running out of juice. I switched pens and it persisted. I keep the driver option in my Dock so it's always accessible and opened it up. Without doing anything else, the pen decided to work again. I got this.
2. Mouse left click not working at all- couldn't figure this one out, even with mouse settings. Restarting fixed this one.
3. Mouse left-click works but drop menus don't stay open- this only seems to happen on the display screen. It don't want no mouse telling it what to do. Using the pen seems to be the only way it works properly. Not a huge problem, but when I'm flipping between the display and the Mac screen, it's a little inconvenient to switch around.

Not a problem if you're good at wrestling computers, but calling this a beginner's tablet is deceptive. There are some other issues I've seen people mention before but, again, nothing too distracting. Because of the extreme angles of the display as it spreads towards the edges, the parallax (that fancy word for the gap between the stylus tip and the cursor's actual place) starts to wander a bit. I don't often get anywhere near the edges anyway, and it's less than an inch of screen all around where the change is noticeable. If you're used to digital drawing, it's not unfamiliar. Hell, if you have a small mouse pad, you already know the unconscious lift and adjust fix. In this case, zoom out if you need more room for a fluid line or drag and recenter.

It's nothing like drawing on paper. However, using a digital display, especially a big one, teaches you how to adjust for that. Using a screenless tablet, I was constantly trying to turn it like paper, which does the exact opposite you think you want it to. There are certain motions in your wrist that make perfect circles more attainable, certain gestures you get used to that will need a different solution. You absolutely can rotate a digital page, especially easy if you set a rotary slide key to do so, but I've found it's better to simply train your digital hand differently, or make use of tools to utilize shape. Learn how to use vector shapes alongside freehand.

If you're a beginner, a new learning curve will usually feel like it's just making things take longer or is more difficult. The tutorials you watch will take ten minutes to show you the ins and outs of what should take a few seconds. And for an advanced user, it actually does go quicker. The things that you must do to accomplish it become auto-tasks but it takes a lot of practice and trial and error.

Artists aren't necessarily bragging when they call a complex looking piece a 'doodle'. Given, some are badly lying about how quick it was done, but a good deal of them have taken months, years, decades to achieve that kind of result. It wasn't just the ten minutes they threw down to do it, but the discipline and practice that connected the quickest routes to the problem.

It used to take me several hours just to color a picture digitally, and I'm talking just the base colors with little shading. Color basing typically never takes more than an hour for a full page piece now. The line drafting, again, generally takes me anywhere from five minutes to an hour, depending on the complexity. Shading and detailing is where artists tend to camp out most; looking at two to twenty hours for most pictures but can easily pile on to hundreds if they choose to keep playing. Customizing tools, filters and textures is another place that can wind on for a long time.

The time crunch is pretty inconsequential to how well it's done. The demands of the problem and the workflow can help, but a deadline can help or hurt the turn-out. I often toggle layers just to experiment, but don't keep them around for the final presentation. Sometimes I just want to try something out without risking the work already done. I'll duplicate shading layers if I'm tempted to overwork them, just because it's hard to come back from a shading experiment gone wrong without starting over. Best to preserve it at certain stages then hide the evidence of overwork elsewhere. Sometimes the difference is just between wanting a soft blend or a darker, starker version. I can switch between the two and decide which I like better.

Of course, there are brave artists who blend it all on one layer like you would with an actual painting. I'm never that brave. I'll keep my alternating blends separate but also flatten out the layers in a duplicate to do the final blend (catching anywhere the overlays do make multiple layers too obvious). Print will inevitably punish any of your glaring mistakes. Obviously, print only has a flat dimension so all digital paintings can't escape that one.

There are always 'better' ways of doing things. There's nothing wrong with being secure in your knowledge while maintaining an openness to learning a way better suited to the task. Beginners often get discouraged because they aren't instant prodigies. Or if they do start out successful, they don't improve because of overconfidence and rigidity in their workflow.

Being open to possible issues is a very important part of enjoying and improving digital painting. You can't just look at the big picture. There are so many steps, so many techniques, so many reasons why it's better to honestly assess what you don't like in order to avoid doing that again and again. I'm not sure why some artists are so shy about mistakes or formative work. Sharing them is a better opportunity to gain insight into taste and technique.

I'm not one for organizing videos but there are already tons out there to display the amount of work that goes into solving and optimizing a visual. Watched a particularly interesting one from a YouTube Channel called Jazza where the guy goes on Fiverr to commission people to draw particular pieces of art based on his quick sketch and it's quite interesting how some artists undersell their talents while others might be a bit overpriced, especially when they exclude certain elements asked for. It gave even me some insight into how important it is to consider the market value of what I produce. What someone pays should advertise what they can expect in the quality of work. Making that too unstable makes it more difficult to justify how much time you'll spend on a project.

Anyhoo, enough digital babbling. More to work on this weekend, both reading and drawing, but crossing my fingers it fuels my urge to write as well.