Expert: Ed Matos - 11/5/2011

Question
I'm going to try you Mr. Matos I use to deal with bea, but I guess she has retiref from the web site.  since you are the one with more experice.  I hope you can help me also keep in mind that I'm still a beginner and trying to understand all of this. bea was good at this explaining it in simple terms that beginners would understand.  Here goes I'm making a a baby afghan that seems pretty simple, but I have gotten stick on the third round my first round consist of ch3, sl st in frist ch to form ring, ch3, 7 dc in ring, join w/slst in top of ch3 (8sts) . fasten off.  2rnd: working this rd in front lps  join yellow w/slst in first st, ch1 for petal (sc, 3dc in frist st. (sc dc3) in ea of last 7 sts, join with sl st in first sc (8petals) fasten off.  This is where I have trouble understanding:  Rnd3 with right side of work facing you, working in back lps of rnd 1, join white with sl st in any st, ch 3, 2dc in same st, 3dc in next st, (ch 12, sl st in back lp  of sc on next petal of rnd 2, ch 1, 3dc in each of next 2sts 3 times, ch1, slt st in back lp of sc on next petal of rnd 2, ch 1, join with sl st in top of ch 3 (24 sts) Anything you can help me with will greatly appreciated

Answer
Hello Lydia:

Front and back loop: when you look at the top of a stitch, the is one piece of thread in the front and one in the back. Normally when doing a stitch, both loops are used.

Round 2: You are working the stitches on the front loops (of round 1, leaving the back loop available) ( so technically here you are doing two rows using row 1)

Round 3: On this row, you are using the available loop remaining from rnd2, and also using the back loop of the sc from rnd2 ( in this row, you are using the unworked loop from row 1, and the back loop of the sc from rnd2. I think this is where the confusion lies, since they are at two different levels.) This is done to give the petal dimensions, since rnd3 is pushing up on rnd2.

I do hope this helps you. Should you have any questions, please let me know.

Happy Hooking

Ed