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	MoEZ FAQs & Tips (continued from previous page)

Row Counts
(also see Counting Rows for more information)

What is a row count?:
     When working with a graph, a lot of us find it easier to write out the row count (how many stitches of each color) first before Mocheting. That way you just follow your count and do not have to keep looking at the graphs and count boxes. -- Linda from NY

How to make a row count:

1. Put a ruler just under the row you are counting and as you count each square, make a small pen mark in it so you know you have done that one. Then when you get to the 10th row or whatever row has the darker grid line, make an ink line all across. -- Linda from NY
2. Try to look away more often. -- Linda from NY
3. Type it up on the computer and save to a floppy disk, print up the pages and work from that. This way if you need to make any corrections, you correct from the floppy. -- Linda from NY
4. Insert the pattern you are working from in a plastic sheet protector and use a dry erase marker to mark off the rows completed.

How to read a row count:

1. 
   Starting at bottom of graphLefties: Read the graph from left to right, bottom to top -- Cis
   Righties: Read right to left, bottom to top -- Cis



2. 
   Starting at top of graphLefties: Read right to left -- Val
   Righties: Read left to right -- Val
3. Please note:
   FYI: In some cases, graphs may be read by turning them on their side for easier reading but it will depend on the graph. Some people in the groups have tried this and ended up with a distorted graph or something smaller than intended while others have had good luck in doing it. So please be very careful if you choose to try reading a graph from its side.

How to read a row count if you are left-handed:

1. Start at the end of that row and count back to the "start." In other words, if Linda's row count reads: 3w 2bl 2b 3gr 2bl 6pr 2yl 3w - then you have to "mochet" 3w 2yl 6pr 2bl 3gr 2b 2bl 3w. -- ???

How to keep your place while reading/working on a row count/graph:

1. Post-It notes work really well for helping keep place on a graph. You can make them into a straight line and move them down as you finish a line or your can make them into a window to emphasize the next stitch to do if you have to quit mid-row for some reason. -- Becky
2. You can also use one of those magnetic boards for cross-stitching and a magnet to keep your place while working from a row count or graph. I think most craft stores carry them and they are in assorted sizes from what I've seen. I know that Michael's definitely has them.

- Cheryl (a.k.a. Cinnaminn)

Stitches

The Purl Stitch:

1. The purl stitch is just like the regular except you start with the yarn in front of your work instead of behind. I have my students drop it in front, insert hook under the next vertical bar, pick up the dropped yarn and go under the hook..up the back.. and over the top (in other words yarn over, just make sure that you are going up behind the hook and over the top of the hook), then pull the yarn through to make a loop on the hook. -- Val

Puff Stitch:
When you do the puff stitch you do it this way:
     Work your normal afghan stitch till you have a hook full of loops. Now working from left to right do the "take off" stitches up to where you want the puff, then do four chain stitches in the next loop, pulling the fourth one through that loop to make the chain and then through the next loop as well. So that fourth chain you pull through two loops. Then you yarn over and pull through two stitches to do the stitches between the loops. That's the best way I can explain it. Maybe someone else can explain it better. -- Jacqui

Taking Off Stitches:
     This method is really easy. Do the first half of the row like usual until you have a comfortable amount of stitches on the hook. Then push the work to the other end and work them off like you normally would if you have finished the row already.
     Now go back and put on the rest of the first half of the row and repeat.
     For example: Say I'm (and I am) working with an afghan that has 200 stitches. I put on the first 110 or so and then push it to the other end and work off about 100 of them. I like to leave about 10 stitches on the hook so I don't get too confused. Now I push the work back to the other side and finish casting on the other 90 stitches. Push the work to the other end and finish casting off the 100 stitches now on the hook.
     It has a couple of neat advantages. First, the work on the hook doesn't get so cramped for space that stitches are falling off the other end. Secondly, the work on the hook doesn't get as heavy as it can if you try to handle all the stitches on the hook at once.
     It is a way of working with a great number of stitches without having to have a hook that's 4 feet long. -- Kathy in KS

Tangles
(also read Bobs/Bobbins & Changing/Adding Colors )

Tangling Yarn and How to Avoid/Prevent It:

1. To keep it from tangling when you drop the color you are through with over the one you are about to pick up, just continue around it and put it back where you picked it up from. If you do this each time on the return row it won't tangle. It doesn't tangle on the first part of the row (part A, only on part B, the return part of the row).
        P.S. I know that you are supposed to pick up the new color underneath the old, think about it, this is the same, you drop the old color over the new but do a complete revolution around the new strand before you pick up the new strand to use it. ......Is this clear as mud?
   -- Val
2. My bobbins tangle up real bad at times but I do not cut them unless I am done with that color in that area. I just untangle the mess and continue. Why make more ends to weave in than necessary? -- Linda in NY

Translations
(also read Converting Craft Terms in Different Languages)

Useful links to translate crafting language(s):

1. Just a list of links for translating that I think others might find just as useful as I do/did when used (FYI - I found these archived pages from Jodhi's old potholderlady.com site):
   From English to Danish (archived .txt file)
   From English to French (archived .txt file)
   From English to German (archived .txt file)
   From English to Italian (archived .txt file)
   From English to Nederlands (archived .txt file)
   From English to Spanish (archived .txt file)
   ~*~*~*~*~*~
   - AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation: useful for translating a block of text OR a web page
   - A World of Crochet & Knitting:
   (Margret Willson's page of links in her attempt at making sites in other languages more accessible.)
   - International Dictionary of Crochet Terms:
   (includes American, British, Italian, Spanish, German, French)
   - Translation Of Knitting and Crochet Terms (archived page)
   
   HTH!
   -- Cheryl

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Originally created 16 August 2002 and updated as of 30 May 2007.
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