Car graph crochet pattern
Intermediate · 3 colors
PDF · US Letter · 5 pages · Change paper
- Size
- About 15 × 9 in (38 × 23 cm)With its border. The panel alone: about 14½ × 8½ in (37 × 22 cm)
- Skill
- IntermediateSingle crochet throughout, 3 yarns, a graph of 47 by 32 units, at most 8 color changes in a row, 8 ends to weave in
Paper for the PDF
A car in blue and black on a cream ground, worked in single crochet from the bottom row up, one stitch for each square of the graph. The yarn not in use is carried along the row inside the stitches, so the piece has 8 ends to weave in.
Graph
47 squares wide and 32 tall. One square is 1 single crochet in 1 row. Row 1 is the bottom row. Right-side rows are read right to left, wrong-side rows left to right: each row's number stands at the end it begins from.
- A cream, no symbol 849 squares
- B blue, cross 487 squares
- C black, dot 168 squares
Drag the graph to move around it. The whole graph is printed in the PDF.
Gauge
13 stitches and 15 rows to 4 in (10 cm) in single crochet, with the idle yarn carried.
How to measure it
The pattern also stops you to measure after row 12.
Work a test square first (23 rows)
A test piece to measure and pull out. It is not the start of the pattern.
Gauge is counted over 4 in (10 cm), so make the swatch bigger than that: about 6 in (15 cm) each way, and count in the middle of it. Work it as the piece is worked: in yarn A, with one of the other yarns carried along the row and worked over.
- Swatch foundationCh 21.
- Swatch row 1 (RS)Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across(20 sc)
- Swatch rows 2 to 23Ch 1, turn; sc in each st across(20 sc)
The same graph in other yarn weights
The picture fixes the number of stitches, so a graph is resized by yarn and hook, not by counting. Each line is the same graph at a single crochet gauge inside the standard range for that yarn weight; the height follows the same proportion of stitch to row. Every size is about. The yarn amounts of this pattern are for its own gauge only. Each size is the panel without its border.
| Yarn | Single crochet to 4 in (10 cm) | Hook | Panel alone, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light (3) | 15 | 4.5 to 5.5 mm | 12½ × 7½ in (32 × 19 cm) |
| Bulky (5) | 10 | 6.5 to 9 mm | 18¾ × 11 in (48 × 28 cm) |
No yarn amount has been worked out for these, so they are not a choice on this page.
Before you start
- Each square of the graph is one single crochet. Every row is 47 stitches.
- Row 1 is the bottom row of the graph and is a right-side row. The colors of every row are written in the order you work them. The direction in a row's label says where that row lies on the graph: a right-side row lies on the graph from right to left, a wrong-side row from left to right.
- Ch 1 and turn at the end of every row but the last. The chain 1 does not count as a stitch.
- To change color, work the last yarn-over of the stitch before in the new color.
- Carry the yarn you are not using along the top of the row below and work over it, so that it is hidden inside the stitches. Carry each yarn across every whole row, edge to edge, from the first row it appears in to the last row it appears in: join it at the start of that first row, and cut it at the end of that last row.
- Work firmly. A carried yarn can show between loose stitches, a dark yarn inside light stitches most of all. If it shows in your swatch, change to a smaller hook and measure again: the piece will then be smaller than the size given.
- Rows 1 to 2 and 31 to 32 have nothing carried inside, so they are a little thinner than the rows between.
- Worked flat only. In joined or spiral rounds the picture slants.
- In a row, "11 A" is 1 single crochet in each of the next 11 stitches with yarn A.
- The border is part of the piece: the first size given is with the border, the second is the panel alone.
- Leave a tail of about 6 in (15 cm) when you begin a yarn, and weave it in at the end with the others.
- Left-handed. Worked left-handed, these rows give a mirror image of the picture. To get the picture as drawn, read each row's runs in reverse order.
Instructions
- A row lists its colors in the order you work them, each with its number of stitches.
- The count at the end is what the row leaves.
- Tick a row when it is done. Your place is kept in this browser.
How to read these rows
Never read a row’s list backwards. On the graph a right-side (RS) row runs right to left and a wrong-side (WS) row left to right. In UK terms sc is double crochet and sl st is slip stitch.
Panel
- FoundationWith A, ch 48. Work row 1 beginning in the 2nd ch from hook.
- Row 1RSon the graph this row runs right to left47 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 2WSon the graph this row runs left to right47 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 3RSon the graph this row runs right to left11 A4 C18 A4 C10 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 4WSon the graph this row runs left to right9 A6 C16 A6 C10 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 5RSon the graph this row runs right to left9 A8 C14 A8 C8 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 6WSon the graph this row runs left to right7 A10 C12 A10 C8 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 7RSon the graph this row runs right to left8 A4 C2 A4 C12 A4 C2 A4 C7 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 8WSon the graph this row runs left to right7 A3 C4 A3 C12 A3 C4 A3 C8 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 9RSon the graph this row runs right to left8 A3 C4 A3 C12 A3 C4 A3 C7 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 10WSon the graph this row runs left to right7 A4 C2 A4 C12 A4 C2 A4 C8 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 11RSon the graph this row runs right to left4 A4 B10 C12 B10 C3 B4 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 12WSon the graph this row runs left to right3 A5 B8 C14 B8 C6 B3 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Stop and measure now, after row 12.The width, across the middle of the rows and not along the chain edge: about 14½ in (37 cm). If it is wider, the whole picture will be larger: start again with a smaller hook, or keep going and expect a larger piece. If it is narrower, a larger hook. If the chain edge pulls in tighter than the rows, make the foundation chain with a larger hook.The height of the 12 rows worked: about 3¼ in (8 cm). If the rows are taller or shorter than this, the finished piece will be taller or shorter than the size given, in the same proportion.
- Row 13RSon the graph this row runs right to left2 A8 B6 C16 B6 C7 B2 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 14WSon the graph this row runs left to right2 A8 B4 C18 B4 C9 B2 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 15RSon the graph this row runs right to left2 A43 B2 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 16WSon the graph this row runs left to right2 A43 B2 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 17RSon the graph this row runs right to left2 A43 B2 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 18WSon the graph this row runs left to right3 A41 B3 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 19RSon the graph this row runs right to left4 A39 B4 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 20WSon the graph this row runs left to right6 A35 B6 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 21RSon the graph this row runs right to left13 A25 B9 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 22WSon the graph this row runs left to right9 A25 B13 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 23RSon the graph this row runs right to left14 A3 B8 A2 B7 A3 B10 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 24WSon the graph this row runs left to right10 A3 B7 A2 B8 A3 B14 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 25RSon the graph this row runs right to left15 A3 B7 A2 B6 A3 B11 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 26WSon the graph this row runs left to right11 A3 B6 A2 B7 A3 B15 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 27RSon the graph this row runs right to left16 A3 B6 A2 B5 A3 B12 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 28WSon the graph this row runs left to right13 A17 B17 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 29RSon the graph this row runs right to left18 A15 B14 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 30WSon the graph this row runs left to right16 A11 B20 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 31RSon the graph this row runs right to left47 Aleaves (47 sts)
- Row 32WSon the graph this row runs left to right47 Aleaves (47 sts)
- EndFasten off, leaving a 6 in (15 cm) tail.
Border
- With the right side facing, the round begins in the corner stitch at the start of the top edge and goes along the last row, down the side, along the foundation edge and up the other side. Row 32 is a wrong-side row, so that corner stitch is the last stitch you worked in row 32: it is the "first st" of Rnd 1. The ch 1 does not count as a stitch. A stitch in the end of a row goes into the side of the stitch that ends that row.
- The border is one round of 154 single crochet. Each corner is 3 single crochet worked into one place (the first and the last stitch of the last row, the first and the last chain of the foundation edge that hold a stitch of row 1: the turning chain is not counted), and those 3 are the only stitches of that corner: the row end beside each corner is skipped. A row of single crochet is shorter than a stitch is wide, so each side takes 26 stitches in its 30 other row ends and 4 of them are skipped, as Rnd 1 says: with the row end beside each corner, that is 6 row ends skipped on each side. So: 12 in the four corners, 45 along the top, 45 along the foundation edge and 26 up each side (12 + 45 + 45 + 26 + 26 = 154).
- FoundationA finished panel of 47 sc and 32 rows, RS facing.
- Rnd 1RSJoin A with sl st in first st, ch 1, 3 sc in same st, sc in next 45 sts, 3 sc in last st, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 3 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 7 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 6 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 7 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 3 rows, sk next row end, 3 sc in first ch of foundation edge, sc in next 45 chs, 3 sc in last ch of foundation edge, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 3 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 7 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 6 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 7 rows, sk next row end, sc in end of each of next 3 rows, sk next row end, sl st in first sc to joinleaves (154 sc)
- Stop and measure now, after round 1.If a side ruffles, work it again with fewer stitches along it; if it pulls in, with more.
- EndFasten off, leaving a 6 in (15 cm) tail.
Finishing
- Weave in every end along stitches of its own color.
In all: 32 rows; 1,658 stitches (1,504 in the panel, 154 in the border); 124 color changes, at most 8 in a row; 8 ends to weave in.
