All About C2C Corner to Corner Graphs – Part 1

Sharing is caring!

I jumped into the C2C  (Corner to Corner) craze this past spring. Here’s all about C2C Corner to Corner Graphs.

All About C2C

I found a C2C testing group on Facebook and joined. Kim Latshaw of the Crochet Couch has a number of graphs that she offers for people wanting to do C2C. I noticed that she had already started a dog series. I put in a request for a Westie and it didn’t take long before she had a design ready! As I love all things Westie, I had to do it. My patience paid off. I offered to test the pattern right away.

This is one of the biggest, most complex things I’ve ever made. Typically I make baby blankets, little amigurumi, hats, scarves, etc.  I had only made one other afghan throw, but it was not a graph.

Up until that point, I had only done a simple C2C – it’s a neat concept – working on the diagonal. I had made a striped baby blanket using this technique and it seemed relatively easy enough. I had never, however, tackled a C2C graph before – but how hard could it be? I understood the basic concept – each “square” in C2C represented a block in the graph and so there would be colour changes.  Lucky for me, the Westie graph only has 4 colours – the background colour, white for the Westie, and black and pink for the accents on the Westie.

The Crochet Couch patterns are very detailed. The designer gives a full explanation of how to do C2C, provides the graph, a word chart, and the same gauge and sizing recommendations. As someone who had never done a graph before, I was appreciative of all the detail and effort put into this pattern.

It was with this C2C pattern that I discovered Word Charts. What a wonderful thing these word charts are!  I had tried a couple of small sc graphs and remember sitting there counting all the squares of each colour. But in the word charts – the counting is all done for you.  The pattern gives you the option of working on the graph – I’ve seen some people use a paint program and strike out each box or line as they work on the pattern. However, I used the word chart – which told me for each line, how many boxes of each colour were needed. This really was a genius breakthrough for me. This was especially handy since it was quite a large graph – 79×86. So that would mean I’d have to print out section by section of the graph and tape it together into one big picture. The pattern does contain sections of the graph that you can print out and do just that, but that just seemed like too much work.

So as I worked, I had a ruler on the line of the word chart that I was working. I did exactly as it said. If it said 6 of the background colour, I did 6 of the background colour. If it said 8 white, then I did 8 white. The nice thing about the word chart is that it has a built-in check – when working with something this size and complicated, it’s so easy to miscount a square. But with the word chart, it should work out perfectly at the end of the row – you shouldn’t have too many squares and you shouldn’t be short a square or two. I love this – when working on a graph, you’re always close up and you can’t tell by looking at it all the time whether or not it’s right. There’s also nothing worse than finding a mistake a few rows back and having to take off a few rows to fix it. Once I finished a row, I just checked it off.  If I was in the middle of the row, I just circled where I left off.

Although I didn’t have too many colours, there were still a lot of colour changes. This is when I discovered the need for bobbins. You should’ve seen me before bobbins – I was using whole skeins or was trying to be clever by using both ends of a skein. Talk about a tangled mess. Every time I sat down to work on it, I’d have to spend a few minutes untangling everything. I had read and seen a few posts about people using bobbins – basically, just dollar store clothes pins to wrap their yarn around and to clip to the work. Here was another genius breakthrough! This made it so much easier.

As I went along on this project and posted updates on the Testers group, I noticed a lot of people had questions about how to go about a C2C graph. So I decided to make a few videos to chronicle my journey. It was my hope that it would answer common questions and help a few people as they would be able to see me doing it. I am so honoured that the Crochet Couch now lists my YouTube Channel in their patterns as recommended videos for those needing assistance when making one of the patterns.

Now, these are the first YouTube videos I’ve made and I’ll say that they are quite basic. I am by no means a media guru – in fact, my youngest son did all the editing and I’m quite proud of him for doing that. Yes, the music is a tad loud – I’ve adjusted it on future videos. But if you can get over that, it shows you how to do colour changes, read the word chart and work through the C2C graph.

The bobbin thing was such a breakthrough for me that I had to make a separate video about that. This video shows you how to wind and use bobbins – not only for C2C, but really for any project that requires colour changes. Again, this was one of my earlier videos, so please be kind. I know it’s not super professional, but it does explain how to wind and use bobbins.

For my C2C, I used Red Heart Soft. I wanted something soft and cozy. For the background colour, I chose Wheat as I thought it would be a nice neutral. The black, white, grey and pink are also from Red Heart Soft. For this project, I used a 4mm crochet hook.

One of the nice things about doing a project like this is being able to see progress. As I worked on it, I would periodically stop and lay it out and take a look at my progress. It was so exciting to see the graph forming before my eyes.

I am so happy with how this C2C graphgan turned out. I feel that I am a much better crocheter as a result of tackling this big job. I have since gone on to do subsequent graphs using different techniques. In my next blog post, I will talk about all the finishing – weaving in ends and adding a border.

Interested in doing a C2C graphgan? The Crochet Couch has a number of great graph patterns. You can find the Crochet Couch patterns at their website, C2Cgraphs, or on Ravelry by clicking here. For 50% off one of her patterns, enter the code “WESTCOASTMOM”. This promo code is good for one item only and only once per user. Many thanks to the Crochet Couch for providing this code to my readers.

Want to remember this information all about C2C Corner to Corner graphs? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.