First off I want to apologize as I couldn't find the thread on crochet so...

Ok..I am asking to those who are serious and knowledgeable on crochet..I am attempting to work on a poncho that uses a Double Crochet stitch but I want something that doesn't produce such big holes so here is what I am doing, wherever it calls for a Double Crochet I use a Half-Double instead but part of the issue comes because the pattern calls for starting with a Double Crochet (I use Half double instead) and when I finish my round the pattern has me putting a Half-Double on top of the Double I was supposed to start with.

This creates a problem as the 'holes' created when I make the corners end up being off center a bit (supposed to be in line but isn't) everything else seems to be ok so my question is since any stitch that calls for a Double I use a half double would it work to use a 'elongated' single crochet in place of the finishing Half Double.

To be a bit more clear I start the round with a Half Double instead of a Double that the pattern stipulates...the pattern itself also has me finishing the round by placing a Half Double on top of the Double it starts with so since I am reducing the size of the stitch then would I be right in taking a single crochet, stretching it a bit and using that in place of the half double the pattern calls for?

EDIT: I think I know what happened; it wasn't because I used the Half-Double crochet instead of the Double when making V-Stitches but rather everything was wonky because when I first started out the pattern asks to chain 1 after my Slip Stitch then put a Double (or in my case a Half Double) into the same spot that I slip-stitched in which made everything stack up weird. However since I basically reduced the size of the stitches then I can only assume that when the round ends in a Half-Double with the original pattern I can either still use the Half Double or just use a Single but pull up the loop to match the height of the original Half-Double......

EDIT : I gave up on my original piece and decided to start over. My next attempt was making my poncho using the Herring Bone stitch but was not too impressed so I started once more only this time it is a four-point poncho using alternating rows of triple and single crochet. What I am gonna do is try making a few rows where instead of using Triple crochet I will use Double crochet and maybe use half-double where it asks for single crochet to see how that turns out.

hi! I can't really advise on crochet, but wanted to check in - how's the project, is it going better now? Is the poncho coming to life?

Well..what I did was I put it aside until I can figure out how to adapt the original project to the stitch i would like to use. In the meantime I started another poncho but due to my extraordinary penchant for NOT paying attention to what I was doing I used too many stitches for my starting chain; instead of 80 I crocheted 81 which threw everything off and I did not really notice it until later so as of now I think I have compensated for my error and seems to be turning out ok now.

I was trying to follow another pattern I had found but the lady who put it together did a poor job on telling the viewer about how many stitches should be between the 'V's in the pattern and relied solely on stitch markers and..well..I have the pattern bookmarked but I really had a hard time of it.

This pattern I am currently using is nice because it doesn't involve much so it is easier to follow.

Oh dang, a whole process! May the force be with you!

Thanks. I think this one will turn out ok. Hopefully :)