Knitting Tips: Basic Techniques

1. Purling Continentally
2. Slanty Stitches
3. Biasing Swatch
4. Gauge Swatch Hint
5. Direction of Yarn Around Needle
6. Slip as if to Knit or Purl?
7. Garter in the Round?
8. Gauge Problem (Einstein Coat)
9. Gauge difference after frogging
10. Too Loose a Knitter
11. Make a New Cast-On Edge
12. Picking Stitches Up Reversibly
13. How to Make Gloves and Mittens Fit Well
14. Steeking

1. Purling Continentally

Rita O'Connell 2/2/03

I wanted to discuss something that might confuse some readers of this discussion.

I too knit with the yarn held in my left hand, wrap my purls "wrong" and have to adjust that in subsequent rows. And it's a piece of cake as always has been since I originally figured out how to solve the problem in the first place.

Wrapping my purls in the opposite direction only became a problem when I finally developed a circle of knitting friends (I knew no knitting folks for the first 20 years of my knitting life). They watched what I was doing and said that I had to knit into the BACK of the stitch to correct it on, for example, the knit row of back and forth knitting.

That confused me because that's not really true. It's NOT the back of the stitch -- it's still the front of the stitch IF you think about reading your knitting. It doesn't matter which leg of a stitch is on the front of the needle, if you took that stitch off the needle and laid it flat to look at it - a knit stitch always requires that the needle go into the stitch from front-to-back, a purl stitch always frequires that the needle go into the stitch from back-to-front.

I know I will probably not change knitters' terminology, but I prefer to teach knitters to go into the stitch from the left or right and NOT use back or front unless I really mean that (e.g., intentionally twisted knit stitches which you truly do knit from back-to-front instead of the usual front-to-back).

Clear as mud?

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Joan Schrouder2/9/03

I seem to have developed a bad knitting habit that I don't know how to fix. Every once in a while my K1P1 ribbing is slanty--on one row the knit stitches lean to the left, on the row above they lean to the right, they to the left again, then the right again and so on. This happened with a striped scarf I made out of wool-ease and again with a baby outfit I'm making out of Emu Superwash wool. I'm pretty sure its a problem with my tension, but I've tried both pulling the stitches tighter and trying to knit looser and neither seems to solve the problem. Any ideas on how I can fix this?

What happens when you block it? Often times such idiosynchrocies will straighten themselves out when wettened and stretched a bit. If that's so, then you need to do nothing different while knitting.

Another slight possibility - if you are a continental knitter, and wrap the yarn arnd the ndl in the opposite way for P's than you do for K's, but don't compensate on the following rows re working into front or back of sts, then you will get twisted sts that slant.

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Joan Schrouder 2/11/03

The yarn is SO tightly twisted that it twists back on itself in just a couple of rows of swatching. Do I have to worry about this? Also, the swatch has a terrific bias (is that how to express it?), i.e., it leans extremely to the upper left. Knitting circularly, will this be a problem? Or can I fix it with blocking? Or, alternatively, is there a way to untwist it sufficiently to fix it?

Try all of those things now, on your swatch. If you were intending to do something circular, then the swatch should also be circular, as many of us have different tensions between the two. After making your various swatches, BLOCK them. That will tell you if blocking later will solve your problem.

Sometimes choosing a different st patt, something that itself biases in the opposite axis as it does currently, will offset the problem. I'm thinking cabled or twisted sts.

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Lizzy 4/18/03

Cast your swatch on with an invisible (provisional) cast on. This way you will not have a tight cast on edge distorting your swatch. Instead of binding it off - thread a string through the live loops.You will still need to decide on your cast on and bind-off - but they will not be affecting your swatch.

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Joan Schrouder 2/11/03

A quick plea: I've been asked to teach a lefty to knit left-handed (as I do, moving the stitches from the right to the left needles); apparently she has tried but cannot learn to knit right-handed. One comment recently made here stuck in my mind: that regardless of knitting style (throwing, Continental, and so on), the yarn should always be wrapped counter-clockwise around the needles. Took a look at my knitting and I am wrapping it...clockwise. Because I am entirely self-taught, could another left-handed knitter confirm this? I tried it the other way (counter-clockwise) and the stitches ended up twisted on both the knit and purl rows. I'm going to buy one of the newer "Learn to Knit" kits that include left-handed instructions to give to her to be sure I'm not perpetuating confusion.

"Conventional" knitting does have the sts wrapped counterclockwise arnd the ndl, and can be achieved by Continental knitters. Just to clarify the "counterclockwise" bit, tip the ndl point towards your nose and see which direction you wrap.

Your wrapping clockwise can and does turn out perfectly good knitting, as you've found. You've obviously learned to compensate by working into the "backs" of the sts to keep them untwisted. When you shift to wrapping counterclockwise, you work into the "fronts" of the sts.

Which to teach? Because the counterclockwise method is the "standard", probably that one. This is because patterns in books and magazines are written in that convention. Stitch maneuvers are predicated on the sts being mounted a certain way. When that position is changed, the knitter has to be able to figure out an alternative method to do the maneuver or else the patt doesn't emerge the same. Some knitters readily adapt to this; others don't.

May I recommend a new book out - KNITTING FOR ANARCHISTS - by Anna Zilboorg? It goes into lots of lovely detail about different methods of forming sts, all without judgment. There are some great clear photos of various st maneuvers, too.

An ironic aside - Anna reverses the definitions of clockwise and counterclockwise! As she states, terminology can be arbitrary, but at least it's clear what she's referring to because of her illustrations. (I plan to ask her about that when I see her next week at Sts West....)

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Joan Schrouder 3/22/03

Question: this is a decrease, so slip as if to knit? or as if to purl? After the two purl stitches, the yarn is in front. When do I move the yarn to the back? Before the slip stitch? or after the slip stitch and then knit the next two stitches?

The "rule" is that you slip as to knit when the slipped st will be part of a decrease. The reason is that you want to turn the st on the ndl so that the right leg is on the back and the left leg is on the front, opposite of "standard" position.

You move the yarn to the back before slipping the st.

I agree that it's often confusing to follow some knitting instructions. The problem is, if absolutely everything is written out, the directions become incredibly long, which itself can lead to confusion. When I was learning how to read them, I often found that I would just experiment on a swatch. I would try what I *thought* was the right interpretation for a few rows/pattern repeats, then closely examine the result and compare it to any pictures of the st patt. If that didn't appear to be the same, then I'd try something different.

The advantage of such experimentation is:

1. I didn't have to wait until I could consult with a more experienced knitter.
2. I got pretty good at "reading" my knitting.
3. I tried some things out that, while *not* what the pattern was wanting me to do, turned out to give a result I liked better, so I subbed.
4. Taught me other tricks that I could use when a different situation called for it.

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Joan Schrouder3/23/03

Do I knit one row and then purl the next?

Yes, you can do it that way. Or if purling is more cumbersome for you, you can knit it all the way. At the end of your first row, do what's called "wrapping" -

1. slip as if to purl the first st of the row to the right end of your circ ndl tip
2. bring the yarn forward between the ndls
3. slip the slipped st back to the left ndl tip
4. 4. turn and knit in the other direction.

Do this at the end of every row. You will be maintaining a tube AND you will be knitting continuously. The wraps will blend in with the garter ridges. It might show up a little, but just designate this point as an underarm "seam".

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Joan Schrouder4/4/03

I'm begining to knit the Einstein and am trying to knit a gauge swatch. Size 10's come up just a little short but 10 1/2's produce a swatch that is way too big. I decided on the 10's and got busy - after completing several rows of the bottom of the coat, I can see that this is coming out way too small. The width of the knitting is a good six inches short.

I have to admit I've never knitted a gauge swatch before. Would any of the experienced knitters on this list care to comment? I'll probably try to just start knitting the coat on 10 1/2's and see if I'm any closer. I guess I was surprised at the difference in results between my swatch and the finished product. Guess I should take the time to work out the math - you know I almost took enough math in college as a computer science major to minor in math - why do I fight making these calculations so? Guess I'd rather knit than crunch more numbers! And these kinds of calcs aren't as interesting as calculus and differential equations!

The Einstein's body is knit sideways. Since it's garter st, it will grow sideways, thereby lengthening the garment somewhat. I don't know if it will grow 6", but it is something to consider.

Did you wash your original gauge swatch? That often relaxes the yarn and the swatch may grow a little. In that case, so will your body.

When I embark on a project, and get a little ways into it, I recheck things, just like you're doing. If it's not going to plan, I begin again, changing ndl size, or # of sts or whatever else my analysis says should correct the problem. BUT, I don't rip out the original attempt just yet. Rather, I keep it for a while, so that I can compare it to my second trial. It gives me a much better barometer of my success, or lack thereof. Only after I'm firmly launched on the second/final effort do I rip the first one out.

Once in a while I discover that my original was closer to the mark, close enough that I can "nudge" it to the exact specs with some judicious blocking. In that case, I can go back to the first one and continue on with it. If I had ripped it out right away, I'd have to reknit all of it. Sometimes, it's just the reluctance to do that that keeps me going on the second effort, even tho' it's going to be much farther from the desired results. It's hard to give up on a project when so much time has been invested. But it's even harder when you actually finish it, and then never wear it because you're nott happy with the results.

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Joan Schrouder 4/10/03

I found a mistake in my lace and was proud of myself for frogging just the panel and reknitting it up. However, the stitches are way loose on one side of panel and way tight on the other.

Re your loose edge/tight edge - I used to get these, too. I figured out that it was due to using two DPs to knit the mistake-area back up. Because they were DPs, it was easiest to work by always starting at the right end of the ndl and working to the left on every row. That means that you're pulling all the slack from the right side of the area to the end of the row, and leaving it there, ie the left side will be loose. Or you might be starting out working a little too loosely and not having enough yarn to make normal sized sts at the end of each row. Is that what you're seeing?

To prevent it in the future, alternate directions when you're working back up. That will dissipate the "looseness" at alternate ends, which at least won't create such a disparity. At the same time, rework the dropped area with as even a hand as possible, so that you don't pull all the slack to one end.

For what to do with your current situation - use a blunt sewing ndl or size 1-2 ndl tip to start at the loose end and ease the looseness along the pathway of each row, leaving the sts pretty much the same size as all the surrounding material. (I could always suggest dropping down the entire section and reworking, using the new info, but nahhhh.... )

Blocking the entire thing when finished should smooth out any remaining minor inconsistancies.

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Joan Schrouder 4/10/03

I'm convinced that it is possible to knit too loosely, and that it's a nt an infrequent problem. Garments that are knit at too loose a gauge won't retain shape well. Some stitch patts don't look nearly as good, although this is a subjective thing, when not done at a firmer, crisper gauge.

Now before I go on and incite lots of knitters, let me disclaim that this is meant to only suggest alternate courses of action IF you are not satisfied with your knitting results, if your knits frequently stretch out of shape, if the cables flatten or K/P st combos look "mushy" or uneven, etc.

When a knitter has to go down 2 or more sizes of ndl, that *might* be an indication of a loose knitter. Wrapping the yarn more ways through the fingers is an excellent way to tighten up the gauge. But keep in mind that you don't want to get such a labyrinth set up so that, every few sts, you need to drop everything off your hand and then rewind everything up again. The constant letting go and picking up will mean that you're losing the tenstion all over again, and that can affect overall gauge as well. So try to adapt a style that allows the yarn to still feed through your fingers.

I also knit continental, with a 150% wrap of yarn arnd my index finger when I need extra tension, eg extra slippery yarn, thinner yarn, purl rows. When I don't need that much tension, I drop off one of the wraps, leaving a wrap ~75% arnd my index finger. I've seen others tension yarn arnd the little finger as well as the index finger.

Experiment and see what works for you. It is worthwhile to do, as opposed to being limited to only knitting patterns that call for larger sized ndls so that the knitter can have room to maneuver down to much smaller ndls, esp if said knitter has a hankering to knit some socks or AS Fair Isle sweaters or ganseys which all necessitate smaller ndls and tighter gauges.

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Betsey 4/16/03

But I no longer like the blunt square edge that my original adjustments gave the shawl. Trouble is, that end is where I cast on. Is there *any* way to take out those original stitches and make a new, cast on edge? I have enough room that I can cut off several rows, but I need an edging to the piece.

I'm not familiar with the shawl you're making and I'm not entirely sure I understand your question, but it is possible to create a type of new cast-on edge. The simplest solution would be to backstitch through the stitches of the last (first) row you want to keep. If it were my problem, I would carefully thread a skinnier circular knitting needle through the stitches of the row where I want the new cast-on to start. I'd carefully cut off the original cast-on, wasting as little yarn as possible. Then I would unravel "up'' however many rows you're planning to lose - you will have to pull the length of the yarn through the selvedge sts. I would thread a sewing needle with the unraveled yarn and carefully backstitch through the sts on the knitting needle.

Another solution would be to follow those instructions and then use the unraveled yarn to loosely *bind-off* the sts you have captured on the knitting needle.

I suppose another solution (again - I don't know this pattern) would be to leave the captured sts on the knitting needle and later knit on an attached lace edging.

Now that I think about this some more, you're knitting lace and lace does't unravel "up" easily as stockinette. Those k2togs and ssks lock sts together. You may have to thread the skinnier knitting needle through the row you want to capture, and either cut away the earlier stuff or snip and unpick the row below the needle carefully to separate that first section.

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Joan Schrouder 5/21/03

Is there a way to pick up stitches so that it makes a smooth line and can be reversible? The way that I normally use to pick up stitches looks perfect on one side and makes a line on the other.

Usually one picks up as to K. If you alternated picking up to K with picking up to P, the resulting look would be the same on each side.

When I'm working a selvedge from which I expect to later pick up sts, I make a chain st selvedge, either by slipping the first st of each row and K'ing the last, or by Horst Schulz's method - last st of each row, bring yarn to front and slip the last st purlwise.

To K up sts - first, examine the selvedge chain. I knit up a st under the top part of each of the chains, between the legs of the chain above it. This method leaves one/half of the chain to the front and one/half to the back, making it almost identical.

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Linda Walsh, October 26, 2005

Wow, I had no idea how many requests for my fitting tricks I would get. :-D So, here I am again hoping to get everyone who wanted to know at once.

This is a more or less right template for any needles and yarns so I won't go into gauge. Using a smaller needle than the ball band calls for will most often give you dense gloves or mittens. And, by the time you are ready to do the fingers (if you are making gloves, fingered or fingerless) you can use the hand of the work in progress to get the exact gauge if you feel the need to know that.

First thing I do is have the victim, I mean, recipient place their hand relaxed on a sheet of fine gauged graph paper, with one of the lines lined up with the imaginary line straight across their wrist. Then draw around their hand. Be sure their hand is relaxed not fingers splayed in an un-natural way. You want the gloves to fit a hand in motion, not one all splayed out.

Most of the time you will see that the V between the fingers is not ending at the same line on the graph paper. A lot of glove patterns have the fingers all sprout off the hand along the same imaginary line. Some time that can lead to the gloves being baggy at the pinkie and tight between the index and middle finger.

Okay, for purposes of this we are going to assume the gloves (mittens) are being made in the round in a series of tubes. If you want to make yours flat with two needles and a seam some of this may still be useful, I hope.

The wrist tube is most often more narrow due to ribbing begin used or there are fewer stitches there. Which ever method suits you, I recommend you make the wrist section at least three inches longer than you thought you wanted it to be. There is a lot of raw skin between the cuff and the glove(mitten) of many an active person and a long cuff inside the arm of the jacket, etc. is nice. If they are for someone who tends to lose mittens and gloves a buttonhole in the cuff and a button in the sleeve of the jacket is a good idea. Those long strings that connect mittens, etc. most always seem to stretch out no matter how nicely made. But, of course, knitter's choice always ;-)

Okay, once the cuff is taken care of, either switch to a larger needle orr add some stitches to make the "tube" between the wrist and the place where the "thumb tube" sprouts off wider. Now, sit with your hands relaxed and you will see that the thumb relaxes a bit forward of the place along which the relaxed hand does. So, begin your thumb inside the imaginary side seam line. Imagine that the seam line goes up the outer edge of the pinkie and the other seam is exactly half the stitches away from that. So, have the left thumb begin right after that imaginary line and the right thumb end there. Most of the time it makes it easiest to do the thumb increases, then put those stitches onto a waste yarn and come back to them later. By now you will have enough done to figure out how many stitches to add in order to create the thumb. Refer to your drawing and remember that you are only looking at half the thumb. If the increase between the edge of the thumb and the wrist is 2 inches then you need to have increased 4 to make it fit. So, you increase until you have sufficient stitches to accommodate the widening tube that is the thumb shaping and you put those extra stitches onto a waste yarn to come back to later. Remember that all those increases happened on the palm side of the glove (mitten) when replacing markers. How fast to do the increases depends on your gauge so you must do the math. Try to keep the rate of increase constant.

So, you have a tube that is more narrow now that the thumb tube has sprouted off. Look at your drawing again and see where the tubes that are the fingers sprout off. Most of us have the pinkie sprouting off first, followed by the index finger soon after and the tube that is the middle and ring fingers divides after that. BUT NOT EVERY HAND DOES THAT. Thus the graph paper and thus it being small gauge graph paper. Based on where your fingers have done the sprouting do the dividing of the hand tube into the four finger tubes accordingly.

Now at one and the same time the exact gauge is and is not important. HUH??? Okay, most of the time you will be using wool or a wool blend. There is a lot of give in wools, even the most firmly spun wools. Plus there is a good chance the gloves or mittens will get damp and even with a superwash wool some self fitting will take place as wet wool has more give. However, you need a more or less right gauge so you know where and when to do the tubes. If in doubt, try it, try the gloves on and don't be afraid to rip. They are small enough that it is not that much ripping. In other words, don't begin with complicated fair isle when trying this out O:-)

I am speaking mostly of gloves but up to the point where the fingers sprout off mittens are the same. If you are making mittens look at the top of the fingers and do the mitten tip shaping to take into account which fingers are longer than others. A lot of times the index finger and ring finger are the same length with the pinkie being shortest. So it makes sense for the mitten to be a tad longer than the middle finger. BUT don't forget that the middle finger is not IN the middle any longer, the thumb came off earlier. So, shape the top of the mitten by beginning the shaping decreases on the pinkie side (left and right) for a bit then begin to decrease on both sides to follow the curve that is the index and ring fingers shape. And, don't forget to allow wriggle room. Don't make the mittens the exact length of the hand.

Okay, back to gloves. If you are making them fingerless you may still want to have the top be somewhat anatomically shaped. You can insert short rows along the back of the hand. Adding maybe half an inch in all. Or take the tube up to the first place where a finger sprouts off (referring to the drawing) and end only part of the glove there. Keep making a slightly longer tube, binding off for each finger and continuing for the rest. I recommend a bit of ribbing there with a smaller needle just to make that area lay smooth. Knitters choice, of course. Whatever ending treatment you use make it flexible. I like the Icelandic cast off, knit two stitches together, put the stitch you just made back on the left needle and knit it together with the next stitch, repeat all around.

If you do chose to make fingers, of whatever length, I recommend icord. Work out how many stitches you want each finger to be. Take half the stitches from the palm, half from the back of the hand and have one less stitch than you think you want. After you have done the finger, latch up the ladder to make that extra stitch. If there is a gap between fingers pick up that strand there and work into the back of it twisting it and latch that up the finger, too. Depending on the yarn and needles you have used those extra stitches will or will not make a difference. You will know as soon as you have done the first one and can adjust the stitch count accordingly.

Bu working the glove as a series of dividing tubes you may not have ANY fingers. If you do and there is a lot of extra fabric there decrease it gaps between the away as you go up the fingers. You may want to use a smaller needle for the base of the fingers to help make them more snug.

I hope some of this was useful. Some I learned by doing, some I learned from Joan Schrouder, some from Meg Swansen, some from one or more of you. Like most knitters, I have no clue where all my ideas began. So, I thank everyone and that way I am bound to hit the right person once in a while. Even when I THINK something is new it is more likely an unvention.

Keep your fingers warm,
Linda

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Dawn Brocco, November 4, 2005

I am looking for advice on steeking the front of a top down cardigan. I originally used a pattern from the internet that was for a pullover. The pattern suggested that if you wanted to knit a cardigan, you add 6 seed stitches in the middle of the front. I am not sure how to pick up the stitches for the button bands. Philospher's Wool indicates that I should pick up the bands and then steek. I can not wrap my mind around picking up these stitches without an open edge. Any suggestions or advise will be much appreciated.
Mindy

I've done a good bit of steeking, on plain stockinette, stranded and aran knits, and with all the projects, I sew up either side of the center stitch, cut, THEN pick up and knit the edges (or the sleeves).

I've not ever picked up and knit edges of an unsewn and uncut steek. It can work that way to, but I'm not sure of the reasoning behind it.

I've machine sewed, hand sewed and crocheted steeks. I've hand sewed going across 2 columns of sts (as is shown on the Tech page on my site: http://www.dawnbrocco.com/tech.html), and I've hand sewed going through the rows of sts - going through a column of each vertical side of the sts, then back up through the other vertical side of the sts.

This last method was because I was feeling lazy and thought I could emulate how a machine sews a straight line through the sts. It worked as well, and I've been wearing the sweater for weeks and it has been washed twice already. Nothing's come undone.

After doing the edges, I tuck under the edge of the steeked sts, and tack them down. This last time, I used fingering wt. sock yarn on a heavy worsted Peace Fleece sweater. I prefer wool with wool, rather than cotton thread with wool, tho I've done other steeks with sewing thread as well.

When in doubt with *anything* in knitting, do some swatches and practise on them. Especially for sewing and cutting steeks - I always recommend as many swatches as are necessary to make the knitter feel comfortable with the process.

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