Jogless stripes--pretty picture version (part 3 of a series)

Slip-stitch jogless stripes were the subject of a post way back in January 2007. Then in the spring of 2009, Interweave Knits published an jogless stripe article by me which included the 2007 info plus some new info about barberpole (helix) jogless stripes. The article also came with a video. With the two most recent posts, helix stripes and a link to the video have now been added to this blog, and the only part of the 2009 article not yet reproduced are some pretty pictures of slip-stitch jogless stripes.

These pictures cover the same ground as the 2007 slip-stitch jogless post--identical info--but these new pictures are prettier. Rather than mess with the original post, I'm putting them into a post of their own--maybe these prettier pictures will shed a better light than the old pictures, even though the process is identical.

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Slip-stitch jogless stripes

General directions:

•  *On color change rounds, change colors by simply knitting the first stitch of the new color as you normally would knit any stitch. Next, knit the rest of the stitches to the end of the round.
•  On the next round, slip the first stitch of the new color, then knit the rest of the stitches. On every following round, knit every stitch as usual
•  Repeat from * every time you want to change colors.

Per the illustration below, slipping the stitch at the beginning of the second round (green arrow) pulls that first stitch of the new color up to span both first and second rounds; the last stitch of the previous color gets pulled smaller (orange arrow); and the stitch of the old color in the row below the slipped stitch gets pulled up along with the slip stitch stitch (purple arrow). These forces arrange the stitches into smaller “steps” (black arrows) lessening the contrast between the old color and the new and essentially eliminating the jog.

How the slip stitch makes the stripe jogless

Jogless slip-stitch stripes come in two types: “traveling” and “stationary.” The actual technique is as shown above, and is the same in both, the only difference is the point at which you change color.

TRAVELING stripes

Per the illustration below, if you choose to let the beginning of the round travel one stitch to the left with each color change (orange arrow) then every part of every row will be the same height and have the same number of stitches, and these are the traveling stripes.

Traveling jogless stripes

Here are complete step-by step directions for this type:

•  On the round before you intend to change colors, insert a stitch marker at the place you intend to change colors.
•  *On the color change round--slip the marker, then change colors by simply starting to knit with the new color.
•  On the following round, when you come to the marker, slip it. Then, slip the first stitch of the new color from the left needle to the right needle purlwise (ie: not twisted). Knit all the rest of the stitches of the round.  

 Knit as many rounds as you desire for the stripe, knitting every stitch. One round before your next color change, shift the marker over one stitch to the left. Make more stripes by repeating from *.

Stationary stripes

If you choose to hold the beginning of the round in the same place, then in the color-change column (orange arrow) each stripe will be one stitch shorter, and these are the stationary stripes. 

Stationary jogless stripes

Stationary, closeup

 Here are complete step-by step directions for this type:

• On the round before you intend to change colors, insert a stitch marker at the place you intend to change colors.
• *When you come to a color change round, slip the marker, then change colors by simply starting to knit with the new color.
•  On the following round, when you come to the marker, slip it. Then, slip the first stitch of the new color from the left needle to the right needle purlwise (ie: not twisted) Knit the rest of the stitches of the round.

 Knit as many rounds as you desire for the stripe, knitting every stitch. Make more stripes by repeating from *.

Which stripe where?

 The advantage to traveling stripes is that every part of every round is the same height; the disadvantage is that the round beginning "travels" one stitch leftward with every color change (illustration 10) Also, with traveling stripes, a faint spiral pattern will develop along the diagonal of the color change. This spiral pattern is more obvious in heavy fabrics and less obvious in thinner fabrics, so the traveling stripes are better for thinner stripes and/or thinner wool.

 The advantage to stationary stripes is that the color change remains in the same place; the disadvantage is that at one part of each round, that round will dip one stitch lower. (illustration 12). With thin stripes, and/or in thin wool, you'd soon have substantially fewer stitches along this column, so the fabric might start to "pull" along that column of stitches. However, with thick wool (5 st/in or fewer) and/or thicker stripes, this isn't an issue because knitting stretches enough to solve the problem. Therefore, stationary stripes are best for thick wool and/or thick stripes.


-TK

Helix (barberpole) stripes, part 2 of a jogless stripe series

Helix or barberpole stripes are completely jogless, and, unlike nearly every other method of jogless stripes* may be made as narrow as a single row. Although this makes them incredibly useful in the right situation, they are somewhat of a pain to knit, which is why they probably aren't seen more often.

In their classic form,barberpole stripes are 1 row high, and usually 3 or 4 colors. Each stripe starts at a different point on the garment, then the stripes chase one another around the spiral architecture of the knitted garment, like the stripes on an old-fahioned barber pole. Because of this arrangement into spiral layers, the colors never meet on the same level, so there is no jog.

Barberpole stripes are usually made on double pointed needles (dpn’s). Here’s the ...

How to

• Suppose we want three single-color stripes, as in the above photo. For three stripes, we'll use three needles for the work and a fourth to knit around. 
• To determine the number to cast on, divide the total number of stitches by the total number of colors. Example: our little tube has 36 stitches and three colors, red, white and blue: 36÷3=12 stitches of each color. 
• Onto needle 1, using white, cast on 1/3 the total number of stitches (12, in our example) Repeat onto needle 2 with blue and again onto 3 with red: 36 total stitches cast on, three needles with 12 stitches on each. If your total stitch count is not evenly divisible by your number of needles, no big deal—within a couple of stitches is OK. 
• Choose your color arrangement: once chosen, it can never change--the same colors will chase one another around and around the spiral for the entire knitting of the garment. 

• In the above illustration, the work began with each needle cast on with a different color.  Then, the white yarn was knit over the red, the red over the blue, and the blue over the white. In the next round the blue yarn was knitted over the white, the white over the red, and the red over the blue. Once the order is established, you simply pick up the yarn at the beginning of each needle and work until you come to the next color.

Tips and tricks 

• No need to twist the stitches together: the different colors lay over one another, not next to one another

• Consider using bobbins to avoid tangling

• In theory, you can make spirals of more colors by using more needles. In practice, the steepness of the spiral and the tangling of the running yarns makes 4-5 colors the utmost practical limit, and really, two or three colors will prove challenging enough.
• For a fabric with a single contrast color stripe, say, white with every 4th row blue (photo below) here’s how: Prepare 3 white bobbins and one of blue, then knit the whole works off 4 needles, working around with a fifth.  Knit each bobbin of white sequentially and individually, just as you would if using different colors. 

Better transitions using a"transition needle"

The above instructions segregate each color to its own needle, and this is easy to understand (and illustrate!) However, in real life, having several bobbins hanging off at different place would lead to tangling. Also, always changing colors at the same spot might create ladders. Finally, dropping the yarn and picking up a new one at the end of every needle makes for a very choppy knitting rhythm--not restful at all. In order to avoid these problems, here is a trick--

• Once the pattern is established, choose one needle to be the “transition needle.” Knit each color almost all the way around the round, stopping three stitches from the previous color, on the "transition needle." 

• In the above illustration, the blue stripe has just been finished three stitches from the end of the previous white round. Similarly, the white round finished three stitches from the red round, and the red, three stitches from the previous blue round. Now find the running yarn “lowest down and furthest out,” here, the red yarn picked out with the green arrow. Drop the blue running yarn to the front of the work, then slip the intervening stitches (black arrows) from left needle to right, purlwise (not twisted). 

• The above illustration shows the six marked stitches as they have been slipped onto the right needle.  This frees the "lowest down and furthest out" yarn--the red running yarn--so you can knit the next almost-complete round with it. 
• You would now knit with the red yarn, stopping three stitches from the end of the blue round. After knitting the red yarn, the next following round would be a white round, to be knitted with the white running yarn picked out by the green arrow in illustration 7. 
• This transition shortcut works on magic loop and circular needles, also. 
• Because the stopping point of the yarn is always moving backwards in your knitting, you avoid the ladders which would form if you always switched at the same spot, and you avoid the need for markers in magic loop or circular knitting. Of course, with dpn’s, you will have to re-arrange the stitches by slipping them around on your needles every few rounds in order to keep a roughly even number on each, but this is all to the good, as it also helps avoid ladders. 
• As you can see from the comments, some knitters do not stop short, but knit all the way around to the very stitch where the previous yarn ended.  When I try that, I get tension strangeness, but knitting is SO different in different hands, so experiment: try stopping short as illustrated, but maybe also try knitting each round to the bitter end, and see which way works better for you!
• When you end the work, space the colors out again as you did at cast on (one color per needle, lined up over the original round) so that the bind-off matches.

* * *

This is part 2 of a TECHknitting series on jogless stripes, based on an article which originally appeared in "Beyond the Basics," Interweave Knitting Magazine, Summer '09

The first post in this series, which features a video of various stripes, including barberpole stripes, is here.

If you would like to see a different blogger's take on barberpole stripes, have a look at Grumperina's posts on the subject featuring, among other things, a pair of helical-knit socks. 

Good knitting--TK

*Addendum 2016:  If you need to knit SINGLE ROUND STRIPES where each stripe is a DIFFERENT COLOR, then a different technique will work better: have a look at this post on "Smoothed Circles." 

Article and video on jogless stripes, part 1 of a series

Circular knitting, as you know, is actually a spiral.  Therefore, if you change colors to make stripes, the knitting will "jog."

Jogging stripes

A couple of years ago, in the summer 2009 issue of Interweave Knits, there was an illustrated article by TECHknitter (that's me!) about avoiding this problem with two different kinds of jogless stripes:

• barber pole (helix)
• slip stitch jogless (two variations)

Under the contract signed with Interweave Knits, the copyright reverted to this blog after a time.  TECHknitting blog is now free to re-publish the article as it was originally written and illustrated for submission.  However, the article was rather long, so it will be run as three separate posts.

Today's intro installment contains two things:
First, here's a link to a previous post in TECHknitting blog covering the slip stitch variations.  This post contains everything about the slip-stitch jogless method which was found in the Interweave Knits article--only the illustrations are different.

Second, here is a link to a video done by Interweave Knits' editor Eunny Jang, showing how the TECHknitting jogless stripes are done.  The video covers one of the slip stitch variations (stationary style jogless stripes), as well as the helix (barber pole) jogless stripes.  Unlike later videos done by IK, this one does not mention then (then-concurrent) TECHknitting article, but it IS based on the article--the techniques are identical.  I think Eunny does a great job of showing the techniques (and even if you already know how to make these stripes, the video is worth watching to see how incredibly fast Eunny knits, and using a unique style, too).

The next post in this series contains that part of the IK article relating to barberpole (helix) stripes.  This is all-new material for TECHknitting blog because there has never been a post on barber-pole stripes before.  Helix stripes can be made as narrow as a single round, and are therefore very useful for narrow jogless stripes.  (Click here to be taken to the second post.)

The third post in the series will contain that part of the IK article relating to slip-stitch jogless stripes--the material which is identical to the previous TECHknitting post mentioned above.  The only reason to reprise this material is the different illustrations.  In other words, although the previous TECHknitting post on jogless stripes and the third part in this series are to cover the identical ground, yet each has different illustrations, and sometimes a new and different illustration is capable of shedding new light.

* * *

This is the first post in a series: the second post is: Helix (Barberpole) stripes.

* * *

-TK

Socks falling down? Consider elastic

Socks won't stay up? You're not alone. Socks are a very popular item to knit but recurrent discussions on Internet knitting forums show falling-down socks are a problem to many.

There are many, many ways to solve this problem, but one of the most direct is elastic. Here are four different methods.

Elastic garters inside the sock 

TECHknitting blog has already shown how to make knitted hems, both sewn shut and knitted shut.  If you create one of these hems at the top of a sock, you can insert an elastic garter into the hem, thus turning the hem into a "casing" ("casing" = a fancy word for a hem which is encasing something: a hem with something inside of it).

wear the garter around
the house for a while checking
for circulation problems

A few tips:

• Make the garter out of non-roll elastic because if it gets twisted inside the casing, you'll have a hard time straightening it.  I use 3/4 inch wide non-roll, but some prefer one-inch wide.
• There are various weights and strengths of non-roll elastics--try to feel of them before you buy because some are quite thick and stiff.
• Make up the garter by cutting the elastic longer than you think, then pin or tack it down (tack = sew quickly with a couple of big stitches) into a circle of approximately the same diameter as your leg, sock-top-high.  Leave some overlap so you can adjust as needed.  WEAR the pinned/tacked garter around the house for a while, trying it on both legs before you sew it down permanently.  Elastic garters need not be very tight to do their work--your underwear elastic doesn't bite into your flesh and neither does the elastic on store-bought socks, yet they both work.  By wearing the garter around for a while, you can adjust it until it is as loose as possible while still doing its job.  Also, remember--it will be slightly tighter inside the casing than around your bare leg, since it has to stretch slightly further. 
• You can insert the garter into its casing at the sock top either by sewing the casing shut over the elastic as the last step in finishing the sock, or--for a top-down sock--knitting the casing shut as-you-go with the garter trapped inside.  
• Elastic can loose its oomph long before a handknit sock wears out, so if you do sew the casing shut, use a contrasting color yarn--that'll make it easy to snip and resew a new garter in.
• An elastic garter sewn into a casing often makes the sock top stand out because the unstretched garter is larger than the unstretched sock top, but when you put the sock on, all will be well. 

...the sock top stands out because the
unstretched garter is wider than the
unstretched sock...

...but when you put it on
all will be well

Thread elastic added afterwards

Another method to make your socks stay up is to use thread elastic, threading this onto a needle and working this around and around the inside of the sock ribbing in a spiral.  The easiest way I know is to catch the elastic under ONE arm of a knit column on the inside.  This is a (receding) purl column on the front of the sock, which helps hide the elastic. Don't over-tension the elastic as you sew it in.  In fact, don't tension it much, if at all--the inside of a sock is a lot smaller than the outside of your leg, so an elastic worked into a sock top must have enough slack to stretch as the sock does.

thread elastic worked into the ribbing at the top of a sock

Working thread elastic into sock ribbing is an good solution for already-made socks.  The only drawback to thread elastic is that it doesn't last very long--a few years at most, whereas a hand-knit sock might last many times that.  However, it is no great chore to snip out the old elastic and insert new.

Knitting in elastic as-you-go

It is also possible to knit in elastic as you go.  This trick is possible with thread elastic, but, unless the thread elastic is the same color as your yarn, there is the possibility of the elastic peeping out when you wear the socks. Plus, you know, thread elastic loses its oomph pretty quick. A better sort of elastic to knit in is a European product called "knitting elastic" which is invisible. (And that's why there's no illustration--it is literally hard to see this stuff even when it's in your hand.)

The trouble with knitting in elastic is knowing how strongly to tension it as you knit. Start by tensioning as little as possible, rather than trying to stretch it as you knit, then tighten up from there if that's unsatisfactory. I haven't used the knitting elastic product very extensively and so don't know how long it is likely to last.  If you have more experience, maybe sing out in the comments? I will say that the stuff has amazing stretch and feels very sturdy, at least when it is new.  It also washes up OK, but I haven't yet tried it in a dryer.

Elastic garters worn outside the sock

The first three methods of adding elastic all work on the inside of the sock.  However, traditionally, it was understood that socks and stockings were likely to fall down, and that's why many ethnic and historical costumes include socks and stockings held up with garters worn OUTSIDE the sock.  (aaand, for history buffs, these garters were traditionally knitted in garter stitch,which is why...)

My maternal grandparents (born 1896 and 1902, respectively) wore ordinary business attire, not ethnic costume, but they did keep their socks up with elastic sock garters every day of their lives--grandpa used the men's version, grandma used an elastic garter at the top of each thigh-high nylon.  Retro-style garters like this are still for sale on-line, and the men's version has always remained part of a formal-wear outfit.

The cheapest modern equivalent to outside garters are rubber bands. Snap one around each sock top, flip the ribbing down, and you've got a garter.

For a better-fitting version, you can make custom elastic garters, as in the first part of this post.  However, because these are now meant to be worn outside the sock, under the flip of the ribbing, use narrower elastic.  There is no need to use non-roll elastic either, since you can easily reach the elastic to straighten it. One pair of custom garters will work for all socks of the same length--a time saver over knitting a pair of garters into each pair of socks: easier and less clunky, too.

If you do opt to make elastic garters, you can gussie these up by sewing a ribbon onto the garter, arranged such that the ribbon peeks out from under the folded-down sock top. This trick makes it look as if the ribbon itself is holding up the sock, while the elastic remains hidden. These little ribbon ends are called "garter flashes" and they can also be made out of woolen fabric--particularly for wear with kilt hose.

ribbon-end garter flashes

 (We'll end with a link to a handsome fellow wearing kilt hose held up with garters showing garter flashes. Remember to look at his socks, OK?)

Good knitting, TK

ADDENDUM September 2014: Too-loose ribbing can be recalled to sense of duty by smocking, which adds a surprising springiness. Although is not traditional to smock sock ribbng, it can be done, and would perhaps look particularly well on a cabled or texture-knit sock with a deep top 1/1 or 1/3 ribbing.  Here is a post on invisible after-thought smocking of the type which could be applied in such a situation.

ADDENDUM 2: November 2015:  IF YOU HAVE ANY CIRCULATION ISSUES (or even if you don't) remember to experimentally wear external garter bands at home before heading out, just as you would with an internal elastic garter you were planning to knit into a sock. Why the capital letters? A lady just wrote to me  saying that she tried rubber bands and they held her socks up, alright; didn't hurt, even.  Yet, she wound up suffering from varicose veins as a result of the interference with her circulation.  Now you know--try this at home first to check the effect.  Better to let your socks fall down than suffer like this.
You have been reading TECHknitting blog on what to do if your socks fall down.

Linky for KD readers (Fixing errors at the side edges of your knitting)

Here is a handy link for readers coming from Kathleen Cubley's dropped-edge-stitch article in Interweave Knit's web site, Knitting Daily.  Kathleen's article covers the ground admirably, while this link takes you to a TECHknitting article about the same problem, which offers a similar, yet not identical slant on the how-to of fixing these kinds of errors.

These sorts of dropped stitches at the edge are quite terrifying looking, no?

(And the reverse is true too--if you've already read TECHknitting's article on this subject, go on over to Kathleen's article to see a different illustrated take on fixing this same error).

Good knitting--TK

Horizontal fold lines in knitting, part 2: purl sides out, knit sides in the fold

As shown in the previous post, it is easy to make a stockinette fabric fold along a horizontal line so the smooth knit side of the fabric is out and the purl sides of the fabric (the reverse stockinette) are trapped inside the fold. This is done by simply making a row or round of purls on the smooth stockinette face of the fabric, and voila: the stockinette then folds smoothly at the purl line, smooth knit side out; bumpy purl sides, back-to-back, inside the fold.

As strong as this structure of this fold is, however, no immediately obvious counterpart exists to make a fold line on the purl side, so that the bumpy purl sides face out and the knit sides are trapped, back-to-back, inside the fold.

Here is a little "unvention," the result of fooling around over a couple of years, which I believe does fit the bill.  It is WORKED from the smooth (knit) side but, when FINISHED, causes the fabric to fold so the purl (reverse stockinette) fabric faces out while the knit side of the fabric is trapped inside the fold.

Step 1: On the stockinette fabric, with the smooth (knit) side facing you, locate the stitch TAIL, illustrated in RED, below.

Step 1

Step 2: Draw the tail up and place it, right arm forward, on the tip of the left needle.

Step 2

Step 3:Insert the right needle tip into the next ordinary stitch on the left needle (illustrated in dark green), then into the loop made by the tail (red), as shown below.  Knit the two loops together from this position using the running yarn which is shown in lighter green.

Step 3

Step 4: The final result will be an assembly of two loops worked together, looking remarkably like a k2tog (Knit 2 together). If you look at the below illustration and all the previous ones, there are several stitches already worked according to this trick, with the tail-loops being illustrated in pink, the main stitch in green and the running yarn in lighter green.  The upcoming tails to be worked in this trick are also illustrated in pink.

Step 4

Here is a photo of the finished product, as seen from the purl side, with the fold line at the bottom of the photo.

The finished result

I think it makes a pretty nice fold, especially for a purl fabric.  Try it, and see what you think! 

* * *

A big thank you! to the three test knitters: Anonymous (you know who you are!) Christina and Tatterbat, not only for trying this out but thanks, too for your ideas: one test knitter plans to use this for the hem of a reverse stockinette sweater, and another mentioned a set of square baby blocks--some to be made knit-side-out, using the ordinary purl-on-stockinette fold of the previous post, some to be made purl-side-out using this new technique. 

Good knitting! --TK

Horizontal fold lines in knitting, part 1: knit sides out, purl sides in the fold

Just as the universe folds and twists in accordance with laws of interest to physicists, so knitting curls and folds in accordance with laws of interest to handknitters.  For example, the tendency of stockinette to curl purl side out is well-known and many excellent knitting designs take this into account, working with the roll, rather than going all out to conquer it.  Perhaps less well-known is an equally strong force of knitting, which can equally add a structural design element: the tendency of stockinette to fold along a purled row.

purl-line on the knit face of stockinette, unfolded (left) and folded (right)

Specifically, when you want knitting to fold back on itself along the row-line, such as at a hem or cuff, it's easy to make the fabric fold sharply by running a row of purl on a stockinette background.  This strongly forces a stockinette fabric to fold in half with the knit sides out while the purl sides are trapped in the fold, back-to-back, as shown in the photo above.

HOW-TO

flat knitting

If knitting stockinette back and forth, you simply knit on the purl side for one row, then return to pattern.  This means that you will work 3 rows of knit successively and the center of these three--the one that looks like a purl line, but is located on the smooth knit side of the fabric--will be the fold line.

circular knitting

If you are working in the round, it's a little different.  As you know, when knitting stockinette circularly you're always working on the knit side, so you'll simply purl a single round to get the same effect.

This is all very simple, but there is one little wrinkle to getting a neat fold line when knitting circularly.  As you know, however, knitting in the round creates a spiral.  This means that the beginning of each round is stacked above and one stitch over from the end of the previous round.  In the context of a fold line, this means that the beginning and end of the purl round "jog," they won't line up because they aren't actually in the same round at all. The discontinuous purl line is highlighted in pink in the photo below.

discontinuous purl line "jog" when worked in the round

To avoid this "jog," use the same trick as for avoiding color jogs:

• work the entire purl round as usual.  
• on the next round, where you would set off knitting in the ordinary course of things, simply SLIP the FIRST purl stitch you worked instead.  In other words, at the end of the purl round, instead of working a knit stitch as the first stitch of the next (knit) round, simply slip the next stitch on your needle INSTEAD of knitting it. 
• All further rounds are worked normally, and this is the only stitch slipped.  

This slipping trick drags up some stitches and squishes others, aligning the beginning and end of the purl round, and essentially eliminating the jog.  As seen in the photo below, the resulting purl line, highlighted in pink, is waaay better than the jogging line of purl in the photo above.

discontinuous "jog" alleviated by slip-stitch method above

In sum so far: the introduction of a purl row/round on a stockinette ground will cause the fabric to to fold very sharply along the purl row, knit side out and with the purl side of the fabric trapped inside the fold.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

As with many things knitting, there are some neat variations.

beefier fold line

For a beefier thicker fold very suitable to utility wear, consider a double purl-line fold.  Although this looks like (and is!) the surface decoration called "welting" when seen on unfolded stockinette, if you fold the fabric at this welt-line you will find you've created a thick, pleasant, sturdy edge--much more substantial than a single purl-line fold line, and very suitable to outerwear or rough use or heavy yarns.

beefier double purl-line (aka "welting"), unfolded (left) and folded (right)

contrast-colored fold line, method 1

There are two ways to make a contrast colored fold line, a gold fold line on a green fabric, for example.  The classic method is done in three steps:

• On the row or round BEFORE where the fold is wanted, work a row or round in contrast color, but keep to your stockinette pattern (knit if in the round, purl if working back and forth)
• On the row or round where the fold is wanted, return to the main color and purl
• On all following rows/rounds, return to the ordinary pattern of the stockinette fabric

contrast-colored method 1, unfolded (left) and folded (right)

When folded, this single line of contrast color yields a fold with a pleasant "stitched" sort of appearance--the main color (green) shows in little dots below the gold contrast color fold, per the above illustration.

contrast-colored fold line, method 2

For a more consistent-colored fold line (no "stitched" appearance) two rows or rounds are worked in the contrast color, as follows:

• On the row or round BEFORE where the fold is wanted, work a row or round in contrast color, but keep to your stockinette pattern (knit if in the round, purl if working back and forth)
• On the row where the fold is wanted, remain in the contrast color and purl a row or round
• On all following rows or rounds, return to the main color, and work in the ordinary pattern of the stockinette fabric

contrast colored method 2, unfolded (left) and folded (right)

Note--although two lines of contrast color have been worked, this is nonetheless a single purl-line fold, because only one row has been purled.  If you wanted to combine the beefy double-purl line fold with the contrasting color trick, you'd have to work THREE lines of color and two lines of purl.

* * *

This is the first post in a two part series about horizontal folds in knitting.  The next post will be about getting stockinette fabric to fold the other way, so that the PURL (reverse stockinette) sides are out, with the KNIT sides trapped in the fold, back-to-back.

Until then, good knitting
--TK
PS: Why yes, I am from Wisconsin.  Did my green and gold color scheme give it away?

Circular swatches knit flat (back and forth on two needles)

Here are a couple of tricks to make swatching circular knitting easier. No longer do you have to make a hat to test your gauge for that new seamless sweater, or knit half a sock before discovering you're really making a mitten for your favorite kid.

Today's little tricks let you test your CIRCULAR gauge on a piece of FLAT knitting. One of these tricks has been shown on TECHknitting blog before, although rather hidden, but the other trick is making a first appearance here.  

Why tricks are necessary 

A swatch cannot normally be knit flat to test the gauge of a circular-knit object.  This is because creating stockinette fabric in the round involves nothing-but-knit, whereas creating stockinette fabric knit flat involves knitting-there-and-purling-back.  If, like most knitters, you purl and knit at different tensions, the result of flat-for-circular substitution is a lying gauge swatch.

All knitters know that swatches are dishonest two-timing, bald-faced liars in the best of times, so a substitute swatch is only going to make matters worse.  Yet, nothing-but-knit worked flat (back and forth) yields garter stitch, not stockinette. So, the issue is, how to create a flat swatch in nothing-but-knit yet still produce stockinette fabric?

Trick 1:  "Half-loop" method

This is the trick which was shown on TECHknitting once before, a long time ago (complete with an old-school black and white illustration!)

Here's how in 5 steps:

• 1. cast a bunch of stitches on to double pointed or circular needles.
• 2. knit a row  
• 3. to knit the next following row, slide the whole swatch to the opposite needle point
• 4. bring the running (working) yarn back to the starting edge by forming a big sloppy loop across the back of the work, then knit the next row
• 5. keep repeating steps 3 and 4 over and over again until you get a swatch large enough to measure.  

Because you bring the yarn back to the row-start via a large loop on the back, rather than via purling, you're creating a swatch of nothing-but-knit AND working stockinette fabric at the same time.

In fact, you are creating a series of giant loops.  You're working the first half of the loop (the knit part) then closing the loop by drawing the un-knit second half of the loop behind the swatch, from left to right.  Because you're only knitting half the loop, this is called the "half-loop" method.

Half-loop is a nice trick, yes, and I made circular swatches this way for years.  However, over time, this method became crazy-making: the sloppy loops across the back make it hard to lay the darn thing flat to measure it; the SUPER-loose edges affect the gauge a long way into the swatch; and it's really hard to keep messy swatches like this hanging about--laborious to knot off the edges for re-purposing as pot holders, hard to keep intact for future measuring purposes.

"There has to be a better way," was my constant thought every time one of these loopy messes was laid out to be measured, and ... lo, after a while, a better way did reveal itself.

Trick 2: "Whole-loop" method

The essence of this trick is to knit the whole loop, both halves of it, rather than drawing one half of it, unknit, behind the swatch.  Here's how in 8 steps and three illustrations:

• 1. cast on to double pointed or circular needles, as many stitches as you think your gauge swatch ought to have
• 2. knit a row.  Mark the end of the row with a pin then tink (tink=unravel, stitch by stitch) back.  Note how long this stretch of yarn is--easiest to measure it against an outstretched arm, a local sofa-back or something equally solid and informal -- a yardstick or tape measure would be not only wobbly but also time-consuming.
• 3. now, reknit this measured length of yarn (side note: you ought to come out where the pin was placed originally.  If you don't, this is a sign of inconsistent tension from row to row, and something to maybe spend some time working on, swatch-wise)
• 4. slide the swatch back to the right side of the dpn or circular needle
• 5. draw out a new measured length of yarn (ie: a piece of yarn the same length as the one originally measured).  In the illustration, the measured yarn is colored red and the end of it is marked with a blue "x."  Note also that the yarn PAST the blue "x," the yarn which is running back to the ball, is colored purple. 

• 6. Starting at the beginning of the RED MEASURED LENGTH, knit a single stitch, as below.

• 7. for the rest of the row, work with the RED MEASURED LENGTH and note that you are NOT knitting with the purple yarn which runs back to the ball.  In other words, the blue "x" marking the transition remains parked at the side of the swatch, never moving and the purple yarn remains untouched, while the red loop gets smaller and smaller with each stitch.

• 8. The last few stitches will take some fancy maneuvering because you can't tension them as usual off your finger due to the ever-shrinking size of the red loop.  However, since the yarn was measured, you KNOW you have enough yardage to finish the row, and will manage somehow!  

This "whole loop" trick has several advantages: without the unknit back half of each loop coiled up behind the swatch, the swatch lays out smooth at measuring time; if you keep your gauge swatches, you'll easily be able to re-measure these nice, tidy swatches in the future; and you'll eventually be able to re-purpose these nice neat squares as potholders or patches for a quilt top or cushion cover.

One last note:  In a recent Ravelry discussion of this exact trick, a comment was posted, wondering whether knitting an ever-tightening loop wouldn't distort the left edge. The answer is that yes, the left edge will be distorted.

Buuut...this doesn't matter very much, because ALL the edges are distorted.

See, even if you have perfect tension, like from a knitting machine, the tension at every edge of any piece of knitting is always distorted, due to the structure of the knitting itself.  TECHknitting blog has a whole illustrated post about WHY edge stitches are always wonky, but if you don't feel like reading all that, take it on faith, and stay at least an inch (or better, inch-and-a-half) away from EVERY edge--left, right, top and bottom--when measuring a swatch for gauge. 

Good knitting! --TK

Men's sweaters: E-Z adjustments for better fitting garments

Poking around Ravelry the other day, I found a thread where a bunch of fellows were wishing for sweaters which fit better than standard "cylinder" sweaters--they want to show off their manly figures in better-fitting garments.

Yowza!  OK!  I'm ALL for that, so here are two super-quick informal methods to adjust any "stockinette cylinder" sweater for the rising "v" shape evidently at issue. (Naturally, these methods will also work for anyone, male or female, with a chest significantly greater than their waist, but this particular post is pitched towards the fellows who got me started thinking about all this in the first place.) 

METHOD 1: Graduated needle size

Here's a handsome fellow in his graduated needle size jersey--4 different needle sizes were used to knit the scrap of fabric laying under this sketch of a body-builder and you can see the difference in gauge as the fabric climbs the rising V shape of this imaginary fellow's torso.

graduated needle size method

Here's how: Start by closely examining the sweater pattern schematic:  you are looking for a sweater which will fit around the chest at the nipple line with the amount of ease deemed appropriate. Make up your gauge swatch until you get the stitch count for the fabric called for the pattern.  (The nipple line is used because for many men's bodies, this represents the widest part of the chest, so this is the point of departure for garment chest measurements.)

For a standard stockinette-cylinder bottom-up sweater, start the sweater body with waste yarn--knit a few rows or rounds with yarn of the same weight as the sweater to be knit.  The best waste yarns are acrylic or cotton, because these are easy to remove.  You'll go back and take out the waste yarn at the end, working the bottom ribbing last.  (When the ribbing is worked last, you can try the garment on, allowing you to perfectly adjust the length and bottom circumference of the ribbing in real time, rather than worrying about these measurements at the outset, when you really don't know how the garment is going to fit.)

In any event, after the waste knitting, commence to knit the sweater body with needles TWO sizes smaller than the ones needed to get gauge. Work until the garment reaches the lowest rib bone.  Switch to needles 1 size smaller than those needed to get gauge (which would be one size larger than those used so far).  Work until the garment reaches about the third rib bone (this might be a short-ish rise, that's OK--this short stretch is in the nature of a transition zone). Switch to the needles used to get gauge and work further.  If the shoulders are in proportion to the chest, you can stay with these needles all the way up the rest of the garment.  If the shoulders are not in proportion, but larger, then switch to one size larger needles 1/2 way up the armhole.

The sleeves are similarly started on needles two smaller, switched to 1 smaller partway up the forearm (how far up depends on the forearm development) then to the size used to get gauge somewhere around the elbow--again, this depends on the degree of arm development.  For a disproportionately larger upper arm, switch to needles 1 larger just before the bicep bulge, otherwise, work to the top of the sleeve in the needles used to get gauge.   Obviously, if making the garment in the round, it is easy to match the graduation in needle size, but if making up in pieces, be sure to take a note on which rows the change occurs, or you will have trouble matching up the pieces when sewing-up time comes, and there will be puckering and flaring.)

To nail down the needle changes with an example:  suppose the sweater pattern you choose requires a gauge of 5 st/in at the chest.  You would find which size needles you need to get this gauge--say for the sake or argument, a size 6.  You would then knit the bottom of the sweater on size 4, switch to size 5 where the chest begins to flare--the bottom of the ribs, switch again to size 6 just before the nipple-line, at about the third rib up from the bottom.   Stay with the size 6 all the way up, unless you need to accommodate some massive shoulders, in which case, switch to a size 7 halfway up the armhole.

Naturally, graduated needle size comprises an informal approach, and one which may not work on the most heroic figures--despite my strongman sketch-models, actual weight lifters and body builders are probably best advised to get out pencil and paper and do the actual math to figure a rising gauge, as well as actually adding to the stitch count.  However, experience demonstrates that simply graduating the needle size does work for everyday body variations: many women have the identical problem, only just turned upside-down ("^" instead of "v") and this approach has successfully been part of my informal bag o'tricks for a long time--my oldest is 21, so these adjustments have been in use around here for a couple of decades, at least!

Method 2: ribbing

This handsome fellow sports a jersey knit in a 2x1 rib (k2, p1) and you can see how the ribbing stretches as it climbs the rising V shape of his body-builder torso. 

Ribbing method 

This method has the potential to be even easier than graduated needle size.   For this trick you simply work a standard stockinette "cylinder" sweater as instructed in the pattern, with the only change being the switch to ribbing, allowing the clinginess inherent in the fabric to overcome the sagging and bagging which would otherwise occur.  For a sweater which fits around the chest in stockinette, a ribbed fabric will cause the garment to have a moderate amount of negative ease.

A 1x1 ribbing requires the least modification--being a multiple of 2+1 (ie: any odd number), the only change to the stitch count might be the addition or subtraction of a single stitch.  Wider ribbings, such as 2x2 (a multiple of 4+2) or 3x1 (multiple of 4+3) and so on, take more adjustment to the initial stitch count.

Combo approach

The same needles were used to knit the entire ribbed scrap underlying the second sketch, with the nature of the ribbing itself providing the stretch.  However, there is nothing to stop you from COMBINING these methods--using graduated needle size PLUS ribbing to get a really "v" shaped sweater.

A note on yarns

For the graduated method, experience shows that lofty woolen yarns work best.  A very tight twist could look stringy at the largest gauge while feeling stiff at the smallest gauge, but a loftier yarn takes the gauge change without either effect being particularly noticeable.

Good knitting!

--TK

Avoiding yarn twist--why does it matter?

The two most recent posts touched on yarn twist and how to avoid it.  However, in a surprising twist (har!) an important point was overlooked. As MB wrote in the comments: "There's one detail I don't understand yet--why does it matter if the yarn twists?"

What a great question!

Yarn, of course, is twisted in its very nature--that's how it's made. Specifically, yarn involves imparting twist to overlapping lengths of raw fiber--the twist holds the fibers in place. In other words, yarn is twisted out of raw fiber--no twist, no yarn. The problem is therefore not twist itself, but too MUCH twist--overtwist as it is sometimes called.

Spinners, both hand- and commercial- have come up with clever, clever ways of restraining the power of the twist to the yarn itself, so that the twist does not cause problems in the finished fabric.  Yarn made of several plies (i.e., twisted, then countertwisted) is one familiar example.  However, sometimes these spinning strategies do not succeed, or sometimes we knitters inadvertently add excess twist to yarn by winding and re-winding yarn, center-pulling each time. 

The most obvious announcement of overtwisted yarn is when the yarn itself humps up, twisting and writhing in the stretch between the skein of yarn and the knitting.  

overspun yarn twisting and writhing

This sort of overtwisted yarn is usually dealt with by stopping every so often and letting the project dangle, slowly turning and turning, to rid the excess twist. 

Although this sort of overtwisted yarn is annoying, at least you know what you have and can take steps.  More often, overtwist is sneakier than this.  The yarn is overtwisted, yes, but not enough to announce itself in the yarn.  Instead, this sneaky kind of overtwist announces itself first when the finished fabric biases (slants). 

biased knitted fabric

Biased fabric is actually all-too-common.  Commercially knit garments often suffer this problem, and it is most obvious when you see sweater seams not hanging straight, but instead, spiraling around the torso of the wearer. Sometimes, not only do the seams spiral, but the entire garment is biased ("racked") also. Hand knit garments, sadly, can also suffer this problem.  

biased ("racked") garment with spiraling seams

It may happen that the yarn itself is overtwisted when bought, a sad state of affairs.  However, we can at least avoid ADDING to the problem, and that is why it pays to take whatever steps possible to avoid creating additional, excess yarn twist. The previous post indicates how to do this:  smoothly unspooling yarn from the outside of the skein or cake into which it is wound.  

(PS: Since the last post, I found a demo of a neat-o gadget which helps with smooth unspooling: a "yarn susan." The demo at the link does not mention the twist issue, but does clearly show what unspooling smoothly from the outside of a skein ought to look like.)

--TK  

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