Monday, March 12, 2012

Horizontal buttonholes, including diagrams for the new "TULIPS" buttonhole (part 5 in a series)

This is the fifth in a TECHknittng series about buttonholes for hand knitters.* The first half of the post shows a traditional horizontal buttonhole; the second half shows an improved horizontal buttonhole called the "tulips" buttonhole, and includes, not just illustrations, but also a link to a video how-to. 


Simple Horizontal
  • Row 1: Cast off several stitches using the chain bind-off (in the below diagram, 3 sts are cast off, shown in red). Slip last chain to L needle. Next, use the running yarn to cast that same number onto the R needle, using a backwards loop cast-on (shown in gray). After cast on, knit sts on L needle, then turn work. 
  • Row 2: On the next row, every stitch is knit, including the looped cast ons, and voilà: the buttonhole is made. 


As you can see, the simple horizontal buttonhole is neither sturdy nor beautiful.  The lower right corner is particularly prone to stretching out and the buttonhole itself is asymmetrical top-to-bottom as well as side-to-side. 

To combat these deficiencies, traditional knitters added reinforcement via the buttonhole stitch (as shown on the simple vertical buttonhole, previous post in this series).  This strengthens the edges, and hides them, too. Yet, sewing is something of a pain in the neck.  It also looks clunky. So, here's TECHknitting's improved "tulips" horizontal buttonhole introduced last year. Tulips is self-reinforcing and symmetrical, requiring no touch-up with the sewing needle.

The editor of Interweave Knits, Eunny Jang, made a video about the tulips buttonhole, and you might want to follow along with the video as well as the diagrams--tulips is a bit difficult to work the first few times, because it uses techniques not usually found in knitting. You can click the link above to view via you-tube, or there is a direct link at the bottom of this post. 

Oh, and before we get to the nitty gritty, the name "Tulips" came about because in stockinette, the buttonhole looks like TWO LIPS.  However, in garter stitch or other textured stitches, this buttonhole looks quite refined, as Eunny's video shows. 

I've written these instructions as though you were going to make an 8-stitch-wide practice swatch.  Once you get the process, you'll see that a minimum of 7 stitches is required (three for the buttonhole itself, and two on each side) but there is no maximum number. 

* * *
CO 8.  The buttonhole is made on center 4 sts (pink), worked in 6 steps. (Although tulips can be worked in garter st, the drawings and instructions below are for stockinette, so you can tell for sure which side things are done on.)

Step1: set up to bind off. 
Using dpn’s, knit several rows in stockinette, end purl row, turn work. Next row: Knit 1. Wrap running yarn (red) clockwise around next st (green) as follows * Bring yarn to front. Slip st to R needle, bring yarn to back, return st to L needle, bring yarn to front again. Return st to R needle. * Per illustration Tulips-A, the green st at the working tip of the R needle now has the running yarn wrapped clockwise around its neck but it has not been knit. Drop the running yarn, it will not be used again until step 3.

You don't actually cut the red (running yarn).  I just illustrated
if short to give the idea of simply letting it hang there without
using it. The red represents the yarn running back to the skein
so in reality, it's quite long

Step 2: bind off bottom edge. With L needle, snag the loop you just made, draw it up, untwisted then slip it onto R needle. Next, slip a stitch from L to R needle. As shown on illustration B, counting the drawn-up loop, there are now 4 sts on R needle.

*With tip of L needle, draw the second stitch (red) over the stitch (pink) on the tip of the right needle—this is an ordinary chain bind off. Repeat from * until 1 st remains on the L needle. Slip the last st on R needle onto L needle to make two sets of 2 sts. As shown on illustration C, there are 2 sts on R needle, 2 sts on left needle, and a stretch of bound off stitches between the two groups.


Step 3: set up to cast on. “Park” the L needle by shoving it upright anywhere through the left side of the fabric—now it’s out of the way and those stitches won’t slide. Slip the 2 sts on the R needle onto a dpn (light blue) at least 3 sizes smaller than the main needles. Now, unwrap the top leg of the red running yarn from the green st at the R needle tip, then re-wrap counterclockwise as follows: slip green st onto L needle. Slip the running yarn to the back and return the green st to the R needle. Draw the running yarn up firmly, but not so tight as to remove all slack. * Bring the yarn to the front. Return the green st to the L needle. This has re-oriented the red running yarn in front of the green stitch instead of behind. Now make the additional loop shown in gray as follows: bring the running yarn (now shown in dark gray) to the back, return the green st to the R needle, bring the yarn to the front again. One more time, slip the green stitch to the left needle, then bring the yarn to the back, then slip the green stitch to the right needle where it will finally remain, as shown in illustration D.

Do you wonder where the dark gray yarn came from?  It is
actually just part of the red (running) yarn, now colored dark gray so you
can tell it is the part you work the top wrap with

Step 4: cast on upper edge. Insert a small crochet hook (light green) upwards into the gray loop created by the last full wrap. * Wrap the running yarn around the small dpn counterclockwise. Catch this yarn on the crochet hook, and draw it through the gray loop, as shown in Illustration E. *


Do you see what you’ve done? You have actually crocheted a single crochet stitch (sc) with the upper leg of the sc wrapped around the needle. (You may have seen this before: this the same manuver as the provisional crocheted cast on, when that is worked around a knitting needle.) Repeat within the stars 3 times more for a total of 4 stitches cast on—6 stitches on your right needle and one loop on the crochet hook.

Step 5: join cast on with bind off. Bring running yarn to front. Slide loop from the crochet hook onto R needle (7 loops on R needle). Put the crochet hook down and retrieve your left needle from parked position. Now slip the next st from the working tip of the L needle onto the R needle, 8 loops on R needle. Using tip of L needle, draw the second stitch from the R needle tip over the stitch on working R needle tip (chain bind off—7 loops on R needle, 1 loop on L needle). Illustration F.




Step 6: finish up and work back. Work the last st and turn the work. The buttonhole is finished (it is a 1-row buttonhole) but how you work back depends on what fabric you are creating. If you are making the buttonhole in stockinette fabric, you simply purl this entire next row. If, however, you are working in garter stitch, the next row is worked k2, p4, k2. If you are working any other patterned fabric (seed st, for example) you should swatch this both ways and see which you prefer. This improved horizontal buttonhole can be worked over more or fewer stitches, and the surrounding fabric can be (should be, actually) made wider because illustrations show only the minimum possible surrounding stitches—two on each side.

Good knitting, TK

PS #1: There is a new (September 2013) YO (eyelet) buttonhole which is reinforced using tricks similar to those used in Tulips. Have a look!   Thanks to Ellen at at Pile of Sheep Blog for this new trick.

PS#2:  Remember, there is a video of Tulips available.  Here is a direct link



__________________

*(Posts in this series)
.Buttonholes in hand knitting, part 1: lore and tradition plus some nifty tricks 

 (Related posts)

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Monday, March 5, 2012

Vertical buttonholes--part 4 in a series

In this post--the fourth in a TECHknitting series about buttonholes*--we're going to look at vertical buttonholes. The first half of the post covers traditional (simple) vertical buttonholes, as well as the traditional sewn reinforcement: the buttonhole stitch.  The second half of the post introduces two new kinds of vertical buttonholes: intarsia and sewn strip.  

Some of this material was previously published in Interweave Knits magazine, some of it is new.

Traditional simple vertical
Traditional simple vertical buttonholes are made in two stages:
  • part 1: The side adjoining the garment is knitted with the running yarn, shown in lighter gray. 
  • part 2: The outer side is made with a scrap length of yarn shown in darker gray
The two parts are then united above the buttonhole, the resulting vertical slit is as shown below. (Of course, in a real garment the two sides of the slit are made with the same color yarn.)


These vertical buttonholes are somewhat fragile. You can see that a single strand of yarn has to take the strain in various places: at the top and the bottom of the slit, and also along the side edges. In addition to being fragile, these buttonholes are also messy: two loose ends (shown in pink and in red) have to be worked in for each buttonhole made.

Reinforcing the slit with stitches top and bottom, as well as the buttonhole stitch
Traditional knitters learned to solve the messy-problem while at the same time solving the fragile-problem with a real lemons-to-lemonade solution. The trick developed was to leave the two ends rather long.  At finishing time, one end would be threaded onto a dull needle, then used to add a sewn reinforcement to one half the buttonhole--a couple of stitches sewn at the end of the slit, then a "buttonhole stitch" reinforcement up the side, as shown below. The other end was then threaded and used to reinforce the other half of the buttonhole. At the end of all the sewing, the ends were skimmed in, using a sharp needle. (For more about dull vs. sharp needles, see here and here.)






Intarsia improved vertical
By using two balls of yarn, it is possible to make vertical buttonholes with no sewing at all, and no pesky ends to work in at each buttonhole. The idea here is to create the buttonholes via intarsia, by actually knitting two separate strips of fabric, interlocking them via the knitting process.

Intarsia is the trick of knitting two side-by-side columns of fabric at the same time, interlocking them as-you-go. Intarsia has you cast on several stitches across the bottom of fabric with one ball of yarn, then cast on the next several stitches using yarn from a different ball.  As you knit across the fabric on the first row, you'll come to where the different yarn was cast on.  Dropping the original yarn, you pick up the strand of the neighboring yarn from underneath and knit the rest of the row with the second yarn.  Picking up from underneath in this manner twists the new yarn over the old yarn.  By continuing to interlock the yarns on every row at the point where you switch from one yarn to the other, you get interlocked fabric columns made from two different balls of yarn.  

Although this trick is traditionally used to create neighboring vertical stripes of different colors on a garment, you can make buttonholes using this trick, too. Specifically, when you come to where you want the buttonhole, you simply work each side with its own skein of yarn for a certain distance without interlocking. When the buttonhole is as long as you want, you close the top of the slit by going back to intarsia,  until you reach where you want to put the next buttonhole. 

On the upside, intarsia buttonholes are a pretty slick trick because they eliminate all the ends you otherwise have to work in.  On the downside, not having those ends to buttonhole-stitch with means you're back to a somewhat fragile buttonhole. 

However, here are a couple of tricks to improve the situation:
Improved vertical: Sewn-strip method
With this trick, vertical buttonholes are made by sewing on a strip of knitted fabric, leaving slits for buttonholes. The major advantage of this trick is that you can try on the finished garment, then place the buttonholes EXACTLY where they ought to go based on your custom-fit.

The easiest and quickest way to proceed would be to make the inner portion of the buttonhole band as a self edge.  In the below diagrams, this means that the inner part of the two-part band (medium gray) is knit at the same time as the fabric of the sweater itself (light gray).  The outer strip (dark gray) is then attached afterwards. By this method, there is only one strip sewn on: the outer strip.

Another variation has you knit BOTH halves of the buttonhole band after the sweater is done, then sew the inner (medium gray) to the sweater fabric (light gray) and then the outer (dark gray) to the inner (medium gray).  By knitting both halves of the band afterwards, the total width of the sweater can be adjusted after the main part of the sweater has been knit and assembled.  If the finished garment seems a bit snug, a surprising amount of fabric can be added with these afterthought bands.

To attach the strip(s), swatch to see which the method which best suits your work. The overcast stitch (shown on both diagrams below) works well when the stitches will be hidden: on a fuzzy mohair, for example. (The link shows the overcast stitch used to attach woven fabric to knitting, but the exact same stitch, made the exact same way, can be used to attach the strips of knitting here.)



Note: do you wonder how to sew up both sides
of the buttonhole slit?  
See comment #3, in the comment 
section below, for details

The simple overcast is not the only way to attach: a slip stitch works well with ribbing in a smooth yarn. (The slip-stitch at the link is shown worked on a garter stitch background as an edging, but the identical procedure is used to attach two pieces of fabric--the hook is simply inserted through both pieces, then the same slip-stitch is performed.)  Or, use any sewing or attachment method you, personally, prefer. 

To sum up, there are three real advantages to the sewn-strip method.  
  • A very reinforced buttonhole is possible, because you can easily strengthen the edges and tack the slits top and bottom as you are going by with the sewing needle, as shown in the second diagram above.
  • Flexibility in creating the total width of the band  you can want to wait until you're done to knit the buttonband in two (long skinny) halves, and then attach them--the inner one to the sweater, then the outer one to the inner one. You would then knit the opposite band the same width, and attach it to the other garment front. Quite a lot of fabric can be added by this trick, yet the bands will never look like an afterthought. 
  • Flexibility in placing the buttonholes Not only can you control the total width, but, perhaps even more important, you can also choose the button spacing which best suits the finished garment.  Stated otherwise, you can try on the sweater and experiment with different button placements until you like the result, then sew on the strip(s), leaving slits for buttonholes as required. 
On the downside, the sewn-strip method can take a LOT of messing around.  Whether the advantages outweigh this disadvantage depends on the degree to which you are driven by perfectionism (or anxiety?) 

For a real-life look at this trick in action, have a look at this beautiful gray lace sweater which had the buttonholes made in exactly this way. The fourth photo down is a close-up of the band. The seam from the sewing-on created the furrow down the middle of this ribbed band: it is located where the button is inserted.
* * *

Good knitting--TK

__________________

*(Posts in this series)
.Buttonholes in hand knitting, part 1: lore and tradition plus some nifty tricks 

 (Related posts)

.Tulips buttonhole: the video (and an interview on Knitting Daily)You have been reading techknitting blog about vertical buttonholes, the buttonhole stitch for hand knitters, the intarsia vertical buttonhole and the sewn-strip vertical button hole. 
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Monday, February 27, 2012

The sheepseye buttonhole, also called the "yarn over buttonhole" (part 3 in a series)

This post--the third in a TECHknitting series on buttonholes*--shows how to make the sheepseye buttonhole.  Some folks call this buttonhole the "yarn over buttonhole," but I don't, because you can make a smaller, tighter version of this same buttonhole by skipping the yo altogether.

Sheepseye (aka "yarn over") buttonhole 


Row 1: a k2tog (red) is followed by a yo (black), then work as your pattern requires, to the end of the row.  Turn work.
Row 2: work all stitches including the yo, in the fabric called for by your pattern.

When you keep making these, spaced out as required, and always in the same column as you knit, the resulting is a line of little round buttonholes up the front band of a sweater. Although rather rough, this “sheepseye” buttonhole is remarkably easy to work and has the distinction of being the smallest buttonhole which can be worked in a given fabric—a good match for the small buttons suitable to delicate work or baby garments. 


Tightening the sheepseye by skipping the yarn over
For tighter sheepseyes, skip the yo.  Here's how:
Row 1: K 2tog.  Next, place a safety pin around (not through!) the yarn after the k2tog.  Work the following stitches as you usually would. Turn work
Row 2: Work as pattern requires.  When you get to the place where the pin is, use the pin to lift the “bar” onto your L needle, remove the pin, then knit the bar. Continue working the remainder of the sts as called for by your pattern.

If row 2 makes no sense to you, no worries: here is a fuller description.  When you get to where the pin is, pull up on the pin.  You'll see that you're pulling on a sort of a loop which arises between two stitches.  This loop is called a "bar." Deposit the bar onto the left needle. Next, remove the pin and you will see that you've created a sort of an afterthought yo, pulled up out of the yarn in the row below.  This trick is sometimes called "lifting a bar." Knit into this bar just as if it were a yo, then knit the rest of the sts as usual.

Here's why this trick works:  if you HAD made a yo, you would have added that amount of yarn to your fabric. By skipping the yo and lifting a bar from the row below instead, you are pulling slack out of an already-knit fabric.  This forces the fabric to tighten.  By knitting into this bar, you are creating a hole in the same place as it would have been had you made a yo, but it is a smaller hole than you ever could have knit using a yo--perfect for small slippery round buttons, such as pearl buttons, for example. Knitting into the bar also corrects the st count just as if you'd knit into a yo made in the previous row.

Nifty, ay?

Two caveats:

  • When you lift the bar to form the afterthought yo, lay it on your left needle oriented the same way as if it were an actual yo (look at the orientation of a yo made on a swatch for comparison).  Work into this bar-yo without twisting it.  In other words, do not twist the hole shut by knitting into the back of the lifted bar, thus criss-crossing the st shut over where the hole should be. 
  • Try both the yo way and the non-yo way of making these buttonholes on a swatch, then try pushing through the button you're planning to use.  No sense in over-tightening the buttonhole so the button no longer slides through.

* * *

Good knitting!--TK

PS: There is a new (September 2013) YO (eyelet) buttonhole which is reinforced, a better choice if you need sturdier version. Have a look!   Thanks to Ellen at at Pile of Sheep Blog for this new trick. 
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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Instead (a poem for a lazy Sunday)

On the receding cusp of Sunday now-ness
three ways beckon

Laundry?
Nap?
Knit a mitten?

No.
A poem instead

--TK
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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Button lore (part 2 of button holes for hand knitters series)

This is the second post in a TECHknitting series on buttonholes in hand knitting.*  The first post covered lore and tradition about buttonholes, plus some nifty tricks. Today, some background information about the buttons themselves, as well as how to sew them on.

Buttons, shanked and unshanked
It is evident that a buttonhole must be large enough to allow the button through without straining, yet not so large that the button pops loose when you breathe. Less evident, perhaps, is the relationship between the thickness of the band and the height of the button shank.

Buttons come in two kinds: shanked and unshanked.   Shanked buttons are the kind with a little stem on the button back.  Unshanked buttons feature sewing holes which go right through them.  When using an unshanked button on hand-knit, it is wise to create a thread shank as the button is sewn on. Matching shank height to band thickness helps prevent puckering and undue wear from a too-short shank, or drooping from a too-long shank.



Thread shanks
To make a thread shank on an unshanked button, insert a spacer (traditionally a matchstick or a toothpick) between the button and the button band, before sewing down the button. Go to this post for a nifty new trick for holding the spacer in place as you sew.

Continue sewing the button. When the sewing is complete, remove the spacer. As the last step before knotting off the thread, bring the threaded needle up between the buttonband and the button, then reinforce the shank you've made by winding several times around the sewing threads. Whether you create the shank from thread or whether the button comes shanked, match the shank height to the thickness of the buttonhole band: a button shanked high enough for a heavy woolen sweater-coat will droop and wobble if buttoned through a thin summer sweater.



Anchor buttons
For a heavy button which wants to droop regardless, consider an anchor button on the inside of the buttonband.  An anchor button distributes the weight of a heavy button, and help keep it upright.  Conversely, anchor buttons also work well on thin or delicate fabrics: they distribute the weight of the main button, take the strain and prevent ripping at the attachment-point.

Both the main button and the anchor button are sewn at the same time, using the same thread and needle. The main button is shanked-- either by being a shanked button in the first place, or by sewing it on with a thread shank.  By contrast, the anchor button is sewn on flat because it is non-functional (it does not go through a buttonhole).




Good knitting!--TK
__________________

*(Posts in this series)
.Buttonholes in hand knitting, part 1: lore and tradition plus some nifty tricks 

 (Related posts)

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Monday, February 20, 2012

Button holes in hand knitting, part 1: Lore and tradition plus some nifty tips

This is the first post in a multi-post series on buttonholes.*  Some of this material has appeared in print in Interweave Knits, some of it is brand new. This first post covers the lore and tradition of buttonholes, as well as offering some nifty general tips. 

Which side? 
Tradition puts men’s buttons on the right band and buttonholes on the left, with women’s clothing opposite: buttons left, buttonholes right. Do you wonder why? At certain periods in history, women’s clothing became so elaborate, assistance was required in dressing. Buttonholes on the right are easier for a right-handed assistant facing the wearer (although not for the wearer herself!)

Girl? Boy? Don’t know? 
If gender traditions are important for you, here's a nifty trick. For baby sweaters, make buttonholes on both sides, but leave off the buttons.After the birth, sew the buttons on over the “wrong-side” buttonholes. This closes the unneeded buttonholes, yet permits switching for a future sibling of different gender.

Perfect spacing, no math
Cut a piece of sturdy no-stretch string about 1 inch shorter (for really big buttons, maybe 2” shorter) than the proposed button band. Determine desired number of buttons, then subtract 1 from that number and fold the string into that number of sections. Example: for 5 total buttons, 5-1=4, so fold the string into 4 equal sections. Mark each of the three resulting folds with a pin. Straighten the string. The top and bottom button are to be centered on the very ends of the string, and the intervening three buttons are to be centered on each pin in the string segment. Measure each string segment to figure out how many inches of band to allow between the holes. If using vertical buttonholes, remember that the pin shows the buttonhole center, not bottom so start the actual buttonhole accordingly.

Horizontal or vertical? 
Ever wonder why some sweaters have top and bottom buttonholes horizontal, and intermediate buttonholes vertical? Horizontal buttonholes prevent vertical slippage, keeping bands aligned top and bottom.Vertical buttonholes prevent horizontal slippage, keeping the bands centered on one another. This two-way alignment is found on high-end sweaters, and adds a touch of class to hand-knit sweaters, too. A further refinement: Horizontal buttonholes are worked so the outer edge not the center of the buttonhole!) is centered on the buttonhole band. Why? When wearing, the button pulls to the outside of the slot. This off-center placement keeps the bands aligned.

Buttonholes and their bands
Buttonhole bands and button bands are best made in a non-curling fabric (i.e.: NOT stockinette). Horizontal buttonholes work well in a row-structured (horizontal) fabric, such as garter stitch, while vertical buttonholes work well in a column structured (vertical) fabric, such as ribbing.For two-way alignment, something’s got to give, so swatch it out both ways and see whether you prefer horizontal holes in a vertical fabric or vice-versa.

--TK
______

*(Posts in this series)
.Buttonholes in hand knitting, part 1: lore and tradition plus some nifty tricks 

 (Related posts)



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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Spice Road Cap: a TECHknitting pattern

Pattern cover (click to enlarge)
The spice road--stretching from China, through central Asia to easternmost Europe-- defined the route precious spices and silks traveled from east to west. The headgear along the road varies from the fur headgear of the steppes to the brimmed hats of central Asia to the turbans of the southern fringe. The Spice Road Cap captures this variety. A wide flat sweep rises over the forehead, a little foldover brim runs around the top and an organic back fold brings turbans to mind.


Spice Road cap

The cap is knit flat in a fan shape then bound off and folded. There is no needle-and-thread sewing.  Instead, the back seams are three-needle bind offs, and the bottom brim is picked up and knit on. Short rows and slip stitching are used in the shaping, and the pattern contains tutorials for these.

Spice Road fits close to the head at the ears.  Yet, there is positive ease above the ears caused by the unique brim shaping, so a high bun would fit. The cap folds up small and would be easy to take along in a pocket or handbag until needed.


Spice Road takes just under 100 grams of worsted weight wool.  Knit at a gauge of 5 st/in and 7 rows/inch, the cap requires a 30 inch or longer circular needle of the size you require to get gauge.  A second, 16" long circular needle two sizes smaller is required for the bind off and the lower brim, and a crochet hook is required for the slip-stitching and picking up stitches. One size fits most, and the finished diameter can be customized by the number of stitches picked up for the lower, curled, brim.



There are two ways to purchase this pattern
1. Go to the Ravelry page for this cap
2. Purchase now--with this button --->

Good knitting, and I hope you will like the cap--both knitting it and wearing it.
--TK

PS:  Thanks to the test knitters!
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Monday, January 23, 2012

Sweater shoulders: transform stair steps to short rows and radically improve shoulder shaping

4 illustrations, click any illustration to enlarge
Sometimes, a sweater pattern will have you cast off your sweater shoulders in "stair steps."  For a sweater worked in stockinette stitch, the directions might look something like this:
  • 16 sts on needle.  Purl to outer edge of shoulder.  Turn work. Knit side facing
  • Using ordinary chain bind off, bind off 5 sts.  Knit remaining 11 sts.  Turn work.
  • Purl 11 sts.  Turn work
  • Bind off 5 sts. Knit remaining 6 sts. Turn work.
  • Purl 6 sts.  Turn work.
  • Bind off remaining 6 stitches.  Shoulder bind off completed. 


In real life, these directions are going to get you the fabric illustrated below, with the bind off shown in DARK GREEN. 


Stair-step shoulders (bind off in dark green)

As you can see, this method of bind off creates "stair steps" at the top of the shoulder.  When you come to connect the shoulders to one another at the sweater top, this jagged fabric is difficult to sew up nicely.

How about if we use short rows instead?  Instead of that jagged edge, we'll make a lovely smooth shoulder top--a top which will be a pleasure to sew up when the time comes.

Before we begin, if you're a little rusty on short rows, you might wish to consider reviewing these illustrated posts:
The particular kind of short rows we are going to use for the shoulders are a mash up of ordinary wrap-and-turn short rows and Japanese short rows--we'll steal the wrapping and turning from the former and the slip stitching from the latter.

If all this sounds WAY complicated, hang on!!  This really is far easier than it sounds so far, I promise!   Even if short rows seem scary, it'll all come clear when we take this step by step. (You might even want to cast on a 16 st swatch and follow along.)
  • Step 1. 16 sts on needle.  Knit to within 5 sts of outer edge of shoulder.   You will now have 5 sts on your left needle and 11 on your right. 
  • Step 2. slip the stitch on the tip of the left needle (shown in PURPLE below) onto right needle.  (Slip this and all other slipped stitches "purlwise," which means slip the stitch from one needle to the other without changing the stitch mount--the RIGHT arm of the stitch should remain the forward arm.) Draw running yarn forward, slip purple st back onto left needle, draw running yarn to back again.  The running yarn has been turned into a "wrap" around the purple stitch.  The wrap is shown in RED, below.   Continuing to hold the running yarn in the back, slip the st on the tip of the right needle (shown in ORANGE, below) to the tip of the left needle.  You now have 6 sts on the left needle, and 10 sts on the right needle, as shown below.

Wrap the purple stitch with the red running yarn as described
above and then slip the orange stitch

Here is a closeup of the wrap and slip detail.

Close up


  • Turn work, purl the remaining 10 sts.
  • Turn work again and knit 6 sts.  
  • Repeat step 2, except that when you finish wrapping the purple st and slipping the orange stitch, this time, you will have 11 sts on the left needle and 5 on the right.
  • Turn work and purl these 5 stitches.
  • You will now have all 16 sts on one needle and you'll end up on the neck edge of the shoulder.
  • You will now knit across the entire shoulder top from neck edge to outside edge, all 16 sts, as shown by the DARK GREEN stitches below.  As you come to each wrap, fish around with your needles and "unwrap" the red wrap from around the neck of the purple stitch, placing the wrap on the tip of the left needle.  Then, k2tog the red wrap together with the purple st.  The TURQUOISE stitches along the top row in the below illustration  show where these two were knit together.  

In real life, these directions would get you the fabric below.  If you compare the final row (DARK GREEN) to the bind off in the first illustration above, you can see that the short row method yields a single smooth descent along the shoulder line: the jagged steps have been eliminated. 

Stair steps eliminated via short rows


You can now attach this shoulder to its mate by a three needle bind off, or you could bind it off via ordinary chain bind off on the next row, then sew the shoulders shut.  

PS:  Geek note:  If you intend to bind off anyway, you could just as well bind off the DARK GREEN stitches the last row.  In other words, that last row could have been worked as an ordinary chain bind off as it was made, instead of working this row and then working the bind off on the following row.


Good knitting, TK

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Fixing a run in garter or seed stitch

If you get a run in garter or seed stitch, it is easy to fix, as long as you keep your wits about you. (And if you already know how to do this, scroll to the bottom of this post for two shortcuts.)

Garter stitch, seed stitch
Garter stitch and seed stitch don't look much alike.  Yet if you go up a column in either fabric, you'll discover that column-wise, both have the same identical structure:  a stack of alternating knits and purls.

Row-wise, the fabrics differ--in garter stitch, every stitch along a row is the same, while in seed stitch, the rows alternate just like the columns: alternating knits and purls.

The upshot of this is that, although we have to establish the foundation stitch of any run-out column opposite-wise in each fabric, yet once we get started, we can fix single-column runs in each fabric by the exact same method, since column-wise they are identical.

Establishing the foundation stitch
Before we get started on the actual process, there is going to be a LOT of confusion if we lose sight of a home-truth about knitting:
  • a loop waiting to be worked is neither a purl nor a knit.  
That's right.  A loop just sitting there has the capacity to be either a knit OR a purl. It is not until a second loop is DRAWN THROUGH IT on the following row that the loop becomes transformed--frozen into position as a knit or a purl stitch.  (If this confuses you, you might want to consider reviewing this post.)

A loop sitting at the bottom of a run-out ladder shares this characteristic.  It is neither a knit nor a purl...yet!  It is not until we draw the next ladder rung through that bottom loop that the loop becomes transformed into a knit or a purl stitch.

Another important thing to remember about stitches is that knit stitches have their heads popped onto the BACK of the fabric, while purl stitches have their heads popped onto the FRONT of the fabric.  Stated otherwise, it does not really matter what lays at the foot of any loop.  It is the top of the loop--its head, which determines whether a stitch is a knit or a purl. (For further information about head orientation, consider reviewing this post.)

The consequence of all this is as follows.  The first step for correcting a run in garter stitch or in seed stitch is examine the two stitches immediately neighboring the lowest loop of the run out column, in order to determine whether the lowest loop ought to be transformed into a knit or a purl.  As this relates to the diagram, you can see that we are working in garter stitch, because in garter stitch, each stitch along any one row is the same as its neighbors.  The orange loop sitting forlornly at the bottom of the ladder has two immediate neighbors which are knit stitches (dark green), and this lets us know that it, too, must be transformed into that same kind of stitch--a knit stitch.

(By contrast, if the fabric were seed stitch, the fact of two dark-green neighbor knit stitches would mean that the orange loop ought to be transformed into the opposite of its neighbors--a purl stitch.)


This is a garter stitch fabric--every stitch in any row
is the same type as its neighboring stitches.  Therefore,
the orange loop at the bottom of the run must be
transformed into a knit stitch, so that it is same type
of stitch as its two neighboring stitches
(dark green), which are knit stitches.  (You can tell
that the two dark green stitches are knit stitches
by the fact that their heads are popped onto the
back of the knit fabric.)


Here's how to transform a loop into a knit stitch
Slip the stitches on the knitting needles along, transferring them from one needle to another as necessary until the run is between the needles, as shown in the diagram.  To transform a loop into a knit stitch, hold a crochet hook on the FRONT of the fabric.  Insert the hook into the lowest loop (orange) from front to back, as shown.  Next, reach up and hook the next rung of the ladder (purple).  Draw the purple rung through the orange loop.  Given the direction of insertion, the act of drawing through the purple ladder will pop the head of the orange loop to the back of the fabric, leaving the arms aligned on the front in a sort of a little "v."  In this way, you have transformed the bottom loop of the ladder into a knit.  At the same time, the rung doing the transforming--the purple rung which was drawn through--becomes the loop at the bottom of the run, waiting in its turn to be transformed from a loop to a stitch.

Insert crochet hook into the orange loop from
the front, then draw through the next rung on the
ladder (purple).  This not only transforms the orange
loop into a knit stitch, but also turns the purple
rung into the next bottom loop, waiting in its
 turn to be transformed from a loop into a stitch



Here's how to work a loop as a purl stitch
In our garter stitch diagram, we started with an orange loop which had to be worked as a knit. As stated previously, garter and seed stitch runs are corrected by creating an alternating stack of knit and purl stitches. Therefore, we know that the next loop after a knit stitch has to be transformed into a purl stitch. So, the next step is to draw through the following rung (brown) in the opposite direction--to work it from back to front, thus transforming the purple loop into a purl.

We can double-check that this is correct because in a garter stitch fabric, the bottom loop is to be transformed into the same sort of stitch as its two immediate neighbors, and these stitches (now colored pink) are both purls--their heads are popped to the front of the fabric. Therefore, the brown rung must be drawn through the purple loop in such a manner as to transform the purple loop into a purl stitch.

(Again, if the fabric were seed stitch, the fact of two pink neighbor purl stitches would mean that the purple loop ought to be transformed into the opposite of its neighbor stitches--a knit stitch.)

Specifically, whenever you need to work a loop at the bottom of a ladder as a purl, here's how: Insert the crochet hook from the back of the fabric, through the purple loop, from back to front, as shown. Then, draw through the next ladder loop (brown), working from back to front.

Insert crochet hook into the purple loop from
the back, then draw through the next rung on the
ladder (brown).  This not only transforms the purple
loop into a purl stitch, but also turns the brown
rung into the next bottom loop, waiting in its
 turn to be transformed from a loop into a stitch

Summary:
To transform a loop into a KNIT stitch, insert the crochet hook into the loop from the FRONT and draw through the next ladder rung from that position.  To transform a loop into a PURL stitch, insert the crochet hook from the BACK and draw through the next ladder rung from that position (but keep reading down to shortcuts for an easier way!)


Repeating the process
Keep repeating this process, moving the crochet hook to opposite faces of the fabric and drawing the next ladder rung through the loop below. To get the crochet hook to the other side of the fabric, you've actually got to remove it from the loop you just drew up, pinch that loop with your fingers, put the hook on the other side of the fabric, and insert the hook into the loop you are pinching.

Once you have drawn up each new loop to alternate faces of the knit fabric, you will have created a column composed of a stack of alternating knits and purls, as shown in the last diagram, below.

final result: an alternating stack of knits and purls

Shortcuts
I have illustrated the process in the conceptually simplest manner, showing the work as if it were always to be seen from the same side of the fabric.  This is fine for a dropped stitch or two, and this orientation makes it easy to understand, I think. However, here are two shortcuts which make this process easier to work if you should happen to have more than a stitch or two to fix.

Shortcut 1--fabric flipping
Once you have gone through the pinching-neede-switching-and-inserting process two or three times, you will see that it really annoying to have to insert the crochet hook from the back.  Luckily, as we all know, the opposite of a purl is a knit.  Therefore, when it appears from the front of the fabric that the next stitch ought to be a purl, you will find that it is much easier to flip the fabric around front-to-back instead, so that you are always inserting the crochet hook into the bottom loop from the front, thus transforming the loop into a knit stitch.  The back of the knit is a purl, so all is well.

Shortcut 2--double ended hook or double-ended latch hook
After you have worked a few runs as for shortcut 1, you will discover that even though flipping so that you can always insert from the front is easier than trying to insert from the back, it is still quite annoying to have to continuously remove the crochet hook, only to have to insert it again once the fabric has been flipped.  It is at this point that you might wish to consider buying a double-ended crochet hook or a special kind of double-ended latch hook tool called a "seed-stitcher."

With a double-ended hook, you can do all the latching-up from the front.  This is done by sliding the needle from one end to the other, using opposite hooks alternately, for each stitch to be made.  Although this sounds very complicated, it isn't--once you get  hold of a double ended hook you will see how much easier this is. Here is a link to a video showing how to use a certain kind of double ended crochet hook called a "fix-a-stitch" and here is another  link to a you-tube video by the makers of the "seed-stitcher" double ended latch hook tool,  also showing how to do this.  The second video shows machine knitting being latched up, but the same technique is used for hand knitting.  At 24 seconds, you can see the seed stitcher being pushed through to its other end to make a purl stitch after a knit stitch, at 35 seconds, you can see the seed stitcher being pulled forward to make a knit stitch after a purl stitch. Both the double-ended crochet hook and the double-ended latch hook work in the same manner, although you might find the latch hook easier to use.

Good knitting, TK
PS:  Special thanks to Joan Schrouder who first clued me in to the seed stitcher tool.
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