Short rows: theory

include 11 illustrations--click any illustration to enlarge
TECHknitting blog now turns to short rows. Today's post shows the theory. Click here for the how-to (basic short rows, Japanese short rows, wrap and turn, plus other variations).

THEORY

Short rows come in two main types: Short rows worked to create shaping in the MIDDLE of an otherwise ordinary fabric (fabrics knit back-and-forth as well as knit circular) and fabric MADE of short rows.

Variations on these two main themes abound also, such as short rows made along a fabric edge and hybrids of the two main types: fabric knit of short rows which has further short rows inserted. In fact, there are newer and more imaginative combinations of short row technique all the time--garments made in wedges and starbursts, beautiful modular fabrics made of bits knitted together in truly innovative ways, even mind-bending mathematical models can be knit with short rows. However, the basis of short row technique lays in these two main types. Once these are understood, all else follows.

Short rows in the middle of a piece of fabric

The idea of this trick is to add rows to your knitting which don't go all the way from side to side: little short rows, snuck into the middle of the work.

Illustration 1 shows ordinary knitted fabric where each row is worked all the way to the edge. The very last row of this ordinary fabric has been colored yellow, just for reference. The fabric in this schematic has been knit flat, as shown by the direction of the arrows.

Illustration 2: The blue row is not knit all the way to the end. Instead, at the red dot, the work is turned and the red row is worked. ("Turned"=right needle becomes left needle, left needle becomes right needle. You are now looking at the other face of your fabric, and you go off knitting--or purling--in the direction opposite to the way you were working before you "turned.") As shown, the red row does not go all the way to the end either. Instead, the red row is short, too--it stops at the purple dot.

Illustration 3. After the red row has been worked to the purple dot, the work is again turned. This time, the next row (green) IS worked all the way to the end. However, as you can see, something interesting is going to happen. The last bit of the green row (indicated with a dashed line) isn't going to contact the red row at all, it's going to have to be knit into the yellow row--specifically, that part of the yellow row indicated by a dashed line.

As is evident, adding short rows is going to distort the fabric. This distortion comes in two types: bulging and differential lengthening.Used alone or in combination, these two short-row effects create shaping.

BULGING

Inserting short rows makes fabric bulge outwards where the short rows are. As per illustration 4, when the last bit (dashed line) of the green row is knitted into the bit of the yellow row below it (dashed line), this distorts the right side of the fabric: it pulls the green row down and the the yellow row up while also forcing the blue, red and green rows to bulge outwards.

The same along the left side: the purple row is the first regular (long) row above the blue, red and green short rows. The last bit (dashed line) of the purple row must be knit into the underlying bit of the blue row (dashed line). This snugs up the left side to match the right, while bowing the short rows outwards from the left, also.


The schematic above shows only three short rows inserted--the blue partial short row (short on the right) the red fully short row (short on both sides) and the green partial short row (short on the left). A single full short row causes a mild outward bulge.

Illustration 5: A much more definite bulge can be obtained by further stacking short rows together. This is the basis for short row heels, for example. The heel shown below is a variation on a short row heel. The work begins and ends at the colored dots. As you see, ever-decreasing short rows are followed by ever-increasing short rows, and this self-contained unit of stacked short rows deforms the fabric into a bulge suitable for a heel.

DIFFERENTIAL LENGTHENING

Bulging is not the only trick we can do with short rows. Differential lengthening is also possible. Differential lengthening is when a fabric is worked to be longer in the middle, without affecting the length of the fabric at the edges. An example is improving the fit of a sweater back by adding ease via short rows in the middle of the fabric.

Specifically, adding a bit more length up the middle of a sweater back helps prevent the back from riding up. Illustration 6 shows a sweater back lengthened in this way. The short rows do not go all the way to the edge so the edges aren't any longer--a good thing at seam sewing time. Because the back is longer only where the short rows are (gray arrow) the back is said to be "differentially longer" or "differentially lengthened."

Bulging and differential lengthening differ only in degree. Both are made using short rows. Which result you get depends on how many short rows you stack in proportion to the surrounding fabric. The more short rows packed in, the greater the bulge. Conversely, fewer, longer rows yield a gentle undetectable differential lengthening. Hybrids exist also: short row bust shaping, for example, creates both bulge and differential lengthening.

THE THEORY OF SHORT ROWS
WORKED IN THE ROUND (CIRCULAR KNITTING)

Before turning away from shaping, Illustration 7 shows short rows in circular knitting.


Circular knitting is composed not of discrete circles, but rather of an endless stack of spiral rounds. Rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 (black) are ordinary knitted rounds in such a stack. Round 5 is also an ordinary knitted round--the last one before the short rows. It has been colored yellow for reference. On Round 6, the knitting stops at the red dot. The work is then turned and worked back to the purple dot. This makes the red short row, labeled "S." At the purple dot, the work is again turned, and this time an entire round is knit--round 7, shown in green.

As shown, when round 7 has been worked past the last stitch of the red short row, it must be worked into the underlying round. Because round 6 is a short round, this means round 7 is worked into round 5, the yellow round. After round 7, the short row sequence ends. Round 8 (purple) is a full round. Because round 7 was a short round, this means that as round 8 approaches the area of the short row, it is worked into round 6, the blue round. As round 8 climbs over the area of the short row, it goes from being worked into round 6 (blue) to being worked into round 7 (green). Rounds 9 and 10 (black) are again ordinary full rounds.

Inserting the partial short round 6 (blue), the full short row "S" (red) and the partial short round 7 (green) distort the fabric just as it did in a fabric knit back-and-forth (illustration 4). To the right of the short rows (where round 8 meets round 6) and to the left of the short rows (where round 7 meets round 5) the fabric is pinched together. The short round/rows themselves (6, "S," and 7) are forced to bulge outward. Even the ordinary black (full) rounds some distance from the short rows are distorted.

Like short rows in flat knitting, whether short rows yield bulge or differential lengthening (or both!) depends on how you stack and pack the short rows into your circular-knit fabric.

Fabric made of short rows

Shaping portions of an otherwise normally-knit fabric (whether worked back-and-forth or circular) is not the only use knitters have for short rows. It is actually possible to create an entire fabric exclusively of short rows. Here is an example of a seven-sided shape made this way: a baby blanket, perhaps, or a hat.

Illustration 1. The first row is teal, the second row, pink. The pink row is shorter than the teal -- it is a short row.

Illustration 2. If we continue along making each row shorter than the last, a triangle results. The "bottom" of the triangle is the first row cast on, called the "base." The remaining sides are made of the edges of the short rows: we'll call one the "inside edge" and the other the "outside edge."

Illustration 3: The outside edge, represented by the gray line, will become one of the seven outside edges of the final item. On the inside edge, represented by the brown line, we'll pick up a row of stitches. This new line of picked up stitches will be the baseline for a new triangle.

Keeping to this pattern yields an interconnected series of triangles. In this case, 7 total wedges have been worked, with the last sewn inside edge to the base of the original cast on (the original teal row cast on back in illustration 1).

A wedge-knit short row flat shape like a baby blanket, for example, might require quite a few short rows to make each wedge, and each row might be only slightly shorter than the one before. To get a 3-d wedge-knit short row item like a hat would requite fewer total rows, with each short row possibly considerably shorter than the one before. Also, the short rows might not be symmetrical: a hat made of short-row wedges typically has only a very few rows which go all the way through to the center, while the edge of the hat has a great many rows. In other words, just like in shaping using short rows in the middle of a fabric, so here too: how you stack and pack the short rows will determine whether a short-row knit fabric lays flat (baby blanket) or bulges (hat).

If you're ready for the how-to, click here to be taken to the follow-up post. 

--TK

You've been reading TECHknitting on: "Short rows: the theory"

Purl decreases: p2tog, p2tbl, ssp

The same way there are two versions of knit decreases, there are also two versions of purl decreases: the right-leaning and the left-leaning.



*A purled decrease which slants RIGHT as seen from the front side of a stockinette fabric is not usually called a "right leaning purled decrease." Instead, the decrease is named by its method of creation. In other words, these right leaning decreases are usually called "purl 2 together" (usually abbreviated "p2tog") because that's what you do to get them.

*A purled decrease which slants LEFT as seen from the front is called various things, but hardly ever simply "left leaning purled decreases." Instead, like the right-leaners, these left-leaners are also usually named for their method of making. So, just to confuse the heck out of you, these left-leaners are sometimes also called "p2tog," just like the right leaning ones. Other, more common names include "slip, slip, purl" ("ssp") or "purl 2 together through the back loops" (usually abbreviated "p2tbl" but sometimes "p2togtbl.")

RIGHT LEANING (as seen from the front)

This is a simple one step process: Instead of sticking your right needle into the first (green) stitch at the tip of the left needle and purling it, you instead stick your right needle into the first two stitches (green and blue) and purl them together, as shown below.


The result, as seen from the front, is shown below.


Do you see what you've done? By first inserting your right needle into the first stitch on the tip of the left needle (the green stitch) and next into the second stitch on the left needle (the blue) you have forced the green stitch in front of the blue stitch, as seen from the front (knit side) of the fabric. The green stitch has "eaten" the blue stitch to its right thus pulling the green stitch rightwards ---> over the blue stitch, and this is what forces the decrease to slant right. The slant is not purely rightwards, however, but "up and to the right" because the base of the stitches remains separated--it is only the heads which you've merged. As stated earlier, these right leaning decreases are usually called "p2tog."

LEFT LEANING (as seen from the front)

This is a three step process

Step 1: Slip the first (green) stitch on the tip of the left needle onto the right needle KNITWISE. This means to insert the needle into the stitch as if you were going to knit it. When the right needle is inserted this way and then the stitch slipped off, the stitch turns away from its usual right-arm-forward orientation. Now, the left arm of the stitch is forward (towards you) and the right arm is back (away from you.) Note that you do not pass a yarn through this loop, you just slip it from the left needle onto the right one, changing its orientation along the way.

Repeat this process with the next (blue) stitch on the tip of the left needle. You will wind up with both the blue and the green stitches on your right needle, and both should be laying left arm forward as shown by the red arrows.


Step 2: Return the blue and green stitches to the left needle without disturbing their orientation. The end result of all this slipping and sliding should be the blue and the green stitch laying on the tip of the left needle, oriented left arms forward, right arms back.


Once these stitches are parked on the left needle, you will insert the tip of the right needle into the right (back) arms of both of these stitches as shown by the red arrow. Note that the right needle is to insert from the back, first under the right arm of the BLUE stitch, and then under the right arm of the green stitch. This is admittedly a bit awkward, but persevere.

Step 3: Again: once your right needle has followed the path of the red arrow, it will have been inserted first through the right (back) arm of the second stitch on the left needle (the blue stitch) and next through the right (back) arm of the first stitch on the left needle (the green stitch) as shown. Note also that the running yarn has been brought to the front before the right needle is inserted, in order to make it possible to purl.


Once you draw the running yarn through these two loops, the result, as seen from the front, is as below.


The loop through which the needle was first inserted, here the blue one, has been forced to the front. This blue stitch has "eaten" the green one to its left, which pulls the blue stitch <---- leftwards over the green stitch, so the decrease slants to the left. The slant is not purely leftwards, but rather "up and to the left" because with this decrease, as with the previous one, the base of the two stitches remain separated, it's only the heads which you've merged.

As stated earlier, this left leaning decrease is sometimes called "p2tog" just like the right leaning decrease is. However, it is more commonly called "slip, slip, purl" (ssp) or sometimes "purl 2 together through the back loops," (p2togtbl or p2tbl).

The BOTTOM LINE and a RULE TO FOLLOW

You can straighten out any confusion about the messy naming situation of purled decreases by simply ignoring the names given in your pattern. Instead, look to see which way the decrease OUGHT to lean for best looks, and do that. Remember the rule:

*if you first insert your right needle through the FIRST (green) stitch on the left needle tip and then through the second (blue) stitch, the green will be pulled rightwards ----> over its neighbor and the resulting decrease will slant right as seen from the front of a stockinette fabric

*after the re-orientation steps (in other words, when you get to step 3) then if you first insert your right needle through the SECOND (blue) stitch on the left needle tip and then through the first (green) stitch, the blue will be pulled <---- leftwards over its neighbor and the resulting decrease will slant left as seen from the front of a stockinette fabric.


Two last notes:

1. Some instructions for a left leaning purled decrease ignore the re-orientation steps (steps 1 and 2) and instead jump directly to purling through the back loops (step 3). The result is a twisted loop on the front surface of the fabric--not so pretty.

2. If your decreases are to be viewed from the purled side of a stockinette fabric (reverse stockinette side) then it really makes absolutely no difference how you make them, so make the one-step right leaning decreases because they are easier and quicker. The reason it makes no difference is because in the purled and bumpy landscape of a reverse stockinette fabric, the orientation of the loops will simply not show. As long as you're making the purled decreases where you ought to be (on the side of the marker as specified by your pattern) you'll get the result envisioned by the designer. It's only when viewed from the persnickety and smooth front (knit) side of a stockinette fabric that the direction of lean is important.

--TK

Addendum, added 10-13-09. In the comments, Rachmouse asks for a photo of these purl decreases from the purl side. Here you go Rachmouse!

But...just one thing, first. Also in the comments, Cheryl S. discusses the danger of confusion inherent in naming the slants based on how they look from the front. Cheryl is 100% correct, and if I could think of a better way to name these, I totally would. The photo that Rachmouse asked for perfectly illustrates Cheryl's point: As you can see the decrease which WILL be LEFT facing from the front is part of a line of RIGHT SLANTING decreases from the back. Similarly, the decrease which WILL be RIGHT facing from the front is part of a line of LEFT SLANTING decreases from the back. So, be warned -- look at the front frequently to be sure that your purled decreases slant the way you want them to, and don't put too much stock in what these purled decreases are called. And now, here's the photo Rachmouse requested:


You have been reading TECHknitting blog on "Purled decreases: p2tog, SSP, p2tbl, p2togtbl"

Lining mittens, part 2: thumb on the front

This post is about lining front-thumbed mittens, and is part 2 of a series: the first post of this series was about lining mittens which have side thumbs.

As with the side-thumbed mittens, we are using Polar Fleece for lining. In the illustrations below, the "good" (fluffier) side of the polar fleece is illustrated in blue, and the "not-so-good" side is illustrated in green. 

Step 1: Lay out the mitten on a piece of Polar Fleece, and trace the back of the mitten. This is pattern piece "C."


Step 2: Flip the mitten over with the thumb pointing up towards the top of the mitten. Trace along the bottom (cuff) line, then up both sides to the level at which the thumb starts. Next, draw a straight line from the side of the mitten to the base of the thumb, then trace the thumb itself. This gives pattern piece "B." 


The last pattern piece to cut is "A." With the thumb now facing down towards the cuff of the mitten, and the front of the mitten against the lining material, trace the top of the mitten and down both sides to the level of the thumb. Draw a straight line across to where the thumb starts, then trace the the thumb itself. 

The end result is as shown: your lining material with the three pattern pieces "A," the top part of the mitten front with a tracing of the thumb, "B," the bottom part of the mitten front with a tracing of the thumb, and "C," the back of the mitten.

Step 3: Holding the "good sides" of A and B together, sew as shown. When you unfold the two after sewing them together, you'll find that you've made a pretty good front-thumb. As to the sewing: if you have a sewing machine, this will take only a few short moments and you don't even have to find a matching thread and bobbin, because no one is ever, ever, going to see this seam. If you're sewing by hand, a good stitch to use would be the back stitch.


Step 4: Now, sew the back piece, C, onto the front piece made up of A+B. After this bit of sewing, you will have a finished mitten lining.


Step 5: slip the lining form into the mitten as shown, with the seamed side out. This way, the seam will be trapped between the lining and the inside of the mitten, never to be seen (or felt) again.


Step 6: finish the process by turning the whole works inside out, so the "good side" of the lining is showing, and the mitten is actually inside out, completely inside of the lining. Sew the lining to the mitten using the overcast stitch.


Some final notes:

1) There is no seam allowance left for three reasons: First, you WANT the lining to be smaller than the mitten. Second, fleece can be sewn awfully near the very edge: because it can't unravel, you need not have very much seam allowance at all: 1/8 inch is enough, and 1/4 inch is a lot. Third, fleece stretches, so you don't have to be nearly as precise with fleece as with woven cloth.

2) The cuff is not usually lined in mittens: this would make the wrist stiff.

3) Mittens to be lined must be knit sufficiently large to accommodate the lining and your hand. This means making the mittens longer and wider, and it means that the thumb must proportionately be kitted quite large indeed in order to prevent the finished, lined mitten thumb from strangling your actual thumb.

--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting blog on "lining mittens with fleece."

Lining mittens, part 1: thumb at the side

Today's post is the first of a two-part series on lining mittens. The illustration below shows the two main types of mittens: those with a thumb coming from the side, and those with a thumb coming from the front.


In this post we'll line a side-thumbed mitten, and the following post shows the front-thumbed version.

The best sort of lining for a mitten, in my humble opinion, is made of polar fleece. Polar fleece is a synthetic knitted fabric which has several terrific virtues. It is fabulously easy to wash, it is warm and non-itchy, it is cheap and easy to find in lots of colors and weights, and, best of all, you can cut it without having to seam it -- it will not ravel out. (For more information about Polar fleece, click here.)

In the illustrations below, the "good side" (the denser, fuzzier side) of the polar fleece fabric is illustrated in blue, the "not-so-good" side is illustrated in green. However, if keeping track of the sides is going to turn you away from using Polar Fleece, then, as set forth in greater detail at the very end of this post, just ignore that part of the instructions.

Step 1: Trace the outlines of the mitten on the not-so-good side of the polar fleece stop when you get to the straight part of the non-thumb side.

Step 2: flip the mitten over and trace it again, so that you get a double outline, joined along the outside edge, as shown. Cut out this shape without separating the two halves.


Step 3: Fold the shape in half along the dotted line, with the not-so-good side out and the good sides together on the inside.


Step 4: Pin, then sew the mitten lining form together, as shown. If you have a sewing machine, it'll just take a minute or two to sew the lining seams. If you have no sewing machine, it won't take much longer to hand sew the form shut, and the best stitch for this is the back stitch. (For more information about the back stitch, click here.)


Step 5: The sewn mitten lining form. Note that the seam is on the outside, and the "good side" (i.e.: the fuzzier side) is inside the form, where it will snug against your cold hands.


Step 6: Slip the lining form into the mitten with the "not-so-good" seamed side facing out, as shown.


Step 7: Once the lining is inside of the mitten, flip the whole business inside out, so that the "good side" of the lining is outside, while the whole mitten (flipped inside out) is inside the lining form. Pin the lining to the mitten, and sew, using the overcast stitch, as shown. For more information about sewing lining into a knitted garment using the overcast stitch, click here.


Once the lining is sewn in, flip the whole business inside out again, and you've got yourself a lined mitten.

Four final notes:

First, as you see, there is no seam allowance left when cutting the lining form. This is intentional: In Polar Fleece, you can sew quite close to the edge--1/4 inch or even less. Therefore, when you make your seam, you will make the lining form just that much smaller than the mitten, so that the form fits snugly inside the mitten. Obviously, the thicker the polar fleece you select, the thicker the seam will be, and the snugger the fit of the mitten form. I personally do not use fleece above "200" thickness for linings, and perhaps even a 100 or a micro lining would be useful for lining mittens, matching the thinner linings to a thinner knit. (If you missed the link above for more information about Polar Fleece, click here.)

Second, if you want to line a mitten, you have to knit it bigger (both wider AND longer) to make room for the lining. This is particularly true of the thumb which must be knit proportionally even bigger than the mitten itself, in order to accommodate the lining without cutting your circulation off and leaving you with a blue thumb.

Three, as you see, the cuff is not lined. It is obviously possible to line a cuff, but this tends to make the wrist stiff, and the mitten uncomfortable and unpopular. If you truly want to line the cuff, you must knit it quite loose to avoid these problems. Lined cuffs are not usually ribbed.

The last thing is this: As stated above, if you are confused by all this talk of "good side" and "not -so-good side," the good news is that on most Polar Fleece, it really doesn't matter much. There is a relatively rare kind of fleece which only has one fuzzy side, but on double-sided fleece, then unless you look pretty closely, it can sometimes be hard to tell which side even IS the fluffier "good" side. If all this chatter about sides is bogging you down down, then make sure to get double sided fleece, and just ignore these distinctions. The only really important thing is to insert the lining form with the seam on the side of the lining away from your hands, as shown in illustration 6.


ADDENDUM, 3-12-11:  If your mittens aren't fully side-thumb, but only "sorta side thumb," have a look at Purple Muse's comment, comment #8 below, for a clever way of dealing with the situation.

--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on "lining hand-knit mittens"

Some ideas just make you say "WOW"

Sometimes you come across something something which opens your knitting mind in directions never considered before. I have been accumulating these WOW's for some time, and want to share them with you:

Ravelry

Many, perhaps most knitters already know about Ravelry, the knitting community website. Yet, if conversations with random knitters in airports and waiting rooms are any indication, Ravelry remains unknown to a surprising number. So, if you don't yet know, Ravelry is a black hole into which you will fall with your knitting, never to emerge. Need 3 ways to bind off at 3 AM? A new way of keeping track of your stash and needles? Are you seeking just more ball of a discontinued yarn? Ravelry is all that, and more. The brainstorm of Jessica Forbes and Casey Forbes who administer and run the site with grace and humor, Ravelry is a game-changer: what has up to now been essentially lone pursuit is now a social one and knitting information previously restricted by area, custom or expertise is now in the public domain, archived and searchable by all. Sign up HERE. PS:  As Angie points out in the comments, Ravelry is a site for crocheters, too. (Not to mention that spinners seem to have gotten in on the act when no one was looking!)

Use every inch of that
expensive, fancy yarn sock

Ravelry is great because of the neat people you "meet" and the great tips they post. Here is an example of a really splendid tip from an expert knitter on Ravelry, who goes by the Raverly-name of "Potteryfreak." Potteryfreak (real name Cheri) posted as follows:

You could do something wonderfully cool to make sure you get the maximum bang for your [expensive sock yarn] buck, if you are making a plain sock: Start with a ribbed cuff in contrasting yarn. Switch to your main yarn and knit one long sock-leg tube until you run out of yarn, then end it with a second cuff out of your contrasting yarn. Measure it and insert two lifelines a row or two apart at the center of your tube. Snip one stitch and unravel the row so that now you will have two equal-length tubes of sock. With your contrasting yarn, make your toes down from the live stitches on your lifelines and your afterthought heels in the appropriate spot.

Cheri was careful to note that the idea was not original with her, and that she wished she could remember where she'd read it so as to give credit where is is due. A great tip nonetheless, and thanks Cheri, for permission to re-print your post. (PS: Cheri has an online shop here.)

"Cable reassignment surgery"

The problem: the Boye interchangeable needles have many excellent qualities, but flexible cables are not among them. The solution: as a result of a brainstorm, Fleegle got her old Boye needlemaster tips drilled out by a gunsmith to accept the far more flexible Knitpicks cables. Fleegle is a brilliant genius. Read more about it HERE.

Addendum, November 24, 2010:  Here is another "wow" way to make cables for a Boye interchangeable needle set.  This new method is ALL do-it-yourself!!

Home made yarn swifts

Two low-cost home-made yarn swifts that will have you slapping your head--wonderful Rube Goldberg devices of the first order. Webecca is a brilliant genius. Click HERE and HERE.

Three charting sites

Shut down your spreadsheet, put down your graph paper, retire your pencil. Instead, check out these three free charting sites
1. Chart-a-rama: Into the "form" box, you type a pattern written in standard knitting shorthand, formatted according to some easy-to-understand rules. Click "make the chart," and Chart-a-rama will automatically generate a perfectly-formatted knitting chart. This would be very handy if you prefer to work from charts, but only have a older-type knitting pattern written out in knitting shorthand instructions.
2. Knitting Chart maker by Jacquie: If you prefer to type in your chart symbols directly, this site has loads of symbols and is easy-to-use.
3. Microrevolt's Knitpro application makes a color chart directly from an image. Want to knit your dog's face onto the back of a sweater? Knit a message on your socks? Knit giant flowers onto your afghan? This app will create the chart for you, and it's pre-set at the correct knitting ratio of stitches to rows.

Needle gauge

I use a micrometer to size needles. It is accurate but delicate, so it never leaves the house. My needle gauges are allowed out of the house, but are flimsy and are now bent and banged up from their adventures. To the rescue came Agres, another Ravelry member, who noted in a post that "drill gauges are cheap and tough." A trip to a local hardware store confirmed that: for a few bucks, I landed a sturdy metal drill gauge with the sizes actually engraved into the metal, so they'll never rub off. With a conversion chart, or two my drill gauge sizes all. Perfect for road trips.

Surprisingly stretchy bind off

Last, but not least, here is a link to a new sort of  bind off--Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off. The raves are flying for this one! Try it yourself and see what you think.

Thanks to all these great knitters who've illuminated the community of knitters with their generous sharing of time, talent and ideas.

--TK

Working in too-short ends: a classic dressmaker's trick, handy for knitters

Is there a knitter anywhere who has not had to work in a too-short end? The fix often smells faintly of desperation such as a dot of glue, or spells a lot of hard work, such as undoing the knitting to lengthen the end. Here is a classic dressmaking technique which may save the day next time you're faced with an end too short to work in by conventional means.

In illustration 1, there are two ends waiting to be worked in: one green and one pink. The green end is long enough to work in by the ordinary "skimming in" method, so first we'll see how that works. Then we'll look at the variation on this method which is a clever dressmaker's trick to work in the very short pink end.


Illustration 2 shows threading the green end through the eye of the needle.


Illustration 3: Pierce the needle through one or two plies of each underlying stitch, as shown.


Illustration 4: Draw the needle up all the way, which draws the end through the piercings you have made. Once the yarn is all drawn through, remove the needle from the yarn end by working the end out of the needle's eye. This leaves the yarn "skimmed in" to the back of the work. (For more information about the skimming-in method, click here.)

With the too-short end, this simple technique will not work, because the end to be worked in is shorter than the sewing needle. So, as shown in Illustration 5, if the yarn cannot be brought to the needle, the needle must be brought to the yarn. This is done by using the unthreaded needle to pierce through one or two plies of several stitches, as shown.


Illustration 6: Stop the needle when the eye is just opposite the too-short end. Without moving the needle, use some form of sewing ingenuity or employ some tiny tools such as a tiny crochet hook, or a needle-threading hook, or a wire threader for hand sewing to draw the too-short end through the eye of the needle.


Once the needle is threaded, draw up the needle, and keep drawing it up. As the needle travels through the fabric, the too-short end be drawn out of the eye, and will come off in the fabric.In other words, the needle will come out naked, but along the way, the too-short end will have been worked in to its fullest possible length, and illustration 7 shows the finished result.

One final note and two final links: The sort of needle to use for this job is a sharp pointed needle, and this is because you want to pierce through the underlying yarn. For more info about the two different types of sewing needles, click here. And, just in case you missed the link above for more information about the "skimming in" technique, click here.

--TK

You have been reading TECHknitting on: "working in short ends in knitting"

Matching your cast-on to your bind-off

Knitters often ask about making the cast-on edge match the bound off edge. ("Bind off" is also sometimes called "cast off," the two terms are interchangeable.) Making matching edges is especially important for knitting with lots of long edges, where the edges are close together: this scarf, for example.

Although this blog has touched on this issue in other posts, today's post puts it all together in one place: a TECHknitting round-up of how to match cast-on and bind-off. At the bottom of each method are the links to the illustrated how-to's.

Method 1: Provisional cast on
Do a provisional cast on. Knit your garment. Bind off using any method you like. Go back to the beginning of the work and remove the provisional cast on. Now, bind off the live stitches using the same bind off method you used at the garment end. The two ends HAVE to match because they were done exactly the same way.

• LINKS--

COWYAK provisional cast on
Crochet hook chain method of provisional cast-on

Method 2: Rolled stockinette edges
Cast on, using any method you like. Knit at least 5, and perhaps as many as 10 rows in plain stockinette. This makes a rolled edge to your garment. Start the garment according to the patten such that the stockinette roll rolls to the outside of the garment. At the end of the garment, knit the same number of rows of stockinette--again arranging matters so that the stockinette roll is to the outside. Bind off using any method you like. The stockinette rolls at the beginning and the end of the garment will hide the casting on and the binding off--the garment edges will therefore match: even though the cast on does not necessarily look like the bind off, no one will ever see them.

• LINKS--

Rolled edges (scroll to bottom of post for gallery)

Method 3: chained (cable) cast on matches stitch-over-stitch bind off
The chained cast on (also called the cable cast on) looks a good deal like an ordinary stitch-over-stitch bind off. If you use the cable chain cast on and the stitch-over-stitch cast off, you will have two edges which match closely.

• LINKS--

Chain cast-on, also known as "cable cast-on" or "knitting on"
Chain bind off

Method 4--tubular cast-on, tubular cast-off
A tubular cast on exactly matches a tubular cast off. So good is the match that they are, literally, indistinguishable, even for the person who knit them

• LINKS--

Tubular cast-on
Tubular bind-off

Method 5: Hemming
When an item is hemmed at both the cast-on and the bind-off, the edges look identical because they are identical.

• LINKS--

Sewing hems shut
Knitting hems shut

Have you got a match-matchy method you like?

--TECHknitter

Knitting from the center: "Belly buttons" and the umbilical waste cord method

includes 6 illustrations. click any illustration to enlarge

Why another method for center-started knitting?

Knitters complain that starting from the middle is fiddly, that their needles fall out, that tension is difficult to maintain. Yes, this is all true.

Nevertheless, there are lots of good reasons to start projects from the center. A center-started hat can be tried to check the length as you go. The concentric rings of lace in a center-started shawl are beautiful.

Until now, the two main ways of starting from the center have been

• "Emily Ocker's cast on,"(via the late, great Elizabeth Zimmermann) and
• Disappearing loop

In today's post, we have a third method:

• umbilical cords/belly buttons

Umbilical cords are simple--no needles will fall out--yet the end result is identical in looks and structure to the lovely, yet fiddly, disappearing loop.

Belly buttons start with an "umbilical cord" of waste yarn which is later removed. The cord gives you something to hang onto, making knitting easier. Once removed, you get a neat little rosette of stitches--the "belly button." All the beauty points of disappearing loop but far easier.

How to

To make the umilical cord, you have two choices. Either you can follow the waste-tube method shown here. (Follow steps 1-8) or, an even easier way to start the little tube with I-cord from a mill. Same idea, only the I-cord mill makes the umbilical cord.

Once you have the umbilical cord made by whatever method, divide the loops evenly onto two dpn's. If you made the umbilical cord yourself, you will have the right number of stitches for your starting round of garment yarn. If you are using I-cord from a mill (4 sts) then cut that yarn long, and follow the below instructions to knit increases into the first few rounds of the I cord, using the I-cord yarn. Once your umbilical cord has been increased to the correct number of stitches, you switch to the garment yarn.

With the stitches divided onto 2 dpn's, and holding the tube flat (both dpn's held in the L hand, but only knitting off the front one), knit a row--in garment yarn if you made your own umbilical cord--in umbilical cord yarn if you did not. Flip the dpn's over and knit another row. One round knit.

Illustration A, below, shows the umbilical cord which already has one round (ie: a front and a back row) of garment yarn attached.


The second round of garment yarn as an increase round, and this is shown in illustration B. The increase stitches are colored darker--in real life, of course, they'd be the same color as the other stitches. Illustrated here is a backwards loop increase, but really, any sort of an increase could be put into this second round.


Many center-started flat objects feature an alternating two-round plan: First, a plain round, where there are no increases, then this is followed by a second round, an "increase round" where the increasing takes place. This is the plan we are following here. Illustration A shows the plain (non-increase) round, while illustration B shows the increase round. Center started non-flat objects (hats, mittens) use the same idea, but put more plain rounds between the increase rounds.

Illustration C shows flat knitting increases repeated several more times: increase rounds alternating with plain rounds. If you're working with I cord from a mill, once you have the correct number of stitches increased, you switch to the garment yarn.

After only a few rounds, there will be lots of stitches, ready to pop off the dpn's. Rearrange your work either by the magic loop method onto a long circular needle, or add another dpn or two, so that you are knitting with 4 or 5 dpn's.

You might choose to remove your umbilical cord and create the belly button now. To do this, you catch the free loops of the garment yarn on a blunt-tipped (tapestry) needle which you have previously threaded with the tail of the garment yarn, as shown. Illustration C shows all the umbilical cord stitches removed at once, but this is only to show how the loops are to be gathered--don't try this at home! Instead, remove the umbilical stitches one at a time, catching each freed belly button loop as it pops loose. (Take a look at illustrations 9a and 9b in the previous post for examples)

It's easier to flip the work over so the belly button is up and the needles are down: gives a better view of what you're doing.

After the tapestry needle has been passed though all the live garment stitches, the needle is again passed through the first stitch-loop (and only the first stitch-loop) to prevent a gap from forming. The yarn is then drawn up s-l-o-w-l-y to prevent knotting, until all the stitches are snugged up into a center rosette of stitches. This makes the belly button. Alternatively, you can make an attractive little hole in the middle of your work by not pulling the yarn up all the way when you snug up (photo below).

In illustration C, we made the belly button after knitting only a few rounds in garment yarn. This is a good idea, especially the first few times you do this trick--if you mess up, you haven't lost much work and it's painless to start again.To get a better picture of the process, however, illustration D shows what the belly button would look like if you postponed surgery until some way into the project.

Because the cord is taking up quite a bit of room, the fabric is humped up into a kind of a cone in the center. Never fear--when the umbilical cord is removed, the fabric will lay far flatter.


Illustration E shows the umbilical cord removed but the belly button in this picture has not been snugged completely: there's a little open-work circle in the middle--very pretty for lace.


Illustration F, below, shows the same fabric with the belly button snugged up all the way.

Notes:

To prevent a knot, don't work in the tail by winding it around and around through the stitches of the belly button itself. Packing the belly button with yarn this way makes it a hard knot, an "outie." Of course, in lace, there really is nowhere else to hide the tail, but in anything heavier, find another place for the tail--click here for info on weaving in, here for skimming.)

The umbilical cord here shows 8 stitches cast on with an increase of 8 stitches every second round. This is the default formula for a flat circle. However, umbilical cord works for any number of stitches cast on and any rate of increase. Match the number of umbilical cord stitches to the number of stitches you are supposed to cast on for your pattern, and away you go.


ADDENDUM: Due to not googling before chosing this name, it turns out that Rosemarie Buchanan, the inventive author of "Two sticks and some string!" has a prior claim to this name for this technique. I urge you to have a look--Rosemarie's umbilical cords are made a bit differently, using a flat-knit umbilical cord, then going to 4 dpn's right away, and her method is worth knowing, too.  Click here for a direct link to Rosemarie's post on this matter.

--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on "the umbilical cord waste yarn method for center-started garments, or 'how to make knitted belly buttons.'"

Starting glove fingers, straps, belts and other tiny knitted tubes, with an aside on fruit flies

GOODBYE, FRUIT FLIES!

At ChezTECH it is harvest season and there are paper bags of tomatoes and zucchini and cucumbers standing all over the kitchen floor. Knitting at this time of year has its own distractions, chief among which at this point are fruit flies. So, before any knitting could happen today, the fruit flies HAD to go. Here's how it happened: All the overripe tomatoes were rounded up and put in the outside compost. Then, one last overripe tomato was put into the garbage and the lid left open. One hour later the trash was swarming. The last step was quickly closing the trash, taking it outside and letting the little pests fly away. Success!

Now that the fruit flies have returned to their natural habitat, we resume with our regular knitting content.

HELLO, KNITTING TINY TUBES!

Starting glove fingers, straps, belts cords and other tiny knitted tubes often makes knitters crazy. And once you DO get them started, these tiny tubes aren't all that easy to knit, either. But from now on, these troubles will be behind you.

Today we'll look at a neat trick to start tiny tubes and, once started, to knit them with good tension and no needle trouble. This method depends on two tricks: First, a waste yarn cast-on, and second, double pointed needles (dpn's) used in a bit of a tricky way--only 3 needles are used rather than the usual 4 or 5, with the result that the tubes are knitted flat and the needles don't fall out.

Step 1: Using waste yarn (illustrated in green) and a dpn of the size you will use to knit the tube, cast on the desired number of stitches, in illustration 1, below, eight stitches were cast on. The illustration shows a back loop cast on, but you can use any cast on you like: the waste yarn will be completely removed, so the cast on makes absolutely no difference.


Step 2: Slide the stitches to the other end of the needle


Step 3: Using the same technique as for I-cord, draw the running yarn to the right tip of the needle. Using a second double pointed needle, knit another row or two with the waste yarn. (click here for a tutorial on I-cord)


Step 4: After you've knitted several rows in this I-cord fashion, then on the next row, knit only HALF the stitches.

Step 5: In illustration 5, below, half the stitches have been knit off the yellow needle onto the purple needle. The next step is to FOLD the purple needle BEHIND the yellow needle, as illustrated by the fish-tailed arrow.

Step 6: Using a third (red) dpn, knit the stitches off the front (yellow) needle. The back (purple) needle will be acting as a holder--you won't need to hold onto it as you knit with the yellow needle and the red needle, because the loops of knitting which are around that back purple needle will hold that needle in the work, and this is especially true if you use a "grabby" dpn, such as one made of bamboo.

Once you have knit the remaining stitches off the front yellow needle, flip the work and continue in the same manner, using a third needle to work the stitches off the front needle, while allowing the back needle to act as a holder for the other half of the stitches.

Step 7: After working an additional few rows (each row is 1/2 a round), you will see that the loopy mess of the original I-cord-type rows are at the bottom of the work, and that the tension is improving. Work as many rows as you feel you need to to get the tension under control, and the work firmly settled. Of course, as you become more experienced in this trick, you will need fewer and fewer rounds of waste yarn, but for a first attempt, 6 or 8 or even 10 rounds are not too many.


Step 8: Now it is time to switch from waste yarn to garment yarn. To accomplish this, you simply drop the waste yarn and start knitting in garment yarn.

Two quick tips about this process: First, yes, there be big loop and some loose messy stitches right where the two yarns change, but these are easily tamed when the time comes for removing the waste yarn. If it bothers you, you can LOOSELY knot the two yarns together, remembering to unknot them before you perform step 9. Second, leave enough of a tail of the newly attached garment yarn to finish the work off--preview step 9 for details.

Once the waste yarn has been dropped and the garment yarn started, you simply knit the garment yarn in the same manner as for step 7. Again, as shown in illustration 8, below, you are knitting a flat tube, half a round at a time, using dpn's.

* * *

(Pssst--have you come from the post on belly buttons? If so, you can return quickly by clicking here)

* * *

Step 9: After you have worked at least a few rounds in garment yarn, you can remove the waste yarn, or you can choose to wait until the end of the project to remove the waste yarn. To remove the waste yarn, the easiest way is to pick it out, stitch by stitch, from the garment end--there is a loose end right where the waste yarn ends. Alternatively, you can simply cut the waste yarn tube with a scissors, making sure to leave 2 rounds intact, and then pick out these last two rounds carefully.

How you treat the newly revealed loops of the garment stitches as each pops loose of the waste yarn depends on how you want the end of your tiny tube to look.

If you simply want to snug the end of the tube up into a tiny rosette of stitches, then follow illustration 9a, below. A blunt-tipped (tapestry) needle has been threaded with the tail of the garment yarn (and this is why you were clever and left the tail somewhat long back in step 8). As each stitch-loop of garment yarn (blue) pops loose of the waste yarn (green) it is caught onto the sewing needle. After each garment stitch-loop has been caught as per the illustration, the needle is passed through the first stitch-loop (and only the first stitch-loop) again to prevent a gap from forming. The yarn is then drawn up s-l-o-w-l-y (this prevents knotting) until all the stitches are snugged up into a center rosette of stitches and the tube is thus closed.


If, however, you want to keep the stitch-loops of garment yarn live, the follow illustration 9b, below. As each stitch-loop of garment yarn pops loose of the waste yarn, it is caught on a double-pointed needle.


An example of where a dpn pick-up might be appropriate is when you might want to Kitchener stitch the end of glove fingers together--the Kitchener stitch makes a smoother, flatter finger-end than the little knot you'd get with the drawn rosette of stitches resulting from step 9a.

Another example of where a dpn pick-up might be appropriate is when you want a square end to a belt or strap you might make by this method.To get a square end, you'd cast OFF these live stitches, and this is why you left a long tail when you attached the garment yarn back in step 8. One thing to remember is that when you work DOWN from a cast on edge, you have one less stitch than you were expecting (click here for an explanation) so you either have to fudge OR cast on an extra stitch at the outset to avoid this problem.

A couple of final notes:
1. If you making glove fingers, consider making the very ends of the fingertips on a needle one size smaller than for the rest of the glove finger/glove body. This will make for a better fit and denser material right where you need it--on your COLD fingertips.

2. Use waste yarn of the same weight as, or thinner than, the garment yarn. If you use thicker yarn, your first row of garment stitches will be larger than the others, and that will make it difficult to have a nice finished product.

The very next post about "belly buttons" expand on this trick. It shows how to use a tiny tube of waste yarn as the start for a center-out item, such as a hat or a center-started blanket--click here to go to that post.

Have fun with this--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on: knitting tiny tubes: glove fingers, straps and belts.

I-cord tassels

(No posts for a long time because I broke my ankle.  It's better now, though!)

 Although similar in concept to regular tassels, I-cord tassels have fewer, thicker strands, for a different look.

1: Make several lengths of I-cord. The photo to the right shows 2 tassels, each made from 2 double-length cords and folded over.

2: The lengths are attached at the point of the garment by tacking them down (several stitches) using matching yarn threaded onto a blunt, large-eyed (tapestry) sewing needle.

3. As you can see, a short length of yarn is wound around the cords, perhaps 1/2 or 3/4 inch down from the connection point. This joins the separate lengths of I-cord and prevents them sticking out in all directions, while creating a small bobble above for the winding for the classic "tassel look."

4. For shorter tassels, a simple wind at the top to hide the tacking is all that is required, as the shorter cords look well sticking out in different directions.

5: For added effect, the ends of each length of I-cord is knotted in a simple overhand knot.

One final tip: The ends of all the sewing and winding yarns are simply hidden in the center tube of the I-cords, making this an easy-peasy project, indeed.

--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on "I cord tassels."