Kitchener Stitch

There is an excellent reference on how to do the Kitchener stitch here - http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/05/easier-way-to-kitchener-stitch-also.html. Kitchener is also called graft stitch or grafting and produces a seam that is flat and even – obviously really good for socks but also for hats or shoulders where you have two planes of work meeting and would rather not have the bulk of a seam.

Matching Self Striping Yarn

To help match the pattern, when making socks with self striping yarn, leave a 1-2 yard tail at the beginning so you can match the repeat exactly. If you are making two socks from the same ball of yarn you may have to pull a bit before you get a match for the start of the second sock.

Stabilizing Buttonbands

Sew a small clear button on the inside of the sweater band on cardigans. This will help stabilize the fabric. It also helps if you have a fabric that tends to stretch or is weakened.

Untwisting Yarn

To untwist yarn while working items like a twined knitting project, place your yarn on a turntable lazy susan and turn as needed.

Yardage Per Row, Last Stitch Bind Off

If you are getting close to the end of your skein of yarn and aren’t sure if you can make another row, check to see if the remaining yarn is about triple the width of what you are knitting. If so, then you’ll have enough to complete the row. Once you’ve bound off the row and you have one loop left on both the left and right hand needles, knit through both the left needle stitch and the stitch below it by picking up the loop of the stitch below and bind off all three together. Then you don’t end up with the little point on the corner of your work.

Notions - Provisional Yarn

Keep a length (about 3-5 yards) of smooth lighter weight cotton yarn in your notions kit so you can always do a provisional cast on when you need it.

In a provisional cast on, you are casting on with a temporary yarn and then knitting with the project yarn from the temporary loops. The intent is that later you will undo the temporary cast on, picking up the resulting loops of your project yarn to knit from the “bottom edge” of the piece. A garish color for your temporary makes it easier to pick out or unravel and smooth cotton won’t catch on your loops as you remove it.

Gauge! and How To Fix Yours

Question: "What do you do if you are getting the correct stitches but the wrong rows per inch? Changing needle sizes may correct the number of stitches, but what if the row gauge is wrong?

Answer: If you are knitting in a different yarn than what is suggested in the pattern, it may produce a different stitch size. Depending on the yarn you choose, it could create a very different stitch length and width, even if the yarn is of similar weight and fiber content. (I’ve learned that you come closest when both the weight and the yardage of the skein match – so 50g and 100meters will knit very similarly to 50g and 109meters but not so much when it is 50g and 125 meters.)

Continental-style knitting is said to produce a shorter stitch than knitting the English method. If you knit Continental, try knitting to the indicated total length rather than row count if length is provided in the pattern. (Continental knitting is where you use your needle to pick the yarn from your left hand and English method is where you use your right hand to “throw” the yarn around your needle).

If your project is made seamlessly in the round, your gauge swatch should also be made in the round. Making a back-and-forth gauge swatch could be inaccurate because tension tends to be different when working flat, knit and purl rows, as opposed to knitting every round when knitting seamlessly.

And lastly, you may want to consider your "hung" gauge. A final garment measurement is different when it is lying flat or on a table rather than when it is hanging on a person. Try placing your swatch on a pant hanger and applying a lightweight object to the bottom to get a more accurate measurement. Especially true if your knitting with large needles or soft, floppy yarn.

Yarn Laundry Guide

Armhole Shaping, SSK, K2Tog

When working armhole shaping of a sweater, start the RS (right side) rows with a ssk (slip, slip, knit) and end with a k2tog (knit 2 together) to following the line of the armhole. You can remember this by knowing the "s" in ssk means to start the row (but work the slant in a stitch or two).

Yarn That Tends To Bias Or Twist

Chenille yarn tends to bias – slant or twist your work because of the way that it’s made. One way to overcome this is to knit a strand of sewing thread or another very thin, well spun yarn along with the chenille. If it is in a matching color, it won't show at all. If it contrasts, think of it as a design element. This also helps prevent another frequent problem with chenille--worming (when loose loops of yarn pull out of the fabric and twist back on themselves, making little tails).

You can use this same technique for reinforcing 100% wool sock yarn. Choose a good strong nylon thread in a complimentary or matching color and include it with your yarn in the wear areas of your sock. Even if the yarn wears through, the nylon thread will maintain the structure for a possible overstitch repair.

Handy Tape Measure

When you make a copy of the pattern, copy a tape measure in the margin to measure against.
--or--
On your knitting needles mark off inches and with a permanent marker and mark the needles so that they can be used to measure your work in progress instead of having to take a measuring tape along!

Substitute Yarn - Wraps Per Inch

If you are looking for a substitute yarn at the yarn shop (perhaps a less expensive or more durable yarn) for your project, bring a short double point needle and ruler to compare the wraps per inch between the suggested yarn and the one that you want to substitute. Just wrap the yarn around the double point with the coils touching, then measure how many fall within the inch. It will give you a good idea whether the two would knit to the same gauge. Here’s a handy chart for various yarn weights:

Double Pointed Needles

When knitting with double point needles in the round – the more needles you use the less obvious your ladders (stitch that bridges the work between needles) will be. If you are a beginner however it’s often easier to use three plus one working needle because the three in the work form a triangle.

Items in Notions Kit

Keep a length (about 3-5 yards) of smooth lighter weight cotton yarn in your notions kit so you can always do a provisional cast on when you need it. It can also come in handy when jacket buttons pop off and need a quick fix.

Mobile Knitting Charts

If you are taking your knitting mobile and are using a chart, take a photo of the chart with your mobile phone. Then you can look at it whenever you need the chart without having lots of paper tagging along.

Fiber Test

An easy test to figure out if your yarn is animal, plant or synthetic, pour a small amount of bleach in a small bowl or custard cup. Place a length of your yarn into the bleach. It will either:

· bubble and dissolve which means it is an animal fiber and will felt
· the color starts to bleach out but the fiber does not dissolve, it’s a plant fiber like cotton
· the yarn floats in the bleach and doesn’t change, it is an acrylic yarn
· the yarn bubbles but doesn’t disappear, it is probably a wool-acrylic blend

Row Gauge

If you’ve made your swatch and have the right stitch gauge but have trouble obtaining the right row gauge, it could be because of your knitting style. Continental (picking style) knitting produces a slightly shorter stitch than English (throwing style) so it would be good to know both styles of knitting depending on your project.

Cables While Knitting in the Round

If you are knitting a cabled pattern in the round, it’s sometimes difficult to see/know when you are on a cable round as opposed to when you are knitting back and forth. There are a few tricks to being able to count the rounds which I’ve illustrated below.



This is my preferred method and what I think is the easy method.

Smooth Circular Joins

One way to make a smooth join when knitting in the round is to cast on 1 extra stitch. When joining the circle, knit the first and last stitches together.

Reading and Knitting Difficult Patterns

If you have a difficult pattern and lose your place when going from pattern or chart to your knitting, record the pattern steps on audio so you can listen and knit rather than finding your spot on a written pattern.

Counting Rows

It’s sometimes hard to count the number of rows in stockinette, especially if you are using a little bit of a fuzzy yarn. Instead, count rows from the back/purl side and stretch it out a bit so you can easily see the rows.

Chart Reading

If you are moving up to the challenge and knitting a complicated lace or fair isle pattern, mark your chart with colored vertical lines between the obvious patterns. Then use corresponding colored embroidery floss or colored markers (or even colored paper clips) in your knitting so you can see at a glance where you are in the pattern.

Picking Up Tinked Stitches

If you need to “tink” or rip back your knitting in stockinette stitch, make sure the right leg of each stitch is toward the front side of your needle when you pick up those stitches.

Increase in Ribbing

When making increases in ribbing (like from the bottom band to the body of a sweater), use a kfb or bar increase and do the increase in a knit stitch which is immediately followed by a purl stitch. This will make the increase nearly invisible. Then make your first stockinette row a purl row and that will really hide the increases.

Trimming Fringe

To straighten fringe before trimming, comb it out using a wide tooth hair pick type of comb.