Ssk-free I-cord edging

I unvented a slightly easier way to apply I-cord edging.  You may read the description and think: pshaw, that's simple, I could have thought of it myself!  But you didn't, I did ;)  I may sound cocky but this is my blog and I get to revel in my own cleverness.

Without further ado the how-to:

1) Cast on your I-cord.  I used 4 stitches to make a more substantial edging but 3 sts is typical.

2) Ready the left side of the piece to be bound off (PtbBo).  This is where we depart from convention and aim for genius.

If PtbBo is worked in garter st, finish with a right side row.  Otherwise the stitches present themselves as purls and create unsightly bumps along your finished I-cord.

I-cord on left in blue, PtbBo on right in gray

3) Commence I-cording by slipping the left-most PtbBo st onto the right side of your I-cord needle.

4) Knit together the first two sts (I-cord and PtbBo).  Then knit the remaining I-cord sts as usual.

5) Slide the I-cord back to the right side of your needle (or slip the sts to the right needle if not using dpns).

Repeat steps 3-5 until you have completely bound off PtbBo.

My swatch half bound off with I-cord

So yes, knitting I-cord is still tedious.  But you've eliminated slip, slip, knit in favor of k2tog which always counts as a win in my book.  Happy knitting!

Knitting Backwards Tutorial

On some knitting projects knowing how to knit backwards (left to right) is very handy.  I put together a tutorial to show how I knit backwards.  There are a handful of pictures and short captions and I hope it's helpful to others.

Something messed up Picasa, again, so I reloaded the photos.  I apologize for any inconvenience.

Sweater Placket How-To

Or, How to steek a placket: 

*This works best in non-superwash wool.  Steeking relies on wool's tendency to stick to itself so with cotton, soft wools and other fibers it's best to test a sample first.

Instead of knitting a sweater in flat pieces, sewing them together, and dealing with all that purling…knit it as a tube and insert the placket afterward.  You gain the benefits of knitting in the round, especially good when doing colorwork.  Plus you choose the length of the placket after the fact, when you can try on the almost finished sweater.

To begin with, knit a pullover sweater.  Try on the sweater and place a safety pin, stitch marker or piece of yarn where you want the placket to end.  Make sure you measure or count stitches to find the exact center front of the sweater.  My example has a cable around the shoulders with 7 plain sts at center front.  The central 3 sts will be used to create the placket.  If you've never steeked before it's a good idea to try this out on a swatch first.

Baste down the middle of the central stitch with contrasting color sewing thread (I used white), making a horizontal mark at the desired base.  With a sewing machine, matching thread, and a very short stitch, sew a straight line half a stitch to one side of your basted line.  When you reach the basted bottom, pivot the needle 90º to stitch across the center stitch.  Then pivot 90º again and stitch up the sweater half a stitch on the other side of the center stitch.  Backstitch at the beginning and end of each stitching line.  If your yarn may fray, stitch a second reinforcing line half a stitch away from the first.  I reinforced the bottom of the second line of stitching as well.

Basted with 2 lines of stitching

...and ready to cut

Once you've machine stitched and double checked that your cutting line is correct, cut right down the basting stitches.  You're cutting the center front stitch in half and only want to snip the horizontal strands that connect each half of the stitch.  With wool or a wool blend, non-superwash, the stitches should stick to each other.

The cut slit, stitches secure

Remove the basting thread and you're ready to pick up stitches on either side of the placket, 1½ stitches from center front.  The cut edge will fold to the inside and stay nicely out of the way.  If you wish, tack down the raw edges with some yarn or thread.

Picking up placket stitches

I began with the placket overlap, picking up stitches vertically and knitting enough rows to more than cover the 3 stitch gap, then cast off.  You can either pick up a few extra stitches along the bottom edge and knit those together with the last knit stitch every other row, or sew the bottom of the overlap band to the sweater.  I sampled both methods on a swatch and chose the former.  I forgot to take photos at this point I was so excited to be almost finished ;)



To create the underlap I picked up stitches the same way, but 2 fewer sts, then knit the same number of rows and bound off identically.  The bottom of the two layers are staggered and create less bulk.  The base of the underlap was stitched securely to the sweater.

There you have your henley placket, nicely finished from the outside and stable on the inside.  This placket has no buttons or buttonholes but go ahead and add them if you wish.  The neckline of my sweater was bound off with 2 st I-cord.  I knit 3 rows I-cord per 2 decreased sts and it lies flat on the body (though not in photos).

Finished placket, pre-steaming

Ta da!

Fixing the Dreaded Jog

A big problem when knitting stripes or colorwork is the dreaded jog.  Knitting circularly creates spirals that stack on top of each other.  The pattern staggers where each new spiral begins:

The jogtechknitting.blogspot.com

The pattern I used for the Peerie Flooers hat had the jog smack in the middle of every other flower.  I neglected to take photos of my hat before fixing it, so here's another knitter's example:

The jog

What it should look like

(L) the main design

(R) the jog, destroying the continuity of the design and making knitters everywhere sad.

I didn't want to live with wonky flowers so ripped out 3 of the 4 flowers and reknit them.  I used two techniques in conjunction to eliminate the jog.

Line showing the start of round

For the flowers I simply moved the start of the round over 4 sts at the end of each flower.  Instead of knitting half a flower at the beginning and half at the end of each round I knit the whole flower at the end of the round.  This is a well known technique, nothing special there.

When it came to the crown section I changed strategies.  I slipped the first st of the round, then knit it per the previous round's chart the next time it came across my needle.

My other strategy: often in the chart the first stitch of the round is the same color for two or more rounds.  When this was the case I knit the first st of that color in the first round and slipped it on the second round.  When the chart called for knitting 4 sts of the same color in a column I knit it the first round, slipped it the second, knit it the third, slipped it the fourth.  The slipped stitches did elongate but I was able to tighten and even them out manually, and they really blend in after blocking.

In the photo above the crown motif at center has the start of the round running through it.  I can hardly tell and i know where it is!  The line stops in the middle of the motif for better visibility.

Knit Skirt How-To

Update: I goofed on the yardage!  Updated values include the waistband.

I took the pattern for this knit skirt from a yoga skirt I own.  The pattern and construction are very easy and flattering.  It doesn't have the beautiful drape of Tanit-Isis's gored knit skirt but the economical cut allowed me to sew a camisole from the leftovers :)

Depending on the degree of stretch in your fabric, desired fit, and your measurements, these dimensions can be changed.  I'm waist 71cm, hip 95cm.
Seam allowances of 1.25cm (1/2") and hem allowances of 2.25cm are included.

Fabric: 0.9m/1yd, 120cm/48"+ wide knit
A lightweight jersey with lycra is ideal; to reduce curling don't prewash.
Cut all pieces with the greatest degree of stretch horizontally (around your body).

Waistband: Cut one piece 30cm x 78cm, or two pieces 30 x 40cm and 30 x 41cm
Skirt: Cut two trapezoids as shown below.  I cut the back piece upside down since my print isn't directional.  Your yardage will differ if cutting both skirt pieces right side up.

*If your fabric is wide enough cut each half of the waistband from the triangular areas top left and bottom right in the diagram.  This will reduce the yardage to 0.6m/yd and make the Earth happy :)

If your fabric is sheer a second identical layer can be used as lining.  Treat both skirt layers as one.  If the lining has less recovery than the skirt fabric trim 2-3cm off the lining and hem separately.

Assembly: Using a narrow zig zag or serger, sew the short ends of the waistband right sides together.  Press open, fold in half lengthwise wrong sides together and press.  The waistband will be worn folded over.

Sew the skirt side seams.  Sew the folded waistband to the skirt's top edge, pinning and matching by quarters to ensure even distribution.  If you cut the waistband in one piece place that seam at center back.  Otherwise sew a piece of ribbon or a label to mark CB.  Press all seam allowances toward the skirt and topstitch.
  

Try on the skirt to check hem length and evenness.  Trim as needed and serge the hem if desired.  Turn up 2-2.5cm and stitch close to the raw edge.  I used a 3mm long x 2mm wide zig zag; a twin needle or coverstitch would also work well.  

Jeans Hemming Tutorial

Hemmed Jeans

I hope to write a series of jeans alteration tutorials.  The first will focusing on hemming while preserving the original hem, almost invisibly.  This is an easy technique once you know how and gives very nice results.

I will be demonstrating this technique with brown corduroys.  I have also hemmed some jeans and they turn out even better.



The first step is to try on the jeans to be hemmed.  Fold up the extra fabric and pin at center front so they are the desired length.  Repeat at center back.  Remove the jeans and measure the amount to be removed.  In the jeans I'm demonstrating 7/8" or 2.2cm was removed.  Divide the amount to remove in half, fold up the bottom edge by that measurement, and pin.  The side seams are slightly shorter than the rest of the hem: keep the original hem straight and don't worry how much you've folded up at the seams.  Try on the pinned jeans before sewing to double check the length.

Amount to remove--7/8" or 2.2cm

Fold up and pin 1.1cm or 7/16" (fun with fractions!)

The hem is straight but the folded amount isn't even at side seams.  This is what you want.

Alternately, you can measure the inseam of a well-fitting pair of jeans and pin the hem in the same way to achieve that length.  Make sure you try them on, though, to double check the length.  Many jeans have legs that are uneven in length so measuring up from the existing hem may give disappointing results.

Take off the jeans and, if you like, measure the inseam for future reference.  Turn the jeans inside out and press the hem well with steam to flatten the layers.  This will make sewing a little easier.

To sew the hem use a zipper foot and sew just next to the existing hem.  I use all purpose poly thread and a stitch length of 2.25mm: short enough to be sturdy but long enough to pick out if necessary.  Press from the inside with the tuck facing upward to flatten your new seam.  Try on the jeans and congratulate yourself on a job well done!

The hem will look even better as you wash and wear the jeans.  In the next tutorial I'll show more advanced hemming techniques.

Use a zipper foot and sew just next to the existing hem.

After sewing the new hem

The new hem seam from the inside.

Top: Original hem, Bottom: New hem