Project Bodemloos - This was brilliant!
Feb. 14th, 2017 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzYesterday I learned a new technique, and I also leveled up in a technique I already knew. It was both pretty brilliant!
The pattern calls for a rib hem and then tells you to bind off using "tubular bind-off method". This was new to me. But I do know that ribbing is pretty stretchy, and that for a sweater, just like for socks, you would want a stretchy bind-off. When I'm making toe-up socks, I usually use "JSSBO" - Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off.
I had been pondering whether I should not use JSSBO instead, but it does leave the edge a little lettuce ruffle at times, so I decided against it. If the tubular bind-off should be not stretchy enough, I could very easily frog back and try another method. And it's fun learning new techniques. Sometimes you just have to trust your pattern -- and seeing this was a tested, paid pattern, I felt confident enough to trust it.
The described bind off sure didn't sound very stretchy to me. You knit another four rows, slipping the purl stitches on one row, and the knit stitches on the next. This sets up everything for the bind-off. And then you separate the stitches by kind: the knit stitches go onto the front needle, and the purl onto the back needle. Like so:
Late night lamp-light pictures... sorry for quality
And then when you've got everything parked on two separate needles, you graft the stitches together using the kitchener stitch.
I'm familiar with kitchener, it's a seamless grafting method used on top-down socks. I can do it by heart and it has a particular rythm "knit to purl, purl to knit" I sometimes mouthe. You've got a tail of yarn in a darning needle to bind off. The stitches on the front needle (knit side facing) slip off the needle if you insert the darning needle knit-wise. Then you "prep" the next stitch by going in purlwise (and leave it on the needle). The stitches on the back needle slip off if you insert the darning needle purl-wise, and then you prep the next stitch knit-wise (and leave it on the needle). So after the kitchener set-up, it's just knit, slip, purl, purl, slip, knit until you're done.
I cut a long tail for this graft, twice the size of my round. And then I started grafting. After about half a round, I found out that it was much faster if I didn't pull all my yarn though after one stitch, but paired them up. Insert knitwise, slip it off, insert purlwise, pull it through both stitches, securing the loop on the needle with my nail. This saved a lot of time.
And it is such a beautiful bind-off method! It literally takes the purl stitches and shoves them behind the knit stitches. And because you graft the two together with kitchener, they match up over the bottom of your hem in a seamless row. Because your purl stitches look like knit stitches on the inside, it looks like your knit stitches just go down the hem, flip over the top, and go up the hem on the inside. How cool is that!?
Ten minutes to midnight I was done, snapped a quick picture, and shouted out my glee on Ravelry. Not only did I "level up" in kitchener stitch, I also learned a new awesome bind-off technique!
And best of all is that it's surprisingly stretchy. It makes for a pretty firm edge, but it has enough room to fit over my hips, and that's the most important part. Of course, my hips are not (yet?) in proportion to my bust, so the hem doesn't hang loose like the person modeling on the front of the pattern. But it does fit very comfortably.
Next up: The Cowl!
The pattern calls for a rib hem and then tells you to bind off using "tubular bind-off method". This was new to me. But I do know that ribbing is pretty stretchy, and that for a sweater, just like for socks, you would want a stretchy bind-off. When I'm making toe-up socks, I usually use "JSSBO" - Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off.
I had been pondering whether I should not use JSSBO instead, but it does leave the edge a little lettuce ruffle at times, so I decided against it. If the tubular bind-off should be not stretchy enough, I could very easily frog back and try another method. And it's fun learning new techniques. Sometimes you just have to trust your pattern -- and seeing this was a tested, paid pattern, I felt confident enough to trust it.
The described bind off sure didn't sound very stretchy to me. You knit another four rows, slipping the purl stitches on one row, and the knit stitches on the next. This sets up everything for the bind-off. And then you separate the stitches by kind: the knit stitches go onto the front needle, and the purl onto the back needle. Like so:
Late night lamp-light pictures... sorry for quality
And then when you've got everything parked on two separate needles, you graft the stitches together using the kitchener stitch.
I'm familiar with kitchener, it's a seamless grafting method used on top-down socks. I can do it by heart and it has a particular rythm "knit to purl, purl to knit" I sometimes mouthe. You've got a tail of yarn in a darning needle to bind off. The stitches on the front needle (knit side facing) slip off the needle if you insert the darning needle knit-wise. Then you "prep" the next stitch by going in purlwise (and leave it on the needle). The stitches on the back needle slip off if you insert the darning needle purl-wise, and then you prep the next stitch knit-wise (and leave it on the needle). So after the kitchener set-up, it's just knit, slip, purl, purl, slip, knit until you're done.
I cut a long tail for this graft, twice the size of my round. And then I started grafting. After about half a round, I found out that it was much faster if I didn't pull all my yarn though after one stitch, but paired them up. Insert knitwise, slip it off, insert purlwise, pull it through both stitches, securing the loop on the needle with my nail. This saved a lot of time.
And it is such a beautiful bind-off method! It literally takes the purl stitches and shoves them behind the knit stitches. And because you graft the two together with kitchener, they match up over the bottom of your hem in a seamless row. Because your purl stitches look like knit stitches on the inside, it looks like your knit stitches just go down the hem, flip over the top, and go up the hem on the inside. How cool is that!?
Ten minutes to midnight I was done, snapped a quick picture, and shouted out my glee on Ravelry. Not only did I "level up" in kitchener stitch, I also learned a new awesome bind-off technique!
And best of all is that it's surprisingly stretchy. It makes for a pretty firm edge, but it has enough room to fit over my hips, and that's the most important part. Of course, my hips are not (yet?) in proportion to my bust, so the hem doesn't hang loose like the person modeling on the front of the pattern. But it does fit very comfortably.
Next up: The Cowl!
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no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 09:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 11:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 08:34 pm (UTC)Trui? Hoezo trui. Mijn Muze heeft haar nieuwe shiny gevonden.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 09:13 pm (UTC)Nieuwe steek
Date: 2017-02-16 08:55 am (UTC)Grtz Petra Houten
RE: Nieuwe steek
Date: 2017-02-16 09:09 am (UTC)De kleur is prachtig grijzig paars, lastig om in elke foto goed te krijgen. Mijn heerlijk wegkruip-trui.