knitting Archives - Page 12 of 27

tutorial – the cable cast-on

The cable cast-on is a cast-on very similar to the knitted on cast-on. It is worked similarly and creates a clean, and sturdy edge. It is, however, more firm and less stretchy; a very good choice for edges that benefit from that stability and don’t need any stretch. Take for example edges from which stitches are picked up and knit. For this reason, I personally wouldn’t use it for a knitting project that would be blocked heavily. For most other applications, though, it makes a very nice decorative edge. Think for example of edges of non-lace blankets.

This particular method is also great for the beginner knitter because it is basically the knit stitch that is used to cast on. In this post, I’ll show you how to do it!

Materials used

Yarn: Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 125 Spearmint Green.

Knitting needles: This is a pair of straights that I picked up at the second-hand store when I started knitting, brand unknown.

The cable cast-on step by step

Make a slip knot and place it on your needle.
This forms the first stitch, make sure to leave enough on the tail of the yarn to weave in later. It is also possible not to use a slip knot and just loop the yarn around the needle for your first stitch, thus avoiding the knot in the corner of your work. For the sake of this tutorial, however, I’m going with the slip knot version.
Take your second needle and insert the tip into the stitch with the needle under your main needle.
Insert at an angle, so your needles cross as pictured.
Hold the crossed needles together, take the yarn connected to your ball and wrap it around the bottom needle: go around, and then over.
Depending on your knitting style, this can be done with either your left or your right hand. The end result is however always the yarn wrapped around the needle as pictured.
Take the bottom needle and bring it back through the stitch, pulling the yarn with it in a loop.
Now transfer the new loop from the bottom needle to the other needle and tighten the yarn.
You have now cast on a stitch!
Take your second needle and insert the tip in between the 2 stitches closest to the tip of the main needle.
In this step, we’re deviating from the knitted-on cast-on.
Wrap the yarn around the needle….
… and pull it through the stitch.
To finish adding the new stitch, place it on the main needle.
Repeat steps 6-9 until you have reached the desired amount of stitches on your needle.
This is how it looks from the RS of the work, after a couple rows have been worked in garter stitch.
And the result from the WS:

Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

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strawberry finch

The gorgeous color of this kid silk yarn reminded me of the wonderfully bright plumage of the Strawberry Finch, a cute little bird found throughout Asia. What better way to show it off this gorgeous yarn than with all-over lace? Of course, this shawl can also be knit in fingering-weight yarn.

The Strawberry Finch shawl is knitted in lace patterning from the top-down in one piece, starting at the neck edge with a garter tab. The instructions are provided charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

Patterning in the body of the shawl is on both RS and WS rows. Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, k2tog, skp, purl 1 below, bunny ears yo, and a centered double decrease. This pattern is therefor suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: span width of 180 cm (71 inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 78 cm (30 ¾ inches), measured after blocking.

Change the size of the shawl by using heavier or lighter weight yarn and/or working fewer (or more) repeats of the body, the border, or both. This will, of course, change the amount of yarn needed.

Pattern details

Strawberry Finch is written for a gauge of approx. 11.1 sts / 19.4 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over body pattern, measured after blocking. Gauge is however not critical in this design.
Pattern languages included: English.
Digital PDF has 5 pages (letter size)

Yarn

420 m (459 yds) / 50 g WayfaringYarns Sophia (72% brushed superkid mohair, 28% mulberry silk; 420 m (459 yds) / 50 g) in the color “Fuschia”.

This yarn and pattern are also available as a kit from Sweater Sisters!

Substitute any mohair type yarn with a halo of a similar lace weight for a similar result. Of course, this design can also be worked in a regular fingering weight yarn.

Materials

Size 5 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles were used for the sample shawl. If using fingering weight yarn with less halo, needles in size 4 mm (US 6) are suggested.
4 stitch markers to indicate the center and edge stitches.
Stitch markers to indicate repeats of the lace patterning (optional).
Yarn needle.

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green jasper

Green Jasper captures all the gorgeous variations found in the semi-precious gemstone. This design is knit sideways on the bias, making a shallow and asymmetrical triangle, perfect for wearing as an elegant scarf. The combination of garter stitch in a variegated hand-dyed yarn and simple lace in a solid/tonal yarn makes it a perfect choice to get the best of both worlds.

The pattern contains both fully written out and charted instructions for the lace section.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, k2tog, skp, kfb and pfb. This pattern is therefor suitable for the intermediate knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: 192 cm (75 ½ inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 69 cm (27 inches), measured after blocking.

Make the shawl larger by adding more repeats of the garter stitch and/or by working more repeats in the lace section. This will, of course, increase the amount of yarn needed.

Pattern details

Green Jasper is written for a gauge of approx. 16 sts / 23 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over garter stitch, measured after blocking. Gauge is however not critical in this design.
Pattern languages included: English.
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)

Yarn

C1: 1 skein Sticks & Cups Olympus (100% Bluefaced Leicester; 400 m (437 yds) / 100 g) in “Quebrada de Humahuaca”.
C2: 1 ball ONION Knit Nettle Sock (70% wool, 30% cellulose; 185 m (202 yds) / 50 g) in 1006 “Green”.

Substitute any variegated fingering weight yarn for C1 and any solid or tonal colored fingering weight yarn for C2 for a similar result.

Materials

Size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles were used for the sample shawl.
Removable stitch marker to denote the RS of the shawl (optional)
Stitch markers to indicate repeats of the lace patterning (optional)
Yarn needle

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tutorial – working a pfb

There are lots of ways to increase the number of stitches on your needle. Purling in the front and back of the same stitch, also known as the pfb increase, is the purl side version of the kfb increase. In other words: you work the pfb on the purl side of the fabric, which is often the wrong side) to get an extra stitch that looks like the kfb increase on the knit- or right side of stockinette fabric. This increase can be a bit tricky to work at first, but once you know how to do it, you will breeze right through them.

The pfb increase is also known as a “bar increase” because it forms a little horizontal bar in your work. Due to this little bar, this increase is virtually invisible in garter stitch. When used in stockinette, as shown in this tutorial, it forms a series of decorative bars along the increase line when viewed from the knit side of the fabric. This how-to will give you step-by-step instructions on how to work the “purl front and back” increase.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 128 Lime Green.

Needles: * KnitPro Zing Fixed Circular Needles. In this tutorial, I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches).

Working a pfb step-by-step

In this tutorial I’ll continue the swatch that I used in previous tutorials on increases and decreases.

First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the increase.
In this case, I want the increase 2 sts in from the garter stitch border on the right. A pfb first makes a purl stitch, followed by the extra “bar” stitch on the left of it. Because of this, I start working the pfb over the third stitch.
To start, insert the right-hand needle purl wise into the front loop of the stitch.
To finish this part of the stitch, wrap your yarn around the needle, and pull it through the stitch. Don’t drop it of the needle yet!
Now we insert the right-hand needle purl wise into the back loop of the stitch.
To do so, insert the needle from the left to the right through the back loop. This is the tricky part, I find it helps to pull the fabric down a bit as shown in the picture, because it makes it easier to see where to insert the needle.
Next, wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the stitch.
To complete the pfb stitch, drop the loop from the original stitch off the left-hand needle.
This is how it looks now.
Do you see the purl stitch with an extra “bar stitch” to the left of it?
This is how it looks after some more rows with increases, when viewed from the purl side of the fabric.
In this swatch, I’ve also made increases on the left side of the fabric. Very invisible here!
And here is the view from the knit side of the fabric.
When viewed from this side, it really looks like a kfb, right?!

And that’s all there is to it!

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tutorial – changing a skp to a k2tog

Tutorial changing skp to k2tog - by La Visch Designs

This tutorial is part of the series on fixing mistakes in knitting. When knitting lace or shaping in garments it can easily happen that a left-leaning decrease is worked where a right-leaning one was needed. Or vice versa, of course. And because I really don’t like ripping out my work, I’m showing how to drop down several rows in your knitting and how to go about changing skp to k2tog.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 142 Tea Rose.

A crochet hook in the same size or slightly smaller than your knitting needles. For example this * Pony Aluminum Crochet Hook in size 4 mm.

Changing a skp to a k2tog step by step

First, slip the stitches purl-wise from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle, until you reach the stitch directly above the wrongly worked decrease.
Do you see it, 4 stitches below the needle?
Now drop down the stitch.
Ladder it all the way down until the decrease is undone, and you have 2 stitches instead of 1.
Catch these 2 stitches with the crochet hook.
Make sure to insert the hook from left to right through the stitches.
Next, it’s time to start working the k2tog decrease.
To do so, insert the crochet hook below the first horizontal thread running directly above the 2 stitches on the hook.
Next, pull the horizontal thread through the both stitches on the hook.
This completes the k2tog decrease. In the picture below you can see that the decrease now leans to the right instead of to the left as it was originally.
Finishing up.
Next, ladder your way up again by inserting the crochet hook underneath the horizontal thread directly above the hook, and pulling the thread through the loop already on the hook to make a new knit stitch. For stockinette, repeat this until all horizontal threads have been worked. After this you can place the stitch back unto the knitting needle.

And that is how you go about changing a skp to a k2tog, several rows down in your knitting! I prefer knitting skp instead of ssk for my left leaning decreases, but the same principles apply to that too:

Just drop down the stitch directly above the decrease
Catch the stitches
Work the correct decrease using the first horizontal thread above the stitches as your working yarn
Ladder your way back up again.

That’s all there is to it!

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octaaf

Octaaf is a stylish triangular shawl knit sideways, with all-over lace patterning. I named it after the verse form consisting of eight lines of poetry. While I made my version in a DK weight yarn, it’s very easy to customize to other weights and quantities of yarn. Just knit in pattern until your shawl has the desired size, or when you run out of yarn!

The pattern contains both fully written out as well as charted instructions for the lace.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Skills required

Stitches used include knit, purl, skp, k2tog, a centered double decrease, yo, and kfb. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate knitter.

Sizes and measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: Span width of 201 cm (79 inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 88 cm (34 ½ inches), measured after blocking.

The size of the Octaaf shawl can be changed by using lighter or heavier yarn and/or working less (or more) repeats of the body patterning. This will, of course, change the amount of yarn needed.

Pattern details

Worked flat and sideways.
Written for a gauge of 12 sts / 20 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over body pattern measured after blocking. However, gauge is not critical in this design.
Pattern language: English.
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)

Yarn

Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% Merino, 30% Silk; 137 m (150 yds) / 50 g) in the following colors and amounts:

C1: 137 m (150 yds) / 50 g in “Mallard”
C2: 137 m (150 yds) / 50 g in “Steel”
C3: 274 m (300 yds) / 100 g in “Virgo”

Substitute single ply type wool or wool/silk DK weight yarn of comparable thickness in a solid or tonal color for a similar result.

Materials

Size 4.5 mm (US 7) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles. Choose a needle size appropriate for the yarn selected.
Yarn needle.
Stitch markers to indicate repeats of the lace patterning (optional).

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tutorial – fixing a forgotten m1

Fixing a forgotten m1 increase - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

In an earlier tutorial I already showed you how to fix a forgotten yo. But, of course, that’s not the only type of increase that can be forgotten. What about fixing a forgotten m1? Personally, I have a very big aversion against ripping out my work, just because I forgot one teeny tiny stitch a couple of rows back. I mean, it certainly is an option, but I consider it to be more of a last resort type of option.

So, in this post I’ll show you to fix a forgotten m1 increase, specifically for the situation that the lack of the increase hasn’t been noticed until several more rows or rounds have been worked. I’ll address it for both the m1l and m1r variations of the increase.

Materials used

Yarn: Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 142 Tea Rose.

A crochet hook in the same size or slightly smaller than your knitting needles. For example this Pony Aluminum Crochet Hook in size 4 mm.

Fixing a forgotten m1 step by step

Let’s get started! In this tutorial I’m using the swatch I also used in previous tutorials on fixing things in knitting.

First, go to the spot in your knitting where the m1 increase should have been.
Let’s assume we’ve forgotten to work the increase at the spot indicated by the crochet hook. If you look carefully, you can see horizontal threads between the 2 columns of stitches.
Let’s assume we’ve forgotten the m1 increase 4 rows down.
Now insert the crochet hook from top to bottom underneath the 5th horizontal thread.
Next, twist the crochet hook 180 degrees to twist the loop on the hook.
The direction depends on the type of m1 increase you want to make. Twist it 180 degrees clockwise for a left leaning increase (m1l), or 180 degrees counterclockwise for a right leaning (m1r) increase. In the picture below the loop has been twisted, see how it sits more snugly on the crochet hook?
Now we can ladder the work back up!
To do so, insert the crochet hook underneath the horizontal thread directly above the new m1 (the 4th horizontal thread down), and pull the thread through the loop already on the hook to make a new knit stitch. Repeat this (for stockinette) as often as needed until you’ve run out of threads to pull through and place the stitch on the left-hand needle. Below you can see the result.

Now you’re ready to continue your knitting!

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tutorial – working a double crochet bind-off

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to work a double crochet bind-off. As you know, there are many ways to bind off knitted fabric, which one to choose depends greatly on various factors. Take the amount of stretch in the bind-off itself, for example. The Russian bind-off is wonderful for lace shawls that are blocked to the max, but is less suitable for projects that need more structure at the bind-off edge. For that an i-cord bind-off may be more suitable. Another thing to take into account is the way it looks, does it match the cast-on used?

The double crochet bind-off is reasonably flexible and, due to its taller height when compared with other bind-offs, a pretty good match with the German twisted cast-on. Let’s take a look at how it’s worked!

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn. Pictured here in the color 155 Vintage Pink.

Needles: * KnitPro Zing Fixed Circular Needles. In this tutorial, I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches).

A crochet hook in the same size or slightly smaller than your knitting needles. For example this * Pony Aluminum Crochet Hook in size 4 mm.

Working a double crochet bind-off step by step

First, insert your crochet hook into the first stitch on the needle knit wise.
Next, wrap the yarn around the hook….
…and pull it through the stitch on the needle.
Next, remove the stitch and let it drop from the needle.
Repeat steps 1-4 once.
Now you have 2 loops on your crochet hook.
Now wrap your yarn around the crochet hook…
This is the start of the “double crochet” part of this bind-off.
…and pull the wrapped yarn through both loops that are on the hook.
Repeat steps 5 to 7 until all stitches are bound off.
This is how it looks:

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tutorial – working the knit 1 below (k1b) stitch

There are cases in which skipping the row on your needle for particular stitches is desired, and one is to knit or purl in the row below that one. In other words: you knit/purl into the stitch below where you normally would, exactly as the name suggests. Think, for example, of Fisherman’s Rib. In a previous tutorial I already showed you how to work the purl 1 below stitch, so now it’s the turn of the knit 1 below! The main challenge in working this stitch is recognizing the stitch to insert your needle in. So that’s what I’ll be showing you in this tutorial on how to work the knit 1 below or k1b stitch.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 155 Vintage Pink and 125 Spearmint Green.

Needles: * KnitPro Zing Fixed Circular Needles. In this tutorial, I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches).

Working a knit 1 below or k1b step by step

In patterns, you may encounter the following description of this stitch:
Knit 1 below (k1b): Knit into the stitch 1 row below the one on the needle by inserting the needle from front to back. Knit this stitch, then pull the worked stitch and the stitch above off the needle together.
But how to actually do this? Read on!

First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the stitch
In this case I’m making the k1b4 stitches in from the right edge.
Identify the correct loop to insert your needle in.
Normally, you’d insert the right-hand needle in the loop that’s on the left-hand needle. If we go down a row, you see the stitch we want (pointed out by the extra needle), hugging the loop that’s on the needle.
Now, insert the right-hand needle knit wise in the stitch we’ve identified.
You can see it more easily if you pull down the fabric a bit with your fingers.
Now wrap your working yarn around the needle…
…. and pull it through the stitch.
See that you’re actually pulling it through 2 stitches at once? That is, the one on the needle and the one directly below it.
Finish the stitch by slipping the top stitch off the left-hand needle without actually working it.
Because the fabric is secured by knitting into the stitch below it, the stitch won’t run down unraveling.

And that’s all there is to it!

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tutorial – preventing a tight edge when knitting stripes

When knitting stripes, especially the thinner ones, it often doesn’t make sense to break the yarn when switching to a different color. It mostly gives you a ton of ends to weave in later on. And personally, I’m just not a fan of extra and unnecessary work. That said, carrying the unused yarn along the side of the fabric has its own disadvantages.

For one, you have to remember to actually wrap the yarn you’re working with around the yarn you’re carrying along, before you go on knitting. Without securing the yarn to the side of the project and moving it up to where you’ll need it next, you’ll have a loose hanging strand on the edge of your work. And if you do remember to wrap the carried-along yarn, you may do it with a different tension than in the knitted fabric. This one is especially hard to judge, because both stitch pattern and yarn composition have a big influence on the tension of knitted fabric after blocking. This may very well result in a too tight or too loose tension at the edge, where it initially seemed to be just right.

In this post I’ll show you how I prevent these issues when carrying along the unused yarn at the side of the work.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 155 Vintage Pink and 125 Spearmint Green.

Needles: * KnitPro Zing Fixed Circular Needles. In this tutorial, I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches).

Preventing a tight edge when knitting stripes step by step

In this example I’m knitting thin 2-row stripes, but it would work just as well with deeper/wider stripes.

Work to 1 stitch before the end of the row, at which point you’ll be switching to the other color yarn.
This particular technique does assume that the new color of yarn is started and ended at the same side edge of the fabric. This means working an even number of rows in every stripe.
Next, insert your needle into the stitch to work it and wrap both color yarns around the needle.
In this case, the edge is worked in garter stitch, so we’re talking about a knit stitch here. But it can, of course, just as easily be done in a purl stitch.
Now pull both strands of yarn through the stitch on the left-hand needle…
… and slide the original stitch of the needle to complete the stitch.
Now, turn the work and get ready to start the new row in the new color.
To do so, insert your needle into both strands and work it as one using the new color yarn. What you’re basically doing is carrying along the unused yarn by knitting it into the last stitch of the row. This way the unused yarn is incorporated into the main fabric and will behave similarly upon blocking. In other words: no tension differences!
This is how the resulting edge looks.
Yes, the edge will be slightly bulkier than its non-doubled counterpart at the other side edge. But usually it’s not very noticeable.

Overall look

You may wonder how this looks on both the right and wrong side of the fabric. This is how:

Preventing a tight edge when knitting stripes: result on the RS

Preventing a tight edge when knitting stripes: result on the WS

And that’s how to go about preventing a tight edge when knitting stripes!

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