knitting Archives - Page 15 of 27

tutorial – knit the knits and purl the purls

Sometimes in patterns you may encounter the phrase “knit the knits, and purl the purls”. Besides the abbreviated versions of this, you may also encounter “work the stitches as they appear”. Especially if you’re a new knitter, it may be confusing what is exactly meant with this. No stress though! In this tutorial I’ll tell you all about it.

What it all comes down to, is being able to “read” your knitting. If you can correctly determine whether a certain stitch on your needle is a knit or a purl stitch, the instruction tells you exactly what to do next:

When you identify a knit stitch, it is to be knitted.
If you identify a purl stitch it is to be purled.

The important thing here is to remember is this: You only have to look at what the stitches look like on the left-hand needle while you’re working the new row or round. This can be confusing. What looks as a knit stitch on one side of the fabric, looks like a purl stitch on the other side. Ignore the side of the fabric facing away from you and focus only on the side facing you.

Below I’ll show you how to go about identifying your stitches, with the help of a swatch in 2×2 rib. (Ribbing formed by repeating (k2, p2) across your piece.)

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, 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).

Identifying a knit stitch

In the picture above the next 2 stitches on the left-hand needle are knit stitches. Do you see how they form little V-shapes? Therefore, if the first stitch on the left-hand needle has a V hugging the base of it, then it is a knit stitch and you knit it.

Identifying a purl stitch

In this picture the next 2 stitches on the left-hand needle are purl stitches. The characteristic to identify it, is the little horizontal bar or bump just below where the stitch joins the needle. Therefore, if the first stitch on the left-hand needle has a horizontal bar hugging the base of it, then it is a purl stitch and you are to purl it.

And that’s all there is to “knit the knits and purl the purls”!

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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tutorial – working a bobble from 3 rows below

Bobbles are a lovely way to add texture to a knitting project. I’ve used them myself to add interest to an otherwise rather plain stockinette shawl body in my Moerbei shawl. They’re also rather popular as an extra design element on cabled sweaters.

In the basis a bobble is nothing more than a single stitch that is increased to a collection of stitches (usually 3, 5, or 7 stitches), worked back and forth and then decreased back again to a single stitch. There are, however, many ways to go about this.

In this tutorial I’m focusing on a specific kind of bobble that is described in the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida. It’s worked in stockinette stitch on a background of reverse stockinette by working in a stitch 3 rows down. Read on for more details!

Materials used

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

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 bobble from 3 rows below step by step

1. First, work in your piece of knitting to the point where you want to make the bobble. Remember, this bobble is worked on a background of reverse stockinette, so the purl side is the right side of the work.

2. Next we have to insert the right-hand needle into the center of the stitch, 3 rows down from the next stitch on the needle. I’ve indicated it with the yarn needle.

3. Move the working yarn to the back of the work (we’re working the bobble itself in stockinette, not in reverse stockinette!) ….

4. … and insert the right-hand needle right through the stitch to the back of the work!

Working a bobble from 3 rows below step 4

5. Now wrap the yarn around the needle and pull up a loop through the fabric.

Working a bobble from 3 rows below step 5

6. Wrap the yarn around the needle to form a yarn over.

Working a bobble from 3 rows below step 6

7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 once to make a 3 stitch bobble, or repeat steps 4 to 6 followed by steps 4 and 5 once again for a 5 stitch bobble. Pictured below is how it looks after working these steps for a 5 stitch bobble.

8. Next, drop the next stitch on the left-hand needle. It won’t ladder down below the bobble, because the stitch is secured by pulling the yarn through the fabric in the steps above.

9. Now work in pattern to the end of the row. You can see in the picture below, that I worked a 5 stitch bobble on the right and a 3 stitch bobble on the left.

Onwards to the next row

10. Turn the work and again work in pattern (knit) until you reach the bobble loops. Those we work in purl, because we’re looking at the wrong side of the work here.

11. This is how it looks after working this row. You can see the bobble stitches more easily now, because they are purled.

12. Again work in pattern to the bobble stitches. Now we have to decrease these 5 stitches back to 1 stitch. To do so, I have slipped the first 3 stitches together knit wise to the right-hand needle, worked a k2tog, and then passed the 3 slipped stitches over the result of the k2tog. This is the result of that decrease:

14. For the 3 stitch bobble I worked a sl2-k1-p2sso decrease. This is the result:

15. And this is how these bobbles look after 2 more rows in reverse stockinette have been worked. See how much fatter the 5 stitch bobble is when compared with the other one? You can, of course, work even fatter bobbles this way. Just repeat steps 4-6 twice or thrice instead of only once.

And this how to do it!

Found this tutorial useful? Tag me with @la_visch on Instagram or @lavischdesigns on Facebook if you’ve used it in a project!

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tutorial – working an Estonian 3-into-3 star stitch

Estonian knitting, especially the lace knitting, is quite a bit different from other types of lace knitting. This is in a large part due to combination of openwork and texture that is the most prominent feature of Estonian lace knitting. You may have heard of the book * Pitsilised Koekirjad by Leili Riemann, for those interested in Estonian lace knitting, it’s a true treasure trove!

Anyway, often-used design elements include nupps and gathers. Another type of stitch that’s often used is the star stitch. This is the generic name for the type of stitch where interesting patterns are created by making 3 stitches out of 3; or 5 stitches out of 5 and then purling all stitches on the next row.

It’s also possible to decrease or increase stitches this way, by, for example, making 3 stitches out of 5, or 9 out of 5. Increasing with the star technique can be used to start flower-like lace shapes by first increasing 5 stitches to 9 (or 11) and over the next couple of rows gently decreasing the extra stitches away again.

Focus of this tutorial

In this tutorial I will focus on a basic 3-into-3 star stitch on a stockinette background. A 3-into-3 star stitch is made by knitting 3 stitches together without dropping stitches from left-hand needle; yarn over, knit the same 3 stitches together again before dropping it all from the left-hand needle.

When worked in the yarn-needle combination shown here, the results will be a nicely textured fabric. When worked with relatively large needles for the yarn chosen, a more lacy effect will be the result.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, 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).

Working an Estonian 3-into-3 star stitch step by step

1. First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the star stitch.

2. Next, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the first 3 stitches at the same time as if to knit.

Step 2 in working an Estonian star stitch

3. Wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the stitches you inserted the right-hand needle in. Don’t drop the stitches off the left-hand needle yet!

Step 3 in working an Estonian star stitch

4. Wrap the yarn around the right-hand needle to form a yarn over.

5. Again, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the 3 stitches at the same time as if to knit.

Step 5 in working an Estonian star stitch

6. Again, wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the stitches you inserted the right-hand needle in.

7. Now you can drop the stitches off the left-hand needle to finish the star stitch.

And this is how it looks after 3 more rows in stockinette have been worked, with 2 star stitches in a single row. Pretty, isn’t it?!

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tutorial – correcting a wrongly worked purl stitch

If you’ve ever worked some sort of patterning in your knitting, you know it can happen easily: a short distraction. And when your attention is somewhere else a purl stitch is worked instead of knit stitch, or vice versa. It may even be that you won’t notice it until several more rows or rounds have been worked.

Personally, I have a very big aversion against ripping out my work, just because I made a little mistake 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 tutorial I’ll show you how to deal with a wrongly worked purl stitch that should have been a knit stitch.

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 the wrongly worked stitch step by step

In this example, 2 stitches next to each other are purled instead of knitted in the stockinette fabric. Since there are only 2, I correct them one by one and not at the same time.

1. First, slip the stitches purl-wise from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle, until you reach the first wrong stitch.

2. Drop this stitch and ladder down up to and including the purl stitch.

3. Since we want to create stockinette stitch fabric, we now insert the crochet hook through the correct stitch directly below the laddered-down purl stitch from the front to the back.

4. 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. Repeat this until all horizontal threads have been worked. After this you can place the stitch back unto the knitting needle.

5. Next, repeat steps 1 to 4 for the next wrongly worked purl stitch. The result should look something like this:

Fixing the wrongly worked stitch step 5.

But what if I need to fix a knit into a purl?

Good question! Well, as you know the wrong side of a knit stitch is a purl stitch and vice versa. So, the easiest way to fix the reverse situation as pictured in this tutorial, is to just turn your work so the wrong side is facing! This way you’ve got the exact situation as pictured here.

If you do want to ladder up a purl stitch, do the following:

1. To start, move the next horizontal thread directly above the stitch from the back to the front of the work.

2. Next, insert the crochet hook into the stitch from the back to the front, grab the loose thread and pull it through the stitch on the hook.

If you’d like pictures with these last steps, take a look at the second part of my tutorial on how to fix a dropped stitch in garter stitch.

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tutorial – the k3tog tbl left-leaning double decrease

In another post I’ve already showed you how to work the sl1-k2tog-psso left-leaning double decrease. In this tutorial I’ll show you another way to reduce 3 stitches down to 1 stitch in a left-leaning way: knit 3 together through the back loop, or k3tog tbl for short.

This decrease requires fewer steps than the sl1-k2tog-psso one, but it can be a tad fiddly to work. And while the result may look a tad different, in most patterns it really won’t matter that much which specific left-leaning double decrease you use. So, just try it out and use the one that works best for you.

Materials

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 k3tog tbl step by step

1. First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the decrease. In this case, I want to work the double decrease over the 3 stitches in the middle of the swatch.

2. To start, insert the right-hand needle knit wise (from right to left) into the back loop of the next 3 stitches on the left-hand needle.

3. Wrap the yarn around the needle…

4. … and pull it through the 3 stitches.

5. To finish the k3tog tbl decrease, slide the original 3 stitches off the left-hand needle.

The below picture shows how it looks after 2 more decrease rows have been worked.

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tutorial – the k3tog right-leaning double decrease

Tutorial on working the k3tog right-leaning double decrease

In a previous post, I showed you how to work the sl1-k2tog-psso left-leaning double decrease. In this tutorial, I will tell you all about the matching right-leaning double decrease, the one abbreviated with “k3tog”. This stands for “knit 3 stitches together”. It’s a common way to reduce the number of stitches in your project and make it narrower. With its matching left-leaning decrease it’s often found in lace patterning. Also not unimportant: the k3tog is a very easy to work double decrease which gives a lovely texture to your knitting.

Below you can find how to work this decrease, so get your materials and follow along!

Materials

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 k3tog step by step

2. Next, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the first 3 stitches at the same time as if to knit.

3. Wrap the yarn around the needle…

4. …and pull it through the stitches you inserted the right-hand needle in.

5. To finish the k3tog decrease, slip the original stitches of the left-hand needle.

The below picture shows how it looks after 2 more decrease rows have been worked. Please note that the bottom half of the swatch pictured shows the sl2-k1-p2sso centered double decrease I showed you in a previous tutorial.

The k3tog right-leaning double decrease used in several rows.

And that’s all there is to it!

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tutorial – working a knit-side left-leaning lifted increase

Tutorial on working a knit-side left-leaning lifted increase or LLI for short

In a previous tutorial, I already showed you how to work a Right Leaning Lifted Increase on both knit- and purl-side of your project. That means it’s now time to focus on the Left-Leaning counterparts! The knit-side version of the Left-Leaning Lifted Increase is usually named the somewhat shorter Left Lifted Increase. This is abbreviated as LLI. The purl-side version is called the same, only with “purl” added after it: Left Lifted Increase (Purl) with the abbreviation LLIP. I will focus on the latter in another tutorial.

With left-leaning I mean that the increase leans to the right, relative to the surrounding “normal” stitches. Pair it together with its right-leaning companion to symmetrically increase the number of stitches on your project.

What is a lifted increase?

Basically, it’s exactly how it’s called: an increase that is worked from a stitch below the one just worked on the right-hand needle. This stitch is lifted to be able to work into it.

Materials

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 knit-side Left-Leaning Lifted Increase step by step

1. 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.

2. To make the increase a left-leaning one, we have to lift the left-side of a stitch unto to the needle to work into it. This means we will work the increase 2 stitches below the last stitch knit. In other words: You’re not looking at the stitch below the loop on the needle, but the one below it. I’ve indicated this stitch with the tip of the third needle pictured below.

3. To start the decrease, insert your left-hand needle from back to front into the left leg of the stitch as identified above. Note that the stitch mount is different from usual. The right leg of the stitch is not in front of the needle but in the back.

4. We don’t want to have a twisted result. So, we now untwist the stitch by inserting the right-hand needle into the back loop.

5. Wrap the yarn around the needle…

6. … and pull it through the stitch.

7. Complete the new stitch by slipping the worked stitch off the needle as usual. You have now increased one stitch.

The below picture shows how it looks after 2 more increase rows have been worked. Increases are worked 2 stitches in from both garter stitch edges.

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tutorial – sl1-k2tog-psso left-leaning double decrease

Working a sl1-k2tog-psso left-leaning double decrease

The double decrease as shown in this tutorial reduces 3 stitches down to 1 stitch in a left-leaning way. The sl1-k2tog-psso abbreviation is short for “slip 1 st, knit 2 stitches together, pass the slipped stitch over the knit-together stitches”. You may however also encounter SK2P as an abbreviation for this decrease.

As you may already expect, there are 3 main steps in working this double decrease: sl1, k2tog, and psso. Read on to see how it’s worked.

Materials

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 sl1-k2tog-psso step by step

2. To start, slip the next stitch knitwise from the left knitting needle to the right knitting needle. Unfortunately no picture for this step, I noticed too late that it was totally out of focus…

3. To work the next step, insert the right-hand needle knitwise into the front loop of the next 2 stitches on the left-hand needle.

4. Wrap the yarn around the needle…

5. … and pull it through the 2 stitches.

6. To finish the k2tog part of this decrease, slide the original 2 stitches off the left-hand needle.

7. Now for the third and last part of this decrease, insert the left-hand needle into the slipped stitch …

8. … and pull it over the k2tog and off the right-hand needle to complete the decrease.

And the last step of the sl1-k2tog-psso is done!

The below picture shows how it looks after 2 more decrease rows have been worked.

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tutorial – working a yo

A yarn over (abbreviated as “yo”) is a simple way to increase stitches and deliberately make a little hole in your knitting. On its own, it can be used to add shaping to your knitting project. When combined with strategically placed decreases it makes lace, either as a single design element or as all-over patterning. Yarn overs also have other applications. Think for example off simple buttonholes, when paired with a k2tog decrease.

This tutorial will give you step by step instructions on how to work the “yarn over” 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 yo step by step

I’ve continued with the little swatch I used with my previous tutorial on working the sl2-k1-p2sso centered double decrease.

1. First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the increase. In this case, I will be making the yo increase 2 sts in from each of the garter stitch borders.

2. To make the yo, move the working yarn from the back to the front between the needles and then over the right-hand needle back to the back of the work.

If you’d be wanting to make the yo in reverse stockinette, the working yarn would already be at the front of the work, So, in that case, it would just be a matter of wrapping the yarn over and around the needle, and back to the front of the work.

When wanting to make a yarn over between a knit and a purl stitch or vice versa, you’d have to make adjustments regarding where you’re moving the yarn from and to. The main thing to remember is that you want to wrap the working yarn over and around the needle, before bringing it to the correct position for continuing your knit.

3. And below, you can see how it looks when 2 more rows with yarn over increases have been worked.

And that’s all there is to it!

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tutorial – sl2-k1-p2sso centered double decrease

Working the sl2-k1-p2sso centered double decrease

A centered (or central) double decrease as shown in this tutorial, reduces 3 stitches down to 1 stitch in a symmetrical way. The sl2-k1-p2sso abbreviation is short for “slip two sts, k1 st, pass the 2 slipped sts over the knitted st”. You may however also encounter CDD or S2KP as abbreviations for this decrease.

It results in a strong vertical decrease line that doesn’t slant to either the left or the right. It’s a decrease that’s often used in lace patterns, and for example at the base of a v-neck opening in a sweater. A very useful decrease to have in your knitter’s toolkit!

Read on to see how it’s worked.

Materials

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 sl2-k1-p2sso step by step

2. To start, slip the next two stitches knitwise and together from the left knitting needle to the right knitting needle. Basically as if to knit those two stitches together.

3. The below picture shows how it looks after slipping these two stitches to the right-hand needle.

4. To knit the next stitch on the left-hand knitting needle, first, insert the right-hand needle knitwise into the front loop of the stitch.

5. Wrap the yarn around the needle…

6. … and pull it through the stitch.

7. To finish the knit stitch, slide the original stitch off the left-hand needle.

8. Now for the third and last part of this decrease, insert the left-hand needle into the two slipped stitches …

9. … and pull them over the single knitted stitch and off the right-hand needle to complete the decrease.

The below picture shows how it looks after 2 more decrease rows have been worked. Please note that the bottom half of the swatch pictured shows the kfb increases I showed you in a previous tutorial.

Result of the sl2-k1-p2sso centered double decrease

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