tutorial Archives - Page 8 of 14

tutorial – working a Left Twist

In one of the designs I’m working on, I’m using a lovely intricate stitch pattern from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida. In this particular stitch pattern, a Left Twist stitch is used. So, in this post, I’ll go into the details on how to work this stitch.

The basic characteristic of a Left Twist is that it switches the order of 2 adjoining stitches, one “main stitch” and one “background stitch” to make it appear that the main stitch travels to the left. The background is usually reverse stockinette. The main stitch is usually worked twisted (working the stitch through the back loop) stockinette. This way it pops even more against the background.

The instruction from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible for this stitch consists of the following text:

With RN, go behind first st and p second st without removing it from LN; ktbl first st and slip both off LN.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve tried this, but following the above instruction didn’t give me anything resembling the picture of the worked left twist. It may be due to where I had my yarn or the fact that I knit weird, who knows? Anyway, I did some more research and found that this type of traveling stitch is also used quite a lot in Bavarian knitting. I also found that there are quite some ways it can be worked. Take for example this one from leethalknits.com, the one described in this Interweave article or the elaborate description of methods by Rox over on Ravelry.

Personally, I found just changing the order of the stitches before actually knitting them (as one would do for cabling without a cable needle) to be easiest. So that’s what I will show you in this tutorial.

Materials used

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

Some words about the swatch

In this swatch, I’ve taken part of the stitch pattern in which I encountered the Left Twist stitch. It consists of a k3, p4 rib in which the left-most knit stitch travels across the purl stitches until it joins the next column of knit stitches. As you can see, I’ve already worked one RS row with a Left twist, as well as it’s accompanying WS row.

Working a Left Twist step by step

1. The first 2 stitches on the left-hand needle in the picture below, are the ones we’re going to work the Left Twist over. In other words: we’re going to switch the order of the knit and the purl stitch, to make it appear that the knit stitch travels to the left.

2. First I make sure to move the working yarn to the front of the work since the first stitch to work will be a purl stitch. Next, I grab the yarn directly below the 2 stitches to be switched and pinch down as pictured.

3. Next, I move these stitches off the left-hand needle. Keeping the fabric pinched, makes sure that the stitches won’t ladder down.

4. Then insert the left-hand needle knit wise into the loose stitch on the right to put it back on the needle. Make sure to keep pinching the fabric underneath the other stitch! Especially now we’re placing some stress on the yarn.

5. Now insert the left-hand needle knit wise into the remaining loose stitch and put it back on the needle. This can be somewhat fiddly.

6. Now it’s time to insert your right-hand needle purl wise into the first stitch from the tip of the left-hand needle.

7. Next, wrap your yarn around the needle, pull it through and let the stitch slide of the needle to complete the purl stitch.

8. Next is to work the traveling stitch itself. To make it pop against the background and tighten it up a bit, this stitch is worked through the back loop. So, insert your right-hand needle knit wise into the first stitch from the tip of the left-hand needle.

9. Next, wrap your yarn around the needle, pull it through and let the stitch slide of the needle to complete the twisted knit stitch.

Then what?

On the following wrong side row, work the stitches as they present themselves. In other words: what looks like a knit stitch is knit, what looks like a purl stitch is purled, and the “traveling stitch” itself is purled through the back loop. Below is how it looks after a couple of more rows have been worked. Please note this piece has not been blocked!

Of course, there is also a Right Twist tutorial, you can find that one here.

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 – Russian grafting stockinette

Russian grafting is a method of joining live knitting stitches together. It’s an alternative to the Kitchener stitch and is a quick and easy method for finishing off your knitted piece. In this tutorial, I’ll show you the in’s and outs of using the Russian grafting method to connect 2 pieces of stockinette fabric. Of course, this method has pro’s and cons when compared with the Kitchener stitch, which I’ll go into below.

Pro’s

When using Russian grafting on stockinette, a decorative seam is created on the outside of the work.
No working yarn is necessary, this makes this method, not a “true” grafting method.
When grafting with this method, the stitches of the pieces to be joined align better than with Kitchener stitch grafting. This can be desirable when using patterning.

Con’s

Since Russian grafting is worked by pulling existing stitches through other stitches, there is no way to adjust the tension of the graft.
The seam will be visible if it’s used on a piece of very open lace fabric.

Materials used

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

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.

Russian grafting step-by-step

I’ve made 2 little swatches of stockinette and slipped one of those to another knitting needle, making sure the yarn tail is on the left side. Position the needles as pictured. Now we’re ready to start the actual Russian graft!

Set-up

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle …

2. … and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting stockinette set-up step 2

3. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle ….

Russian grafting stockinette set-up step 3

4. … and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting stockinette set-up step 4

5. Now pull this second stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting stockinette set-up step 5

Repeat

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch …

2. … and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting stockinette repeat step 2

3. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting stockinette repeat step 3

4. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch …

Russian grafting stockinette repeat step 4

5. …and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting stockinette repeat step 5

6. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting stockinette repeat step 6

Repeat steps 1-6 until all stitches have been worked. At this point you will have 1 stitch remaining on the crochet hook:

Russian grafting stockinette result of repeat

To finish the graft, pull the yarn tail through this last stitch to secure it. This was the reason to shuffle the stitches around on one of the swatches, otherwise, we wouldn’t have a yarn tail available.

And that’s how Russian grafting on stockinette is done! The seam is very decorative on its own and could be used as a design element instead of a 3-needle bind-off. Think for example when closing the shoulder seams on a bottom-up sweater.

Russian grafting stockinette, the result

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tutorial – Russian grafting garter stitch

Russian grafting is a method of joining live knitting stitches together. It’s an alternative to the Kitchener stitch and is a quick and easy method for finishing off your knitted piece. In this post, I’ll show you the specifics for Russian grafting garter stitch. Of course, this method has pro’s and cons when compared with the Kitchener stitch, which I’ll go into below.

Pro’s

When used to join garter stitch pieces together, the seam blends in with the garter stitch ridges.
No working yarn is necessary, this makes this method, not a “true” grafting method.
When grafting with this method, the stitches of the pieces to be joined align better than with Kitchener stitch grafting. This can be desirable when using patterning.

Con’s

Since Russian grafting is worked by pulling existing stitches through other stitches, there is no way to adjust the tension of the graft.
The seam will be visible if it’s used on a very open lace fabric, even if it’s garter-stitch-based.

Materials used

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

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.

Russian grafting step-by-step

I’ve read that Russian grafting is a seaming technique commonly seen in patterns for traditional Orenburg shawls with garter-stitch-based lace edgings. For this reason, in this tutorial, I’m showing you how it’s done with the help of a swatch of an applied garter stitch lace border. It’s a miniature version of the edging on my Full Fade Hap.

Since I didn’t have the time to knit it all around the center square I just did the provisional cast-on followed by one repeat on the right in the below picture. On the left, you can see a repeat of the edging plus turning the corner minus the very last row, just as in my Full Fade Hap. The reason I’m omitting this last row is that we otherwise have a row of purl bumps on each needle. When grafted together, this gives a very bulky and visible seam. Without that last row, the grafted seam is much less notable.

Preparation

First is undoing the provisional cast-on on the right piece and placing it on a knitting needle, starting at the body side of the waste yarn. It isn’t visible in this picture, but that’s where the waste yarn chain is, indicating the point where it can be undone easily. Make sure to place the stitches correct (not twisted) on the needle.

Please note that in this example the provisional cast-on was 15 stitches (needed for the lace patterning to start correctly), while there are 16 live stitches on the left (15 from the border and 1 remaining live body stitch). To solve this I picked up an extra stitch at the shawl body side.

Russian grafting garter stitch preparation

I’ve turned everything 90 degrees clockwise. Make sure the right side is facing and the yarn tail is on the left side. Now we’re ready to start the actual Russian graft.

Set-up

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle ….

2. … and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 2

3. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle and slide it off the needle. This is similar to what you did in steps 1 and 2.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 3

4. Now pull this second stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 4

Repeat

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch and slide it off the needle.

2. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 2

3. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 3

4. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 4

Repeat steps 1-4 until all stitches have been worked. At this point you will have 1 stitch remaining on the crochet hook:

To finish the graft, pull the yarn tail through this last stitch to secure it. And there you have it! The seam may seem bulky, but that’s mostly because I’ve used relatively thick yarn here. When using fingering weight yarn at a loose gauge, it will blend in nicely in garter stitch!

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tutorial – working a purl-side right-leaning lifted increase

Tutorial working a purl-side Right Lifted Increase (RLIP)

People usually shape knitwear by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches. There are, of course, lots of different versions possible. In this tutorial, I’ll focus on the purl-side right-leaning version of the lifted increase. If you’re looking for the knit-side right-leaning lifted increase, just click here.

What is a lifted increase?

Basically, it’s exactly how it’s called: an increase that you work from a stitch below the one next on the needle. This stitch is lifted to be able to work into it. The purl-side version is called the same as the knit-side version, only with “purl” added after it. Right Lifted Increase (Purl) with the abbreviation RLIP.

Materials used

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

Needles: * KnitPro Nova Cubics Special Interchangeable Needle Tips, pictured here in the 4 mm (US 6) size, combined with a * KnitPro Purple Single Cable with a length of 100 cm (40 inches).

Working a purl-side Right-Leaning Lifted Increase step by step

I’ve made a little swatch (continuing the same one from the RLI tutorial!) and will be making the increases 4 sts in from the garter stitch border when viewed from the wrong (purl) side.

1. To start, insert your right-hand needle from bottom to top into the horizontal purl bump directly below the first stitch on the left-hand needle.

2. Next, place the lifted stitch on the left-hand needle, making sure that you place it non-twisted. In other words: the left leg of the stitch is behind the needle and the right leg is in front.

3. Now insert the other needle into the front of the stitch as if to purl….

4. … and complete the stitch by wrapping the yarn around the needle, pulling it through and slipping the worked stitch off the needle as usual. You have now increased one stitch.

5. I worked a couple of more rows, with increases on the WS (purl-side) rows only and 4 sts in from the garter stitch edge. This is how the piece looks:

Tutorial working a purl-side Right-Leaning Lifted Increase (RLIP)

Let’s turn the piece around

When turning the little swatch around to see how the RS of it looks, I found this:

Turns out that a purl-side Right Lifted Increase gives a rather lovely left-leaning result when viewed from the right side of the fabric. I’ve searched the internet to see if I could find any more information about it, but alas. So this is for now, good to know though!

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

As you know, the ability to shape your knitting project is a valuable one. Without it, it would be pretty hard to make a sweater fit you right and make anything else than rectangles. Shape knitwear by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches. There are, of course, lots of different versions possible. In this tutorial, I’ll focus on the right-leaning version of the lifted increase.

With right-leaning I mean that the increase leans to the right, relative to the surrounding “normal” stitches. There is also a left-leaning version, which I’ll go into another time. Pair them together 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 next on the needle, which is lifted to be able to work into it. There are, of course, both knit and purl versions. The knit-side version of the Right-Leaning Lifted Increase is usually named the somewhat shorter Right Lifted Increase with the abbreviation RLI.

Materials used

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

Needles: * KnitPro Nova Cubics Special Interchangeable Needle Tips, pictured here in the 4 mm (US 6) size, combined with a * KnitPro Purple Single Cable with a length of 100 cm (40 inches).

Working a knit-side Right-Leaning Lifted Increase step by step

I’ve made a little swatch and will be making the increases 4 sts in from the garter stitch border when viewed from the right (knit) side.

Tutorial knit-side right-leaning lifted increase

1. To start, insert your right-hand needle from back to front into the right leg of the stitch that is directly below the next stitch on the needle.

2. Next, place the lifted stitch on the left-hand needle…

3. … and insert the other needle into the front of the stitch as if to knit.

4. Complete the stitch by wrapping the yarn around the needle, pulling it through and slipping the worked stitch off the needle as usual. You have now increased one stitch.

5. Next work the rest of the row as usual or according to instructions.

6. After I’ve worked a couple of more rows, with increases on the RS (knit-side) rows only, the piece looks like this:

Pretty neat type of increases, right?!

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tutorial – working a Right Twist

Working a Right Twist - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

In one of the designs I’m working on, I’m using a lovely intricate stitch pattern from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida. In this particular stitch pattern, a Right Twist stitch is used. So, in this post, I’ll go into the details on how to work this stitch.

The basic characteristic of a Right Twist, is that it switches the order of 2 adjoining stitches, one “main stitch” and one “background stitch” to make it appear that the main stitch travels to the right. The background is usually reverse stockinette. The main stitch is usually worked twisted (working the stitch through the back loop) stockinette. This way it pops even more against the background.

The instruction from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible for this stitch consists of the following text:

With RN, go in front of first st and ktbl second st without removing it from LN; p first st and slip both off LN.

Materials used

Yarn: Debbie Bliss “Piper” in Magenta. It’s a yarn with a composition of 50% cotton and 50% viscose. It has a great stitch definition, perfect for trying out those intricate Japanese stitch patterns.

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 Right Twist step by step

1. The first 2 stitches on the left-hand needle in the picture below, are the ones we’re going to work the Right Twist over. In other words: we’re going to switch the order of the knit and the purl stitch, to make it appear that the knit stitch travels to the right.

2. To start, insert your right-hand needle knit wise into the back loop of the second stitch from the tip of the left-hand needle to work a twisted knit stitch. The yarn is at the back of the work.

3. Wrap your yarn around the needle…

4. ….and pull it through the stitch.

5. Next we’re going to work the first stitch we skipped before. Since that is a purl stitch we first have to move the working yarn to the front of the work.

6. Now it’s time to insert your right-hand needle purl wise into the first stitch from the tip of the left-hand needle.

7. Wrap your yarn around the needle…

8. … and pull it through the stitch.

9. Now both stitches are worked, slip them from the left-hand needle to complete your Right Twist stitch!

On the following wrong side row, work the stitches as they present themselves. In other words: what looks like a knit stitch is knit, what looks like a purl stitch is purled, and the “traveling stitch” is purled through the back loop. Below is how it looks after a couple of more rows have been worked.

And that’s it! In a new tutorial I’ll go into how to work a Left Twist stitch, stay tuned!

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tutorial – casting on & knitting magic loop

Knitting magic loop - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

When working in the round with lots of stitches, using a circular and just going round and round and round is a relatively easy thing to do. It’s however, a different case when working in the round on a project with a small circumference. With small circumference knitting, it usually just doesn’t work in a circular needle, because the needles and the cables are just too long to accommodate the limited number of stitches.

What exactly is magic loop knitting?

The short description is, that with this method, you pull out a loop of cable of your circular needle to divide your stitches. This is usually done into two equal parts. Once the stitches are divided, you can use the free needle tip to knit across half of the stitches. Next, the project is rotated and the needle pulled through to work the remaining stitches.

Materials used

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

Needles: * Addi Lace Circular Needles, in this tutorial I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 100 cm (40 inches). I would like to advise using at least a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches) to facilitate magic loop knitting.

Magic loop knitting step by step

1. Begin by casting on the required number of stitches for your project. I used the cable or knitted-on cast on in this example. Once this is done, you can continue to the next step. However, doing so directly increases the odds that the cast-on twists around the needle, resulting in a twist in your work when joined in the round. To avoid this, I usually just knit the first “round” of the pattern flat. So, that’s what I also did here!

2. Next, lay the work down on a table in front of you in such a way, that the working yarn is on the right. Make sure that the cast-on edge is not twisted around the needle.

3. Now, move the stitches to the center of the cable and find the middle point in the stitches. If working with an odd number of stitches, no worries: this won’t make that big of a difference. Gently bend your cable and bring it up between the center stitches.

4. Next, pull the cable gently to reposition both sets of stitches on the needles as pictured, instead of on the cable. Make sure the working yarn is near the tip of the needle at the back, in between both needles. For working the first stitch, make sure it runs up between the needle tips for knitting, and for purling that it runs down.

5. To join in the round and to start knitting, grab the needle tip that is at the back and pull it out so the stitches on it slide to the cable. Now is also the time to put a “beginning (or end) of round” stitch marker on this needle tip. This needle tip becomes your right-hand or working needle.

6. Now you’re ready to work your way across the stitches on the left-hand or main needle. Especially with the first few rounds, you can encounter a “gap” at the spot you joined in the round. You can help avoid this by connecting both sides of this gap with a removable stitch marker. It also helps to tighten up the second stitch you work on each needle.

7. Once you worked across these stitches, it will look something like this:

8. Next, turn your work so that the working yarn is on the right again and the former back needle is now in the front.

9. To be able to use the needle that is now in the front as your main (left-hand) needle, we first have to pull the cable connected to the needle tip. This way the stitches slide from the cable onto the needle tip.

10. Again pull out the other (back) needle so that the stitches rest on the cable and the tip can be used as your working (right-hand) needle and work across all the stitches on the main (left-hand) needle.

11. Continue steps 6 to 10 for each round as described in your pattern.

And that’s all there is to it!

After a couple of rounds the work will look something like this:

Knitting a “round” flat before joining in the round, as I described in step 1? Don’t forget to use the yarn tail to sew it closed when finishing your project.

But what about laddering?

Laddering is nothing more than that the stitches are pulling apart a little, if it happens it’s usually where you switch from one needle to the other. As described with step 6, it really cuts down on laddering if you tighten the second stitch when working the stitches on each needle.

The material of the cable of your circulars, however, also has a great influence. The stiffer the cable the more resistant it will be to being fold in half to accommodate magic loop knitting. This means that with a very stiff cable it will actively push apart the stitches on the ends of both needles. The same issue may happen if you’re using a circular needle that is too short. I like my circs to be at least 80 cm / 32 inches. Do try out for yourself what length hits the sweet spot for you!

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tutorial – Kitchener stitch: grafting stockinette

It seems there are 2 distinct camps when it concerns the Kitchener stitch: either you love it or you hate it. Personally, I don’t really understand the hubbub around this technique, it’s a very useful one in certain situations. One just has to know how to do it. And that’s where this tutorial comes in!

But first: what is Kitchener stitch? It’s a method of grafting two sets of live stitches together in an invisible way. It’s often used to seamlessly close the toes of top-down socks, for example. The “seam”, so to speak, is really a new row of stitches that you create using a yarn needle. To do so, the needle is passed through the live stitches of the pieces of knitting to be joined, in a similar manner similar as the direction in which a knitting needle is inserted within a stitch. This can be purlwise or knitwise.

Materials used

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

Darning needle: * Hiya Hiya Darn It Yarn Needle, or any other tapestry needle, threaded with yarn.

Working Kitchener stitch to graft stockinette step by step

Before we start, we have to make sure that the two pieces of stockinette fabric that we will be grafting together, each have the same number of stitches.

Set-up

1. To start, we hold the two needles containing the live stitches parallel to each other, with the wrong sides of the fabric facing inside and the right sides facing outside.

2. Take your darning needle and pass it purlwise through the first stitch on the front needle. Pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

3. Next, thread the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch on the back needle. Again, pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

Repeat

1. Front needle: Pass the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch of the front needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. The below picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped.

2. Front needle: Next, thread the darning needle purlwise through the second stitch on the front needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through.

3. Back needle: Pass the darning needle purlwise through the first stitch of the back needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. Again, the picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped off.

4. Back needle: Next, thread the darning needle knitwise through the second stitch on the back needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through. Gently adjust the tension of the newly made stitches to match the fabric of the pieces you’re grafting together. Be careful not to pull your yarn too tightly!

Repeat steps 1 to 4 until only 1 stitch remains on each knitting needle. This is how it then looks:

Finishing

1. Now insert the darning needle knitwise into the first stitch on the front needle and pull the yarn through, dropping the stitch from the needle.

2. To finish, insert the darning needle purlwise into the first stitch on the back needle. Pull the yarn through and drop the stitch from the needle.

And that’s it! Pretty seamless, isn’t it? The only reason it can be seen as clearly as it is in this example is that I used a contrasting yarn.

Points of attention

If the tension of the new connecting row of stitches is not right yet, you can use the tip of your darning needle to further adjust. Just start at the right edge of the work, where grafting began, and gently pull the various stitches to adjust the tension until it matches the tension of the joined pieces. Also, when moving from front to back needle and vice versa, make sure to pass the working yarn and darning needle underneath the knitting needles, not above them.

Many people use a little rhyme to help remember the various steps that are to be repeated. It goes like this:

Front: Knit off – (knit first stitch on front needle, drop stitch off)
Front: Purl on – (purl next stitch on front needle, leave stitch on)
Back: Purl off – (purl first stitch on back needle, drop stitch off)
Back: Knit on – (knit next stitch on back needle, leave stitch on)

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tutorial – working Judy’s magic cast on

Working Judy's Magic Cast On - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Perhaps you’ve heard about Judy’s Magic Cast On: a truly magic and invisible cast on for toe-up socks. This cast on was first devised by Judy Becker and shared in her article on Knitty. It’s a very clever cast on, as it creates a truly seamless start of your work. As Judy shares in her article, this cast on can be used for a wide range of projects and not just for socks. It can be used for anything that requires knitting in the round and a neat, seamless start.

Since I’m such a fan of this technique, I’m giving you my take on this cast on in this tutorial.

Materials used

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

Working Judy’s Magic Cast On step by step

1. This cast on is worked with both the yarn tail and the working yarn. This means, that to start, we need to estimate a sufficient length of yarn tail. One method to do this is to wrap the yarn around your needle once for every stitch to cast on, and then give yourself approx. 15 cm / 6 inches extra so you’ll have enough to weave in later.

2. Make a slipknot leaving a yarn tail as determined in the previous step and place it around the top needle. Pull to tighten this first loop/cast on stitch. Arrange the yarn in such a way, that the yarn tail is above the top needle and the working yarn is below the bottom needle as pictured.

3. Now move the yarn tail downwards, under and then over the bottom needle and next underneath the top needle to bring it back to its starting position. You now have cast on a loop on the bottom needle.

4. Next, take the working yarn and move it under and then over the top needle and next underneath the bottom needle to bring it back to its starting position. You now have cast on a loop on the top needle.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve cast on the required number of stitches. Take care not to tighten these stitches too much, since this will encourage a little bump to form on each side of the cast on stitches. In this picture, a total of 18 stitches, 9 stitches per needle, have been cast on. (And yes, I really should have used a slightly longer yarn tail….)

Working the first round after the cast on

There are some peculiarities with the first round after the stitches are cast on using Judy’s Magic Cast On. Read on to find out more!

1. Turn the needles so that the bottom needle is now on top and ready to serve as your main (left-hand) needle.

2. Pull out the other needle to place its stitches on the cable and to use the tip as your working (right-hand) needle to knit into all the stitches on the main needle, magic loop style. Make sure that the yarn tail lies between the working yarn and the main needle. This way you can lock the yarn tail in place once you start knitting.

3. Knit the stitches on the main (left-hand) needle. If the first stitch loosens up a bit, just tighten it back up by softly pulling the yarn tail.

4. Next, turn your work so that the working yarn is on the right again.

5. Pull gently on the left-hand cable loop to pull the needle into the stitches and the former bottom needle is now on top and ready to serve as your main (left-hand) needle.

6. Likewise, pull out the other needle to place the stitches just worked on the cable, and to use the tip as your working (right-hand) needle to knit into all the stitches on the main needle, magic loop style.

7. Work the second set of the cast on stitches. Only this time, knit them through the back loop to correct their stitch mount.

The result

Once all the above steps are followed, this is the result. You’re now ready to continue with your knitting in the round (using magic loop) as described in your pattern.

And this is how to work Judy’s Magic Cast On and the first round after casting on!

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tutorial – working a lifted-over knot stitch

Working a lifted-over knot stitch - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

I find myself working more and more of the lovely intricate stitch patterns in the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida. In these stitch patterns, there are a lot of types of stitches that I personally haven’t encountered before. A good reason to make some new tutorials! In this post, I’ll go into how to work a lifted-over knit stitch.

There are, of course, many variations of this type of stitch. They can be worked over 3 to 5 stitches and in any combination of purl and knit stitches, either regularly or through the back loop. What they all have in common, however, is that one of the stitches is lifted over the others, after which the remaining stitches are worked, in combination with a yarn over to bring the number of stitches back to the original number. Characteristic of the lifted-over knot stitch is the horizontal bar that is created by the lifted-over stitch.

In this tutorial I’ll explain the version of the lifted-over knot stitch that is explained in the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by the following text:

Insert tip of RN into the third st; lift it up and over the first two sts and let it drop; k, yo, k.

This particular version is worked over 3 stitches, the 3 that are near the tip of the left-hand needle in the picture below.

Working a lifted-over knot stitch step by step

1. To start, insert your right-hand needle purl wise into the third stitch from the tip of the left-hand needle.

2. Lift this stitch up and pull it over the two stitches nearer to the tip as well as over the needle tip itself. Be careful, this action may pull the other two stitches along and off the needle.

3. Now knit one stitch.

4. Yarn over…

5. … and work another knit stitch to complete the lifted-over knot stitch.

6. In the below picture another row is worked. This reveals the true appearance of this lifted-over knot stitch!

On a side note, in this piece of knitting is more going on than just the lifted-over knot stitch. Tutorials for these other types of stitches will follow!

The yarn used in this tutorial is Debbie Bliss “Piper” in Magenta. It’s a yarn with a composition of 50% cotton and 50% viscose. As you can see, it has a great stitch definition! Perfect for trying out those intricate Japanese stitch patterns.

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