This cast on is basically a series of slip knots placed on your needle. It creates a very elastic edge and is great for the cuffs of socks, mittens, and sleeves plus anywhere else where you want a very stretchy edge. It works especially well with ribbing and adding stitches at the end of a row.
One important point when doing this cast on: you need to get the stitches snugged up close to each other – avoid gaps between the stitches as it will give an untidy looking edge.
Link to video:
Knitted striped socks
I did not really use a pattern for these socks. There are literally thousands of free sock patterns available on the internet, but you really don’t need them if you understand the basics of knitting socks. I started with a gauge swatch and used my foot measurements to determine the number of stitches I needed. The “how to” of this seems to be enough for a separate post, so I will place that in my queue for future topics.
I choose to do a picot hem at the top of the cuff, a 3 by 1 rib for the cuff and instep, a slipped stitched heel flap with a square heel turn. My mentors for these socks were Nancy Bush – I consulted her book “Knitting on the Road” for advice on the square heel and Cat Bordhi, whose book “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles” contains a wealth of information on how to knit socks.
Knitting socks on two circular needles
All of us know the standard bind-off (K2, pass first stitch over, *K1, psso, repeat from * until all stitches are bound off). This is a useful bind-off and it works well for any number of knitting projects where you need a nice firm edge. You can occasionally have trouble with it, however, if you do it too tightly and most of us have experienced the frustration of a too tight bound off edge. Most often to correct this you simply need to bind-off more loosely by pulling your stitches out a little more when doing the passing over of the stitch.
Then, there are those projects where you simply need a much more elastic – or stretchy – bind-off. I discovered a couple of these stretchier bind-offs as I was looking for a different bind-off for my Crazy Zauberball Shawl. And I thought I’d post them here for future reference with some of my notes.
You see, I tried them all in the process of finishing the shawl and ended up doing the standard bind-off anyway because I was at the very end of my yarn and all three of the bind-offs used up more yarn. So, one thing to keep in mind with these more elastic bind-offs is that they are stretchy because they use more yarn.
The Elastic Bind-off
This is a very nice, stretchy bind-off. I will probably use it for toe-up socks and ribbed necklines.
To do the Elastic Bind-off:
Knit first two stitches, then * slip them back onto the left needle.
Then knit these two stitches together through the back loop.
Knit the next stitch and repeat from * until bind off is complete.
Here is a You-Tube video of this bind-off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da40Z_YVr0Q&feature=related
The Lace Bind-off
This bind-off is also known as the Decrease Bind-off. It produces a very nice elastic edge that really looked nice on the edge of my shawl, but it takes about 2-3 times more yarn to complete than the standard bind-off. I would use this bind-off with any lace shawls or scarves.
To do the Lace Bind-off:
Knit together the first two stitches on the left needle, through the back loop.
Then slip the stitch now on the right needle back onto the left needle.
Repeat these two steps until the bind-off is complete.
Good pictures and explanation at Knitty.com. Here’s the link:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATsum06TT.html
Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off
Many sock knitters swear by this bind-off. It does produce a super elastic edge, but I don’t think I would use it on a lace shawl.
This bind-off is nicely explained and demonstrated in an article on Knitty.com. Here’s the link:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php
If you haven’t tried any of these bind-offs, I recommend that you do. It’s always nice to have more than one method of finishing off your lovely knitted item. I’d love to hear from any of my readers about any other bind-offs they like/love to use. Just leave me a comment (and a link if you have one). Thanks!
Happy Knitting.
In previous posts, I have discussed how to use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Percentage System (EPS) to design and knit a sweater and how to modify a written pattern to adjust for changes in sizing and/or gauge. Today, I will briefly describe the process of designing a sweater without a written pattern. I learned this process in depth when I first knitted a sweater using my knitting machine. Knitting garments on a knitting machine requires extensive set-up and calculations before you can even begin to knit. Regardless of whether you are hand knitting or machine knitting – the process and calculations are the same.
As in the previous design techniques, you start with a good set of body measurements and a gauge swatch to determine your stitch and row gauge. You will also need to factor in the amount of ease you wish to have in your completed sweater.
Any sweater has several basic elements: The front & back, the sleeves and the neck. Sweaters come in two basic forms – the pullover and the cardigan. If you take a minute to think through all the sweaters you have seen, you will realize that all of them are some variation of these two basic forms. So, let’s start by breaking down the elements of a basic pullover sweater.
Elements of a Pullover Sweater:
Front Neck – the shaping for the front neck begins below the last row of the shoulder. For women, the depth of the neckline starts 2.5 to 3 inches below the shoulder, for men, the depth is 3 inches to 3.5 inches and for children the depth is 1.5 to 2.5 inches. This depth is entirely a matter of preference. The front neck is shaped as a semi-circle by gradually eliminating stitches on either side of the center front neck stitches. Thus, the center front stitches are placed on hold and then decreases are done on either side of these stitches as you knit up to the shoulders. This shaping will occur concurrently with the armhole shaping
Now let’s look at a basic cardigan sweater.
Cardigans are most often knitted flat – either in separate pieces or in as a one wide piece on a long circular needle. They can be knitted in the round using a steek to separate the two fronts when finishing the sweater. Shaping for armholes and neckline are mirrored for the right and left fronts. In addition, there is a knitted band of fabric that overlaps at the center front – this band can be knitted concurrently with the front using a pattern stitch or can be added to the front by picking up stitches along the center front edge after the front has been knitted.
The calculations for this sweater are essentially the same as for our basic pullover – with the exception of the front. A cardigan sweater has two front pieces that meet and overlap in the center of the garment. This means that each front piece is one-half of the front piece of a pullover sweater, plus some added width for the overlapping parts(buttonbands or borders). In our basic sweater design, you simply add the desired width of the buttonband to each front piece. For example, the front on our pullover measures 40 inches. For our cardigan, each front piece would be half of that or 20 inches and the buttonband would be 2 inches wide: 20 + 2 = 22 inches. My Excel Spreadsheet includes a section on calculating the fronts for a cardigan.
I have created an Excel Spreadsheet for all the calculations required for a basic pullover with a set-in sleeve. Click here to download the spreadsheet: Sweater Calculator.
Using this calculator and your own gauge, you now have all the calculations required to knit your pullover sweater. You can knit this sweater from the top down or from the bottom up. The shaping for a top-down sweater is done in the reverse order of a bottom-down sweater.
Terms of Use: You may electronically copy and print to hard copy portions of the spreadsheet for the sole purpose of using materials it contains for informational and non-commercial, personal use only. Any other use of this spreadsheet — including any commercial use, reproduction for purposes other than described above, modification, distribution, republication, display, or performance — without the prior written permission of Lindy’s Knits & Laces is strictly prohibited.
Today I have briefly outlined the basics of designing your own sweater using two basic sweater designs. From these two basic designs, you can create a sweater according to your own measurements out of any weight yarn. I recommend you give it a try. Listed below are some references for your further exploration – I have only scratched the surface of this topic. Happy Knitting.
If you find this post and/or my spreadsheet helpful , please leave me a comment. Thanks!
For further exploration – check out these sources:
Maggie Righetti, Sweater Design in Plain English
Leslye Solomon, The Uncomplicated Knitting Machine
Deborah Newton, Designing Knitwear.
Barbara G. Walker,Knitting from the Top Down.
Vogue Knitting
