Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

I think reversible lace looks especially nice with one-color Italian cast-on, incorporated i-cord selvedges, and tubular bind-off. It is a little tricky to transition between the cast-on and the i-cord and between the i-cord and the bind-off. Some of the maneuvers demonstrated in the videos might also work for transitioning between other cast-ons and bind-offs. If you are using an even-number of stitches in the i-cord, then you can cast-on with knit-purl pairs when working Italian cast-on. For odd-numbers of stitches in the i-cord, you'll need to start with a purl rather than a knit. Notice, too, you can use a cable needle to rotate stitches to make them more knit-like or purl-like, as you need. When transitioning to a tubular bind-off, work the same maneuvers you did to transition into the i-cord, but work those steps in reverse. A tubular bind-off to match Italian cast-on takes two "rows": Row 1: alternate knit 1, slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front. The knits wi...

One difference between beginning knitters and intermediate or advanced knitters is that novice knitters tend to only know only one or two cast-ons. A good cast-on can make an edge look professional, well-crafted. A poor match between cast-on and fabric can make a project look amateurish, even if the knitter has correctly executed the directions. For 1×1 ribbing — and, therefore, reversible lace — I like the look of one-color Italian cast-on. When worked in two colors, the cast-on can be used for double-knitting. It also works well for brioche knitting. Notice that the maneuvers are essentially the same as knits and purls. Stitches are cast-on in knit-purl (or purl-knit) pairs, which is why this cast-on does not work well for plain stockinette. To cast-on a knit stitch: duck the right needle front to back underneath the front yarn, wrap the back yarn as you would when making a knit stitch Continental style, bring the yarn forward as if pulling up a knit stitch. To cast-on a ...

Yesterday's post was about the holes in knitted lace. Today's post is about the partners of those holes  — decreases. If you just keep making yarn-overs in your work, the work will widen. If you want the fabric to stay the same width throughout, then the yarn-over holes/increases need to be balanced/offset with decreases. A "basic" lace pattern typically has the decreases and the yarn-overs on the same row. A really basic lace pattern has action only on right-side rows. Thus, the same number of stitches are on the needle at the end of every row, whether right-side or wrong-side. A more advanced lace pattern may have action on both right-side and wrong-side rows. Or it may have rows with non-balanced yarn-overs. Or it may have both. The decreases that balance the yarn-overs do not have to be on the same row with their yarn-overs. Many beautiful lace patterns with rippling or scalloped edges are created using this method. But, these patterns can be trickier to work be...

Knitted lace is knit fabric with holes in it on purpose. The easiest way to make a stable hole in knitting — cutting the fabric would be an un stable hole — is to make a yarn-over. Yarn-overs and holes in general tend to be reversible by their very nature. Sweet! When working reversible lace on 1×1 ribbing, you'll need to substitute a yarn-over with a double yarn-over. The notation for that can be yo2 or yo 2 or even (yo)×2. Whatever way it is written, it means wrap the yarn not once but twice around the needle. Alternatively, you can just wrap very loosely if you prefer to wrap only once. When you come to the yarn-over hole on the next row or round, you'll need to create two stitches from it rather than one. Since the base fabric for reversible lace is 1×1 ribbing, work knit 1, purl 1 into the yarn-over hole. Interestingly, it is knit 1, purl 1 whether you are working back and forth or in the round. If you have a lace pattern that uses dramatic increases, such as k1-y...

I started off 2016 with a post about double-knit lace . If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know one of my interests is reversibility, hence my obsession with double-knitting. But what if you don't want to double-knit? There are some patterns that are inherently reversible, such as garter stitch, seed stitch, balanced ribbing, or lace faggoting. What if you wanted to move beyond that narrow category? Lily Chin showed we can work reversible cables by simply cabling 1×1 or 2×2 ribbing. What if you did the same thing with lace? What would happen if you worked a lace pattern over 1×1 ribbing? And how would you do it? It turns out that stockinette-based knit lace is surprisingly easy to convert to reversible lace. This works on the same principle as ribbles — 1×1 ribbing draws in and resembles stockinette on both sides of the fabric. This also has the same caveat as ribbles —purl stitches are not easily accommodated. Patterns where all the right side rows include onl...

I didn't blog about STITCHES South 2015 (8 months ago). The show moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Nothing wrong with Nashville, but that means I have to drive four hours and stay overnight adding significant hassle and expense to the endeavor. On the other hand, Alasdair Post-Quinn was on the schedule! (He is also on the schedule for 2016.) I teamed up with a friend from Atlanta Knitting Guild and attended overnight Friday into Saturday. The one class I took was "Double-Knitting Lace and Openwork." I was thrilled to be able to take this class advanced class and to meet Alasdair. If you are an advanced knitter and are looking for new challenges, this class could be just the thing. And truth be told, I did mess up my swatch a bit in class as I was learning. But this is knitting! I came home, unraveled the swatch, and re-knit it to practice the techniques. The swatch Alasdair had us knit provides three examples of different ways to approach the combination of lace and doub...