Tip of the week: Casting on with double pointed needles

Hand knit sock season is definitely on the way so the next few tips are intended to help.

Your preference for what needles you use to work on on small items in the round, like socks, will depend on your knitting style. Some people like using magic loop with a long circular, some small circulars and some like me will be more comfortable with double pointed needles. 

However, the idea of having more than two needles on the go can be off-putting.

Casting on is no different to any other piece of knitting - you cast all your stitches on to a single needle. There is no need to try to hold extra needles before you're ready to start your first round. 

Next divide your stitches evenly between three (or four) needles by slipping the stitches from one to another.
 

 
Arrange your needles into a triangle (or square for four needles) so that your first cast on stitch is the first one on the left needle. The last cast on stitch is at the tip of the right needle. Slip the last cast on stitch to your left needle. Lift the first cast on stitch over the first one and slip to the right needle. Your stitches are now joined in the round. Now pick up your fourth (or fifth) needle and start knitting along the left needle from your join.

Then keep going in the round.

Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

Sewing up and more upcoming classes

I have a number of classes coming up at The Yarn Dispensary in Faversham over the next couple of months. Starting with something I think is a very important skill – joining your knitting with confidence. We’ll be practising mattress stitch, three needle bind offs and grafting/Kitchener stitch to help you finish your projects beautifully.

• 22 March - Finishing your Knits - Sewing up and joining your projects
• 12 April – Learn to Knit Socks
• 26 April – Introduction to Knitting Cables
• 10 May - Adding beautiful edgings to your knits

The Yarn Dispensary is a beautiful, friendly yarn shop housed in a historic building in the centre of Faversham, Kent. Faversham is just over an hour by train from London Victoria and St Pancras stations and is well worth a visit in itself. You could combine a class, with exploring the historic town, browsing the market and seeing a copy of the Magna Carter (for free just across from the shop).

Browse and book my upcoming workshops at the shop, here.

 

I knit fast but...

I’ve seen a number of posts lately from people feeling inadequate or not a “proper knitter” because they knit slowly or at least more slowly than other people they see.

Because of this they take longer to finish items than their friends or, more likely, people they see online.

As a very fast knitter, who finishes a items regularly, I don’t what to be part of the problem.

I knit fast but you don’t have to to be a “proper knitter”.

There are various reasons for my speed. Firstly, I don’t remember learning to knit which means I was very young when I started and I’m in my 50s now. So that’s half a century of practice, especially as I’ve always had at least one project on the go at all times since my mid teens.

Then as a knitting tutor, I have put a lot of thought and research into understanding and refining my knitting technique. I’ve found a style that suits me combined with knowledge about what needles work for me with what yarns and projects.

And then there are deadlines. I design regularly for magazines, so I have deadlines to hit. I love knitting but it is also part of my working day so I plan periods of knitting into my daily plan. For example, this afternoon I am writing in approx 45 minute blocks, alternating with 15 minutes of shawl knitting (about 2 rows on the current sample). On another day, I might dedicate the afternoon to intense sleeve knitting. Plus my mantra is pretty much: if I’m sitting, I’m knitting.

But you don’t need to do any of that if you don’t want to.

It doesn’t matter if you knit all day, every day or you manage a few rows at a knitting group once a week – YOU ARE A PROPER KNITTER.

Also it doesn’t matter to anyone but you when you finish something. As knitters we are supposed to enjoy the process of making – if you make more slowly, you are probably getting a lot of enjoyment from each stitch.

So relax and go at your speed and feel good about it. You’ll probably make fewer mistakes that way too.

Getting on the right side of your knitting

In the various online knitting spaces I frequent I’ve come across a couple of interesting discussions on what “right side” means in a knitting pattern.

It’s a tricky one because the phrase can be used in two separate ways – in terms of the outward facing part of your finished item or it could refer to the right hand side of a garment (which can be tricky in itself -see below).

Right and wrong sides, and front and back

In knitting patterns you will often see rows referred to as “right side” and “wrong side” rows. Usually this means the side the pattern is intended to show on and the side that would be on the inside of a garment or reverse of a scarf.

This is easy to understand if you are doing stocking stitch (the smooth side is the right side) or Fair Isle (the strands or floats are on the wrong side) but can be harder to see in other stitch patterns. And if you are doing a stitch pattern that is effectively double-sided, you may need to decide that the right side is facing you either when working the odd or the even numbered rows and put a marker in place to remind you.

The right side of your knitting in not the same as the front in most patterns. Front usually refers to the side of your knitting facing you on that particular row. In other words if you are told to bring the yarn to the front, you want it to be between you and your knitting. If it should be at the back, the yarn should be behind your knitting as you hold it at that moment.

Right-hand side

Then there are the times when right side means the right hand side of the finished item. Sounds simple but it can be confusing. If you are knitting the front of a garment is stocking stitch, when you are on the knit row (ie with the smooth/right side facing), the stitches to the left of your work will be the ones forming the right hand seams of your finished piece.

Yep, now your brain is feeling the strain.

My approach to working out what the right hand and left hand parts of your piece are is to think about where sleeves will attach. Your right arm will go the right sleeve so the side where the right sleeve will attach will be the right-hand side of the body. So if you are ever feeling confused, spread your work out so you can see the shape and think about where your sleeves would go.

These discussions have really made me think about how much I use these terms in patterns and how to make what I mean as clear as possible.

Your goldilocks cast-on and other options

Do you have a favourite cast-on? The one that’s not too tight, not too loose, with a bit of elasticity (but not too much) and gives an edge you like. Just right like Goldilocks and the bears’ porridge.

Some people’s goldilocks cast on is the first one they ever learned. It works for them and they don’t have a good reason to change it. Other knitters will have tried several or have strong views on why they use the cable cast on rather than long tail or vice versa. Personally, my cable cast on is neater than my long-tail so that’s my “just right” option. But that doesn’t mean it will be yours – we’re back to different options suiting different hands again.

 

While your goldilocks cast-on will be great for most of your projects there will be times when you need something a little different. With 30 to 40 cast on methods to try. It can be worth experimenting with a few specialised ones – there are plenty of resources including books and videos to help. I'm a fan of a useful little book called Cast On Bind Off by Leslie Ann Bestor

Swatching your cast on

When (if) you make a tension square or swatch a knitting idea, do you think about your cast on at all?

It’s most likely that you give the cast on little more thought than as a way to getting to the gauge test. But if you are working on a new stitch or type of project, or trying a new yarn, it can be useful to knit a few rows in the edging pattern to see if your cast on is right. For example, some cast ons could be too tight or loose for the ribbing on a sock. Or pull too tight for a lace section.

When do you need a different cast on?

Among the times you might need to test and change your cast on include the neck of a top-down sweater, the cuff or a sock or a shawl that starts with a lace section that will be blocked.

The first two examples, the neckband and the sock cuff, are times when you might need more stretch in your cast on than usual. Luckily, there are plenty of stretchier cast-ons, including “alternating” versions for both the popular long-tail and a cable cast ons. These are versions where you cast on in rib, alternating the usual “knit” version of the cast on with a purl variation.

For the lace project, it may be worth swatching your pattern with your normal cast on and with one that can come out a bit loose such as the thumb (or backward loop) method or the basic knit on cast on. I find these cast ons can be a bit loose compared to my knitting tension so on a garment they’d give me an untidy edge but for a section of lace I am going to aggressively block out, that slack could be useful.

Other cast on types

Provisional cast ons – for example the crochet cast on. These are cast ons that allow you to “release” stitches from the start of your work to be knitted later. They are useful in lace and in some top down projects.

Decorative cast ons , such as a picot cast on and the Old Norwegian cast on, can give a different look to the edge of your work.

Multicolour cast ons create braided or contrasting edgings – great options for colour work hats and gloves.

Once you start building your cast on repertoire, you will find lots of interesting options but this doesn’t mean you will abandon your original goldilocks cast on. This is workhorse choice that will still be a good choice for much of your knitting. But you’ll have more choice and more confidence about knowing when your cast on is doing what you need.

New magazine pattern: Anika yoked top

Knitting magazine issue 227 is out and it's all about texture.

I've a couple of patterns and tutorial in it but today I'm just showing you Anika.

 

This short-sleeved 4-ply top is worked bottom-up in the round on the body and sleeves which then join for the yoke (don't ask about working out yoke shaping for 10 sizes!).

 

It features a slip-stitch texture pattern which is easy to work but very effective. I used Cascade Yarns Heritage for this which means a vast range of colour combinations - and as mention above the pattern offers 10 sizes. But any nice plain 4-plys would work for this - or perhaps a variegated for the contrast.

 

I'll share the other design later in the week.

Tip of the week: Use your previous cables as a guide

Once you have decoded your cable instructions and established the first few rows of your project, you have already knitted yourself a quick cheat sheet.

If you reach the next cable in your pattern and have a sudden blank about whether your cable needle needs to be held at the front or the back, look down your work at the cables below to find an equivalent one. Look at the cable you are about to knit - if you have the cable needle at the front, will your stitches cross in the same way as before? If yes, your cable needle is in the right place. For visual learners, this can be a lot more help than reading the cable instructions again.

In general, look at the patterns you cables form at you knit - they make a clear picture on your work, so it should be easy to spot a mistake like the one picture above. Also once your cable pattern is established compare it to the pictures in your pattern. 

This idea of stopping, from time to time, and looking at how any pattern is developing is a good idea for any project. If it doesn't look right, it may well not be.

Tip of the week: Decoding cable patterns

When I talk to people about why they are intimidated by starting a cable project the answers is often that the terminology or abbreviations seem so complicated. They seem surprised when I say that all cables use the same basic steps:

1. Put a given number of stitches on cable needle.
2. Hold the cable needle to the back or front of the work as instructed.
3. Knit or purl a given number of stitches from your main needle.
4. Knit or purl the stitches from your cable needle.

The result is a set of stitches that cross each other.

 

The key to cable knitting is understanding the number of stitches that go on the cable needle, whether it goes to the back or front and what you knit or purl for each type of cable in the pattern. This can seem like a massive puzzle because there are so many different ways that cables are written in patterns.

However, whatever coding system has been used the pattern abbreviation key should tell you what to do for each one. To be honest, it there isn't a key telling you that, I would be inclined to find a new pattern.

There are lots of cable notation systems. My preferences is for the version that includes writing the abbreviations for example as C8B and Tw4F. Here the the "C" generally indicates that you are working all the stitches in your cable in the same way, the number is how many stitches in total are used in the cable and the B means the cable needle is used to the back. Tw means you will knit some stitches and purl others and F is holding the cable needle to the front.

So C8B could be written as "place 4 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit 4 sts, knit 4 from cable needle". BUT even if you think it means that double check - it could mean place 5 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit 3 sts, etc.

Tw3F is likely to be "place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the front, purl 1, knit 2 from cable needle. You can see this type of cable on the upper right of the diamond in the picture above. As you can see it slopes to the left which is why you may see it abbreviated to Tw3L.

If your pattern uses a notation you don't like, it is worth writing out a translation list where you note down how you would think of each cable so you can refer to it until you are sure you are getting your pattern right. 

My cable knitting used to regularly be accompanied by what we might call "strong language" as I dropped or realised I'd lost my cable needle for the hundredth time..

I love cable patterns, but I was driven to distraction by how easy it was to lose a cable needle or for it to drop out of my stitches at just the wrong moment.

Then I found my first kinked cable needle.

The bend in the middle means you can let it angle from your stitches if necessary when working your cable and it doesn't escape. No more manipulating your other needles while grasping the the cable needle in a death grip.

It will also stay firmly in whatever piece of knitting you poke it through. I have come home from a supermarket shop and discovered one still securely sitting in the shoulder of the sweater I was wearing. I'd only stuck it there for a moment while I answered the phone earlier!

Sometimes there are really simple solutions that make a big difference.
 

If you want to practice your cables, you could try the Low Tide Scarf