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Tightening up!

24/8/2015

Probably the number one question that knitters ask me, is how to tighten up the last double-stitch when working German-Short-Rows in the round. This final turning point from the last short row - the last double-stitch to be worked when starting knitting in the round again - is slightly turned to the other side and ends up big and funny looking when it's knit as usual.

I don't have any mysterious, innovative and smart method to show you this time, but I can tell you what I usually do:
There are two ways I use to "eliminate" those ugly stitches - one employed during knitting and one other I often use to improve the look of all big stitches, not only short-row related ones, after the project is ready.
Sometimes I do both, if needed - sometimes one is enough.

1. To immediately diminish the size of the last double stitch during knitting, work this double-stitch as usually in the next round and then stop before knitting the next stitch. Take a closer look to the area. On the left needle there are many small stitches all cramped up together, since two short rows are coming out of the big double-stitch. On the right we can see that normal sized stitches continue on the same row like our fat stitch - so in this case it is probably the best idea to work towards the left to even out this stitch and give the extra slack where it is needed more.

Insert the right needle (or an extra DPN needle if it's easier to handle) into the right leg of the stitch, that is positioned 2 rows below the first stitch on the left needle (as shown above)...

Now pull this right leg out towards you.
It is often helpful to hold the left leg of the stitch in place with your thumb, so that the extra yarn will come from the big double-stitch and not the left side of the small stitch.
Pull firmly but don't go too wild - just enough to have pulled out a nice length and to have reduced the huge double-stitch in size, because that's what we want to do in this case: Manually transporting yarn from one stitch to the other.

This surplus length of yarn needs to be distributed evenly now: Insert the needle in the left leg of the same stitch and bring the extra length of yarn to this side of the stitch.
Again without using too much force, carefully and slowly.
Continue in this fashion to the next stitch on the left and pull first on it's right leg, until the excess length of the yarn has been pulled out and the stitch to the right looks even tensioned again, then on the left leg again.

Work like this towards the left, stitch for stitch and carefully move the extra yarn from one stitch to the other and let the yarn travel to the side in this way. The idea here is to try to pull out a tiny bit less excess while working each stitch, so that your pulled-out loop gets smaller each time because every stitch "absorbs" a small fraction of the excess until it is all gone. You don't want to end up with all the length on the left side of your double-stitch and just transport the huge stitch itself from one side to the other.
What you need is to have this extra loop of yarn distributed all over the 3-5 stitches towards the left, or until it isn't visible anymore (it doesn't need to look perfect at this stage).

Finally the big double-stitch has just lost some of it's size and the tiny stitches next to it have grown, making them all nearly even:

On the picture on the right, where I have continued knitting about 4 stitches more, you can see clearly that the big double-stitch has been transformed into a normal sized stitch, while the extra length of yarn has been "incorporated" into the smaller stitches to the left, making those stitches larger in size and the difference between all of them less pronounced.

There are other methods where you are working this last short row stitch differently as the others before, to "make it behave" (sometimes by knitting each leg of the ds together with other stitches, for example).
I am personally not a big fan of this idea - even if it might be quicker to work. It can distort the stitch more if not done right, make the fabric pull in at that point instead of letting the natural flow of the stitches open up during blocking, leave the smaller stitches in their tiny misery or add bulk to a section where we want to keep things nice and flat.

Next step: Blocking
This probably is a logical suggestion, but sometimes we forget how the process of soaking, washing and letting air-dry a garment (or steaming, for the more experienced knitters) can not only change the whole look of our garment, but also helps wonders with letting the yarn bloom and even out those problematic stitches.
So, in the case that the result wasn't perfect after working the above tip, blocking will make a big difference - since we never disrupted the natural flow of the stitches.

DrawingStraws pattern by La Maison Rililie Designs

2. Eliminating larger stitches, even after having completed the project:
Good news is that you can manually repair the tension to get rid of all big, distorted stitches in your knitting - not only the short row double stitches discussed here - but also when you have strange laddering going on in magic loop knitting, strange holes near the underarm cast-on in top down knitting or the occasional giant stitch making an appearance.
If you already have finished and blocked your project and you still want to get rid of any stitch that looks too big, or if you still find that the above tip didn't yield a perfect result, even after blocking, this "Post-Production" process will surely be of interest:

You will need a smaller sized needle, good lighting and some patience to make this work:

Take a look at your knitting to find out if it's better to move the extra yarn to the left or to the right of your holey stitch (or towards both directions, if possible).
Then just follow the same logic as described before: Insert the needle in the right leg of the stitch, carefully pull the excess length out and continue to the left leg of the same stitch, thus transporting and distributing the excess yarn to the next stitches of the same row until the extra loop disappears.

I find that we knitters sometimes forget that we are just working with sticks and a long length of string, which makes up a fabric of interlocked loops. A fabric that one can influence at any given time by shifting the amount of length in the finished surface - during but also after knitting.
This fact actually opened up a whole new way of thinking to me; on how to handle my knitted fabric and to understand a lot of things about the flow of the stitches in knitting.

As I said the logic behind all of this is really simple - too simple maybe and not at all dramatic - but it does the trick every time: With just a little patience and an even tension, all "non-conform" stitches, ugly double-stitches or other unwanted distortions in our knitting can be successfully remedied and persuaded into shape.

DrawingStraws pattern by La Maison Rililie Design

This post-production method might probably be an annoying idea to some (as most finishing work in knitting) - but it is one way that will lead to a sure and risk-free success and in case you didn't get it right the first time you can always go back and change things up at a later stage. The important thing for me is that the final fabric of my project can look flawless - even if I didn't notice the problematic area in the first place.

I am sure that this isn't the only way to eliminate this kind of problematic stitches - it is the way I prefer for years now and I am very happy with it because it allows me the freedom to repair any unevenness that might have escaped me during knitting.
But maybe you have another method that works better for you?

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So, when I was in school...

10/8/2015

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Twin-Needle long-tail CO, www.lamaisonrilililie.com

... our crafts-teacher showed us a very cool and simple method for a looser long-tail cast on.
It allows you to work the first row easily without fighting to insert your needle in some tightly wound CO stitches .
I just remembered this recently (together with some other not-so-useful school memories) and thought that maybe not everybody is familiar with this easy trick to achieve a friendly start to their knitting. So I thought I'll share this "fond memory" especially for the ones that love the look of the long-tail cast on, but never get it to be elastic enough...

There is really not much to it in terms of technique - you just need your normal set of tools: a pair of knitting needles and your yarn (the cute Cath Kidston needle-case is optional).
To showcase this method I dug up my beautiful wooden straight needles, which I sadly rarely use nowadays...
It's all gotten circular in the knitting world of today!

Hold the two needles together- parallel to each other - and just start casting on as you normally would.
Even if it feels funny at the beginning you'll soon get used to it and forget that it's two needles that you are holding in your hand instead of one.
As I said, it's really simple!

At the end you can see that each casted on loop is double the size than if you would have used the one needle only.

After having cast-on all of your stitches you need to very carefully pull one needle out of the loops in a backward motion.
It's better to hold the needle tip of the second needle in place with your other hand while doing so, to keep any stitches from falling off.
(If the needles sit too tight in there you can just wiggle them a little bit to give them some room).

And there you go: The needle that is left inside your knitting is now holding a nice set of loose stitches - that are big, open and stretchy and ready to be worked into.

It's easy to knit this very first row of stitches - even if you are knitting tightly. You will see what I mean when you try this out.

And the edge that has been formed at the Cast-On looks as neat as usually in the long-tail method, especially after having worked some more rows. It is not that incredibly stretchy as some others I guess, but it is quite elastic and beautiful - and still quick and easy!

Well - that was all there is actually...
You could of course do your cast on a needle that is at least 2 sizes bigger instead of the Twin-Needle thing to make a stretchier cast-on, but since we all have a set of 2 straight needles (or 2 needle tips in the case of circular needles) it is a handy trick and you don't need to search for bigger ones - besides, you'll get the added bonus of having loose stitches to work into in your first row.

Apropos circulars:
If you use long circulars for a smaller project you can "fold" them in half and use the two needle tips as the straight pair above. Just make sure that you don't loose the stitches when you try to get the one needle-tip out of them by pulling on the cord end... for larger projects this might get very fiddly!
You theoretically need a cord that is a little longer than double the length of the casted on stitches to accommodate them when folded in half, so this is why an extra pair of circular needles in the same needle-size would probably be a better idea for a larger project (and much easier to pull out of the CO after it's done).

This Twin-Needle system is producing a kind of an elongated, oval needle tip and not a round one - so your loop is long while the stitch underneath rests still neat and less bulky - that's really a detail though and probably too much of information.

So there goes today's school-memory of yore, not at all appropriate during the holidays, I am afraid...
It's horrible, but I don't even remember my craft-teacher's name!
I do remember what she taught us though, I hope that counts for something...