Pick up Stitches

In which I illustrate picking up stitches along the front edge of the neck.


I am holding the yarn beneath/behing the neck edge and drawing a loop through to place on the right-hand needle. On the next row I will knit these stitches so that they are twisted because they tend to be a bit loose otherwise :-)

Recovered and on a Roll

I ripped back the bottom ribbing and re-did it in stockinet for a rolled edge. Now I am using a crochet hook MUCH bigger to cast off with, I find the hook helps to pull the stitches through and the bigger size means my edge will not be too tight.

Progress or Knot?

I will finish, I will finish, I will finish:



Observe the curling rib at the bottom - I need to rip back and decrease ten per cent before ribbing, or make it longer,or rip back and do a different edge. Think I will rip back and do a rolled edge. I could do seed stitch which would look cute in the variegated yarn, but I don't want to think that much :-)

Notice that I have put the neck stitches on a needle - need to attach yarn and pick up the rest of them.

Ready for Sleeves

Here is my little crescent of knitting - ready to separate into body and sleeves.


I'm using smaller yarn and needles than the pattern calls for, so I knit until the armhole depth was correct to the size I am making. Now I will get a couple pieces of string to use the provisional cast-on for the underarms. When I am ready to sew or graft the underarm together this will mean I can do it without picking up stitches so there won't be a ridge.



Without the sleeve stitches, I had to switch back to a smaller needle. Now I am going to work around on the body stitches until this ball of yarn runs out :-)



I often find a long wonky piece of yarn where I have started (and ended) casting on stitches. The one in the photo is an inch long so I am going to put a twist in it and put that loop on the left needle. Next I will knit it together with the first stitch, decreasing it away.

It's Not to Late to Join the Fun!

Several people have asked if it is too late to join our KnitAlong and the answer is - Welcome!

Some people have not started yet, some of us are poking along, and a few speedy folk are already finished - and some are starting their second sweater - WOW.

If you don't see you name on the list to the right, let me know and I will add you.

Remember - this is not a competition - life has a way of surprising us with one of two things - more time or less time. Hopefully we will all learn something along the path :-)

How Are We Doing?

Who has finished?
Who hasn't started yet?
Who has questions?

If you can't post to the comments because you are not a member of Blogger, let me know and I will make you a member of this blog :-)

Answers to the comments:
Kellie asked about the part of the pattern where you put stitches on hold - this is where the sleeves and the body become seoarate tubes. You need to make sure the underarm depth is comfortable at this point. It may help to measure a garment that fits the way you want this one to fit.

Smidget asked about the overall length - the pattern will specify a total length for your garment - remember, YOU are the architect. Make it as short or as long as YOU want :-)

She also asked if you have to do the hem treatment specified in the pattern because she does not like rolled hems. Once again - YOU get to decide :-) You can do ribbing or seed stitch or any other stitch that doesn't roll if you don't want a rolled edge.

Judi says her sweater is too small and thinks she should go up a size - if it isn't too late, instead of going up a size, you could just keep increasing (unless it is LOTS too small :-) If you keep increasing, try it on again in a few inches and see if it is the size you want. Your numbers will not match the pattern at this point as far as how many stitches are between the markers, but you can see which part is which when you are ready to separate the body from the sleeves. Better than starting over :-)

Anon. asked about a color jog in the middle of her neckline - feel free to move the start of row over to someplace less obvious like the side of the neck. Yes you will have a little section of ribbing that has one more row than the rest but, I promise you, the Knitting Police will not fine/find you. And you will like the look much better!

Steph asked how we have so much time to knit - my answer is No Kids, No Pets, and a well-trained husband :-) Plus I watch TV every night - prime knitting time.

Anon. asked about sleeve decreases because she wants to make her sleeves longer. The pattern is telling you to decrease every 6th(5th,5th,4th,3rd) round (whichever size you are doing) and then says to space them further apart to lengthen the sleeves. In other words, if you are doing the decreases every 5th row, do them every sixth or seventh row and you will have more rows between decreases which will add rows to the length of your sleeve. I have thin arms and like really long sleeves so I usually do the decreases as the pattern specifies and then just add length at the end.

The Magic of Short Rows

Short Rows are used to create dimensional knitting - it can add either curves or depth to flat knitting. They are not usually included in patterns because every body needs them in a different place. You may or may not choose to add them to your sweater - but read along and decide for yourself :-)

The human figure is not flat, even though our clothing often is - to shape clothing and make it more flattering (or just plain more comfortable), short rows - just like darts in the sewing world - can be used to add roundness for the bust, stomach, and upper back of a garment while maintaining the same distance at the sides. In other words, a piece might have 20 rows at the edges and 30 rows in the middle - Huh?

This photo has three sets of short rows:

The are 18 MORE rows in the center than on the sides, causing it to arch. See how we get short row heels on socks - we knit a little pouch like this for the base of the heel. This is only one of many shapes you can create with short rows.

The Short Row Exercise

I really want you to do this little sample so you will understand short rows - it won't take long - I promise :-)

With smooth yarn and appropriate needles - my samples are done with dishcloth cotton - cast on twenty stitches.

1. knit across the row - 20 stitches. Turn and

2. purl across the row - 20 stitches. Turn and

3. knit 18 stitches. Stop - breath - you have two stitches left unknitted. They will be staying right where they are.

4. Turn your knitting around so you are holding it facing the purl side. There are two stitches on your right needle and 18 on the left. The little gap between the right and left needle is where a hole "may" develop as you work short rows. This little opening is what people are trying to prevent by wrapping or using yarn overs while short rowing. We are not going to worry about it - this is my We Don't Need No Stinkin' Wraps Method of short rowing. So - slip the first stitch purlwise - tighten the yarn around the neck of this stitch as much as you can. Knit the next stitch. Stop here and look at your work from the front (knit) side.


The picture shows the two unworked stitches on the left, then the little gap, then the slipped stitch, then a knit stitch. Flip back to the purl side (we were just visiting the front, not doing anything.) Purl 14 stitches - stop. You should have two stitches remaining on the left needle. They will be staying right there. Turn your work and

5. Slip the first stitch (purlwise so it stays seated on the needle the same way), knit 13 stitches - stop. We are going to turn again. Notice you have four stitches on the left needle. We will be leaving two more stitches behind each time we turn. Two stitches is an arbitrary number - it could be five, it could be ten - it depends on how steep you want your curve to be.

Note: In the T-Top pattern I want to hide my turn between a knit and a purl (we are doing k2p2 ribbing) because the stitches are often a bit looser there anyway. YOU decide where you want to position them because YOU will always be the one adding them to a pattern.

6. Turn, slip the first stitch purlwise. Tighten the yarn. Purl 11 stitches. Stop - there are 4 stitches on the left needle. Turn.

7. Slip the first stitch. Knit nine stitches. Stop. Turn.

8. Slip one, purl seven. Stop. Turn.

At this point there are six unworked stitches at each end of the row. Having done enough short rows for our example, we are returning to regular knitting.

9. Knit all 13 stitches, pulling your yarn as tightly as possible as you knit across the last seven stitches. You should have all 20 stitches on your right needle. Turn.

10. Purl across the row, knitting tightly across the last seven stitches. You have purled across all 20 stitches.

Turn and work an additional four rows in stockinette - knit on the front, purl on the back.

Notice the loose/larger stitches where I turned . . . I can fix them the same way I fix ANY loose stitches in my knitting - by pulling up the looseness and distributing it across the row (washing and blocking will further hide any looseness.)

I've hooked the loose stitch with an extra needle and pulled the loose yarn up into a loop. Next I will follow the path of the yarn and move the looseness toward the center of the row by pulling on part of a stitch a little further to the right.

In the next picture, I have "fixed" all the stitches that looked loose. You can clearly see the crescent of short rows - and I don't see any gaps.

Having tried the various short row wrapping methods and acknowledging the difficulty of finding/seeing/picking up the wraps - I would much rather spend a few minutes tightening some stitches than fiddling with when and how to wrap. Not to mention - even with wrapping, there are still loose stitches that need to be tightened. Here is a comparison of all three methods:

Top - Zilboorg's yarn over method from the Knitting Anarchist.
Middle - My No Stinkin' Wraps method.
Bottom - Standard short row wrapping.

All of them had loose stitches tightened to improve the look.

To learn how to do traditional short row wrapping - check your favorite knitting reference book :-) I did not find a lot of great photo/instructions on the net for short row wrapping but here is one - scroll down her page.

Additional references:
How to knit short rows on a neckline.
A great article from Knitty

What am I going to do with short rows?

I'm making the Kniting Pure and Simple V-Neck for my husband who is always looking for things on the ground so the measurement from the back of his neck to his waist is at least four inches longer than the front of his neck to his waist. I did at least six short rows in his back neck area.

In the sweaters I make for myself, I always add a few short rows to the back waist area so I don't need to keep tugging on the back.

Bottom line - Put them where your "curves" are :-)
They make a HUGE difference in how your garments fit.

Questions?