One of the biggest challenges you will face as a knitter is trying to finish that first sweater neatly and properly. It’s as if you’ve come to the end of your first marathon and you suddenly have this huge surge of adrenaline. You can see the finish line and want to to cross it as quickly as possible. STOP! or at least slow down … this is not a race and taking the time to finish the sweater properly will make sure that the hours you have spent on it will be well worth it. This week we looked at casting off in the first group and more finishing techniques in the second group. So here is the summary of our first little look at finishing up.
Casting off (CO), also known as binding off, is securing the stitches in a way so they will not unravel and they are no longer on the needle. Below is the basic method that most people first learn and a few variations. To cast off stitches, work your pattern until you have two stitches on the right needle. Then insert your left needle into the first stitch on the right needle and slip it over the second stitch on the right needle. The second stitch is now holding the first stitch in place. Now work another stitch so that there are once again two stitches on the right needle. Continue in this manner until you have one stitch on your right needle. Give yourself ample yarn to darn in and then break it from the ball. At this point you still have one stitch on your right needle. Pull up on the needle until the loop from that stitch disappears. Now darn in that dangling end and you’re done!
Some things to remember when casting off:
- If you’re casting off an edge that will be visible (neck edge), it’s best to cast off in the pattern you have been working.
- Usually you want to cast off loosely so consider using a slightly larger needle.
- You can use a crochet hook as your second needle and instead of slipping the first stitch over the second, pull the second through the first with the crochet hook.
- If a seam is going to be created with the cast off edge, you can cast off in knit stitch to keep from moving the yarn back and forth.
Here are a few links with instructions, diagrams, and/or videos showing the cast off and some variations:
Finishing Techniques – Part 1
As you can imagine, there is more to putting your garment together than we can cover in one week so this topic will be broken down into several parts. Putting your garment together when you’re finished is something that should actually be thought about before you begin the sweater. Some patterns will do this and incorporate selvedge stitches into the pattern itself. What are selvedge stitches? Basically, they’re two stitches added to the pattern that are easily recognizable later. They serve two main purposes – to assist in sewing your garment together when you’re finished and to provide a neat, uniform edge when making a stand alone piece of fabric. Here is a link that will explain in more detail
Now that you are familiar with the cast off and selvedge stitch, we will look at sewing the seams together. Before sewing seams together, you should block your garment. This will be covered in an upcoming lesson, but if you need to know how to do it now, follow this link:
When seaming, I like to use the Mattress stitch and to ensure that it is as easy as possible, I like to make sure that my selvedge edge is worked in stocking stitch (knit the first and last stitch on the right side and purl them on the other). This way I can line up my rows directly and seam together row by row. Here is a link that shows you the mattress stitch in detail:
When you are seaming together two vertical rows (e.g. sides of a sweater), the mattress stitch works beautifully and you can simply go row for row. When seaming the sleeves to the body however, you are now matching stitches to rows and they don’t align exactly (stitches are wider than rows are tall). This is the time to go back to your tension swatch that you made and find out the relation between your rows and stitches. Remember the swatch was a grid of 4″ x 4″. Now let’s say that it was 16 stitches and 20 rows in that grid. That means that for every 4 stitches, you have 5 rows. To line up your two edges in preparation for your seaming, start with the center of the sleeve and pin it to where the two shoulders meet. Now count over 4 stitches on the sleeve and 5 rows on the body and pin those edges together. Continue in this manner to the end of the sleeve and then do the other side. Once you have finished, you can seam the edges together using the mattress stitch. With a little practice, you will be able to do this in fewer increments but to start, it’s best to do it inch by inch to ensure the fit is perfect!
That’s it for now, but we will have more on finishing next week!
