Joyce's Knits Tips
|
Enclosed neck edge Select correct number of stitches needed for neck band by holding garment up to the main bed leaving a curve between the main bed and the sweater. The curve the sweater makes should hang down to ribber. Cast on in waste yarn and knit about 6 rows Col knit 1 row in ravel cord - make sure you use a contrast color Change to main color Row counter 000 Knit 4 (6 rows if heavier yarn is used eg., can cun in fairisle) rows in main colour - tension same as main body Take stitches off on garter bar. Do not break yarn. When using the garter bar, use the gold needle stoppers to separate the needles evenly. Hang garment on machine. Wrong side facing you. If after rehanging sweater and it is tight, you may need to increase number of stitches for the neck. Hang garter bar stitches on same needles Bring all needles forward and knit 4 rows - make sure that you push the wool stitches to the back. Pick up stitches held on wy and hang on needles Bring all needles forward and knit 1 row at a loose tension (10) - make sure that you push the wool stitches to the back. Finish knitting neckband with ribber or garter carriage - you can make the neckband for either a single or double fold.
When you are knitting fairisle with long floats, you can hook the floats up to the center stitch above the float. Make sure you pull the needle out just a little to put the float onto the needle and do not allow the float to sit on tip of the existing stitch. This will help prevent the float from showing through on the other side. Another trick is to treat the floats like single motifs or intarsia. Carry lengths of yarn or thread (same color as the main color) up the garment as you knit and e-wrapping the stitches with the lengths of yarn to cover wherever there is a long float. I did a fairisle with lots of floats, I had as many as 16 lengths of yarn to hook onto the needles on every row. You can miss one or two rows, but it looks neater if you hook at least every second row.
Quantities will depend upon type of yarn used as well as stitch and tension Based on the amount of yarn for a plain stocking stitch garment 1x1 rib needs 20% more yarn 2x2 rib needs 30% more yarn Tucked rib needs 70% more yarn Make sure you have ample yarn on hand to finish your garment |