Vertical to Horizontal Seams--Garter Stitch

We had the selection meeting for the Winter issue on the 23rd.  We selected lots of pretty things.  I dragged up all of the yarn balls and yarn for the goody bags.  This was my second trip.  It looks like we will have 37 different yarns at the tasting.

STUDENT NEWS
It continues to be a slow week.  I only have had three lessons to review since my last post.  This has given me time to prepare for the conference which is good news.  I spent part of the week working on the MiniCourses which will be available on July 1st.  We will be adding to the curriculum every six months.

TIP OF THE WEEK
This week's tip was a special request.  I have done a video on how to seam a horizontal edge to a vertical edge but the sample I used was stockinette stitch.  I've had a request for garter to garter. Anytime you want to seam a bound off edge to a selvedge edge you have to deal with the difference between row and stitch gauge.  There are more rows to an inch than stitches and you must make use some sort of ratio to compensate.  What I have found works with garter stitch (if there are not wide gutters between the ridges) is that you can pretty much seam one bound off stitch to one ridge.  I used some of the homework swatches for my finishing course to try this out.  When you bind off garter stitch you have a choice.  You can bind off knitwise or purlwise.  The two sides look different. Generally it doesn't make a difference which is the RS or WS but if you are going to seam the edge, you would want the purlwise side to be the RS.  If you look at the photo below, notice that the top row doesn't look too great.  Compare it to the photo below which looks better.  



I think this one looks lots better.



If the piece you are seaming has a definite RS/WS, be sure to bind off so that the purlwise side is the RS.  This means you either bind off purlwise on that side OR you bind off knitwise on the WS.

For the bound off edge, the regular rules of seaming apply, insert the needle into the stitches immediately below the bind off edge.  For the selvedge, what I do is to insert the needle under the ridge and bring it up under the next ridge.  This is easier to see than to explain so here it the video:
Horizontal to Vertical Seam--Garter Stitch

Here are the seams in process.  Here is the one where I bound off using the purlwise side.

Here is the one where I bound off using the knitwise side.

KNITTING SALON
Salon will be on Sunday (June 28) from 1:30-3:20.  

CURRENT PROJECTS
My Finishing Class, both Days 1 and 2 are sold out with 22 students.  I decided sort of at the last minute that I can take 3 more students for each class.  Tickets will be available at only on site. Since any potential student would not have time to do the homework I decided to make 3 sets.  I do charge for this as it is a major pain.  That is what my current project is...finishing the homework.  I feel the pain of my students.  There is a TON of homework.

Yarn will be arriving soon for my Cast On projects...a man's sweater with a shawl collar, an asymmetrical jacket, a poncho and a hat/boot topper set (confident beginner).  What was I thinking?

Picking Up Stitches on a Cast On Edge

I had a productive visit to TNNA.  I picked up some products to review but I spent most of my time either thanking sponsors for providing yarn for the Yarn Tasting at the conference or lining up some additional yarn.  Boxes have been arriving all week.

Here is a photo of the new product tables as you enter the show floor.

STUDENT NEWS
Very few lessons have arrived which has given me lots of time to wind yarn balls.

TIP OF THE WEEK
I had a suggestion from Sue who suggested I discuss how to pick up stitches along a cast on edge. You would need to do this if you are picking up a neckband for a sweater knit top down or if you are picking up a border on a baby blanket to name just two examples.  The basic procedure is the same as for a bound off edge.  You pick up the stitch in the center of the stitch immediately below the cast on edge.  In this photograph, notice that the bound off edge is at the bottom.  The stitches will have been picked up are coming directly out of the stitches below.



The confusing think about this is that if you turn a piece of knitted fabric upside down what was the space between the two stitches is now the stitch.  What was the stitch is now the space between the stitches.  This really bothered me when I first started knitting.  For example, if I have 10 bound off stitches and I pick up stitches along that edge, I will pick up 10 stitches.  If I have 10 stitches in a cast on edge, and I pick up the stitches properly, I will only have 9 stitches.  (This is only an issue for flat knitting.)  In this photograph stitches are picked up on both edges.  The bind off edge is on top and there are 20 stitches.  On the cast on edge there are only 19.



For a neckband this isn't a big deal.  I've seen projects where you have to pick up a specific number of stitches on both the cast on and bind off edges.  You just have to fudge a bit.  Here is the video:  Picking up stitches on a cast on edge

CURRENT PROJECTS
I finished up the sample socks and mitts for kits to be sold at the conference.  There will be 75 kits produced and they will only be sold in San Diego.  There is enough yarn for both the mitts and socks. I knit the large size for the socks just to make sure.

I've turned in my proposals for the next issue but since the selection meeting isn't until the 23rd I will have some time to finish up preparing the yarn for the tasting and getting stuff ready for the classes I am teaching at the conference.