The best thing you can do to get a professional-looking finish for any seamed garment is to use mattress stitch when sewing up the seams. It takes just a couple of minutes to learn and you’ll be using it for the rest of your knitting life!
Step 1: Lay your two pieces down side to side, RS facing you. Anchor your yarn in the LH piece and then in the RH piece.Step 2: Look for the bar that runs between the edge stitch and the second stitch from the edge. Run your darning needle behind this bar, from bottom to top.Step 3: Repeat Step 2 on the RH piece, then back to the left, then the right again for a few stitches, leaving the working yarn loose.Step 4: Pull the working yarn tight. This will ‘zip’ the two sides together, leaving an almost invisible seam. Continue working in this manner until seam is complete.
Gosh Darn It!
Have you ever made a mistake in colourwork and only realised when you’ve cast off?
Use duplicate stitch or swiss darning to ‘colour in’ single stitches with the correct shade of yarn.
Step 1: Thread a blunt needle with 30cm of yarn. On WS, anchor yarn by threading under 4 or 5 sts, finishing behind st to be darned over.Step 2: Bring yarn to RS at base of ‘V’ of k st to be covered. Take needle R to L under base of ‘V’ st above one to be covered.Step 3: Draw up yarn so it sits neatly on surface without puckering or hanging. This will form RH ‘leg’of the st.Step 4: Take thread back down through the bottom of ‘V’ of st to be covered (where you began st). Both legs of the ‘V’ have now been covered, making one duplicate st.
Drop Stitch Fix
We’ve all dropped a stitch, haven’t we? Well, don’t panic – there’s no need to rip your work all the way back. You can pick up a dropped stitch several rows later using a crochet hook
Step 1: With knit side facing, insert a crochet hook into the dropped stitch at the bottom of the ladder.Step 2: Catch the lowest strand of the ladder and pull it through the loop on the hook, from back to front.Step 3: Repeat Step 2 for each rung of the ladder until all stitches have been reworked. Return stitch to LH needle.
Looking for the perfect finishing kit?
Issue 142 of Knit Now comes with a fabulour quick fix keyring, which is just the thing for fixing knitting mistakes while on the go! Grab your copy today from your local supermarket, or by visiting www.craftstash.co.uk!
