TOP TIPS: Expert Knitting Cheats

Beth asks…
I love wearing cardigans but I hate knitting them because I can never get the buttonband to lay flat. Do you have any advice for picking up stitches along the front?

Michelle says…
Don’t worry Beth, you’re not alone! The thing that makes this tricky is that your tension is very rarely ‘square’ so you often need to pick up something like 32 stitches for each 26 rows of your knitting – which is really hard to work out! To make the neatest possible buttonband, first you should knit a swatch of whatever stitch your buttonband is in and measure how many stitches you have in 10cm – let’s pretend you get 24 sts. Then, wash and block your cardigan. Once it’s dry, lay it flat and use a tape measure and safety pins to measure 10cm sections along the front. You then simply need to pick up 24 sts in each section. To make it easier, you could break these into smaller 5cm sections and pick up 12 sts per section.

Anthea Willis, Lauscha Cardigan

Knit Now Issue 122

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Andrea asks…
The pattern I’m knitting tells me to work evenly-spaced increases. How do I work that out easily?

Tricia says…
There are a couple of easy ways to do this. Both of my recommendations use stitch markers. If you only have a few increases to make and you have a lot of stitches, you can just do this by eye – place stitch markers so that they look evenly-spaced and work an increase after each marker. For a more accurate method, first divide your total stitch count by the number of increases. If you get a round number (for example eight increases over 40 stitches is an increase every five stitches), simply place a marker for each increase. If you have leftover stitches, distribute those extras evenly – for example, eight increases over 42 sts is five with two left over, so two of those fives become sixes and you place a marker after five, six, five, six and five stitches.

p.s. Knit Now patterns will rarely ask you to do this - we usually do the maths for you so you don't have to worry!

Sophie McKane, Fairy Lights Jumper

Knit Now Issue 121

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Steph asks…
I learned to knit when I was younger and have recently taken it up again. I find that I easily lose track of which side of the work I’m on. How can I tell the right side from the wrong side?

Michelle says…
The simplest thing to do is to pop a lockable stitch marker on one edge of your work – for example put it on right-hand edge when you begin your first right-side row – but that relies on you remembering what the stitch marker means! It may be better for you to learn to read your knitting, starting with plain stocking stitch. The right side should be smooth – when you look up close, you’ll see little Vs. The wrong side is bumpy and you’ll see little wiggly ridges. When the right side is facing you, you should knit. When the wrong side is facing you, you should purl. In this image, the lady is working a right-side (knit) row and we can see the wrong-side (purl bumps) facing us.

Jane Burns, Rainbow Unicorn Jumper

Knit Now Issue 120

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Karen asks…
I’m knitting a jumper and the pattern tells me to ‘keep patt correct while shaping’ – what does this mean?

Tricia says…
You need to think of your knitting as a piece of fabric with an all-over pattern – your aim is to keep the pattern correct in relation to the rows below, not the edge of the work, as the edge can move in or out, such as when you’re working raglan decreases. This is sometimes easier said than done, but you can use stitch markers to mark each pattern repeat, so you know which stitches need to be worked where.
When working in a stitch pattern such as cables, if you don’t have enough stitches to work a cable stitch, simply work those stitches in stocking stitch. In a lace you must pay attention to your increases and decreases – if you don’t have enough stitches to work a balanced number of increases and decreases, you should work those stitches in stocking stitch. You may find it helpful to draw out the pattern on graph paper to visualise the shape.

Jenny Watson, Summer Stream Pullover

Knit Now Issue 119

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