This tutorial is part of the series on fixing mistakes in knitting. When knitting lace or shaping in garments it can easily happen that a left-leaning decrease is worked where a right-leaning one was needed. Or vice versa, of course. And because I really don’t like ripping out my work, I’m showing how to drop down several rows in your knitting and change a k2tog to a skp.
Materials used
Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 142 Tea Rose.
First, slip the stitches purl-wise from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle, until you reach the stitch directly above the wrongly worked decrease. Do you see it, 4 stitches below the needle?
Drop down the stitch.
Ladder it all the way down until the decrease is undone and you have 2 stitches instead of 1. Catch these 2 stitches with the crochet hook, from right to left.
Starting the skp decrease
To do so, insert the crochet hook below the first horizontal thread running directly above the 2 stitches on the hook.
Next, pull the horizontal thread through the first stitch on the hook. This completes the “knit” part of the “slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over” sequence that makes up a skp.
Completing the skp
To finish the left leaning decrease, we now pull the second loop on the crochet over the first one.
Finishing up
Next, ladder your way up again by inserting the crochet hook underneath the horizontal thread directly above the hook, and pulling the thread through the loop already on the hook to make a new knit stitch. Repeat this until all horizontal threads have been worked. After this you can place the stitch back unto the knitting needle.
And that is how you go about changing a k2tog to a skp, several rows down in your knitting! I prefer knitting skp instead of ssk for my left leaning decreases, but the same principles apply to that too:
Just drop down the stitch directly above the decrease
Catch the stitches
Work the correct decrease using the first horizontal thread above the stitches as your working yarn
Ladder your way back up again.
That’s all there is to it!
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
Sometimes all that’s needed is a little scarf to show off that wonderful single skein of fingering weight yarn. Combine it with easy to remember shaping and easily adjusted sizing, and we have a definite winner! It doesn’t hurt either that the loopy i-cord bind off is perfect for using up odds and ends.
Whiskey on the Rocks is an asymmetrical triangle or “boomerang” shawl worked sideways on the bias in one piece. The instructions for the body with the eyelet patterning are provided both charted and written out.
Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)
€
Skills required
Whiskey on the Rocks is a boomerang shaped shawl knit sideways, and includes an i-cord based bind off. Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog, k4tog, yo, and make 1 with a backward loop. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate knitter.
Sizes and measurements
One size – finished dimensions: 186 cm (73 ¼ inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 60 cm (23 ½ inches), measured after blocking.
Change the size of the shawl by using heavier or lighter weight yarn and/or working fewer (or more) repeats of the body. This will, of course, change the amount of yarn needed.
Pattern details
Worked sideways on the bias
Written for a gauge of 15 sts / 20 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over body patterning, measured after blocking.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)
Materials
Yarn:
MC: 384 m (420 yds) / 100 g Tosh Merino Light by Madeline Tosh (100% merino; 384 m (420 yds) / 100 g) in “Whiskey barrel”.
CC: 56 m (61 yds) / 15 g ONION knit Nettle Sock (70% wool, 30% cellulose; 185 m (202 yds) / 50 g) in Oker.
Substitute any single-ply type fingering weight yarn for the MC and any solid colored yarn for the CC for a similar result.
Size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles for the body of the shawl.
Size 3.5 mm (US 4) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles for the i-cord bind off.
Yarn needle.
Stitch markers (optional, for use between repeats of the lace patterning).
There are various ways of working a double increase. Take for example a double yarn over. In this tutorial I will focus on the make 2 increase or m2 for short. It can also be referred to as a “double make 1” (m1) increase. It basically consists of working 2 m1 increases directly after one other in the same strand of yarn between 2 stitches in the row directly below the one you’re currently working.
The m1 increase is a directional one. This means that there is a left leaning version (m1l) and a right leaning version (m1r). The m2 version that consists of first working a m1r, followed by a m1l, makes a very decorative horizontal strand in the fabric. This is the version I’ll show you below. Different looks can be achieved by first working a m1l, followed by a m1r, working m1r twice, or a m1l twice. Experiment and choose the one that gives the look you like for a particular project!
Please do note, that since this increase uses the strand of yarn already there between stitches, it tends to tighten up the knitting. For this reason I advise to work one or more plain rows between increase rows, especially when stacking them.
Materials used
Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 128 Lime Green.
First take your knitting. Here I’ve continued with the little swatch I used with a previous tutorial.
Knit to the spot where you want to make the increase.
First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the increase. In this case, I will be making the M2 increase 5 stitches in from the left edge. I’d make the increase in the middle of my swatch for a truly centered result, but alas, my swatch has an odd number of stitches.
First we start the m1r increase
To do so, lift the thread between the stitch just knit and the next one from the back with your left needle.
Insert the right-hand knitting needle into the front of the loop.
Wrap the yarn around the needle…
… and pull in through, slide the stitch of the left-hand needle to complete the m1r part of this double increase.
Next, we’re going to tackle the m1l part of the increase.
To do so, lift the thread between the stitch just knit and the next one from the front with your left-hand needle.
Insert the right-hand knitting needle into the back of the loop.
Wrap the yarn around the needle…
… and pull in through, slide the stitch of the left-hand needle to complete the m1l part of this double increase.
This is how it looks after this increase has been worked in 3 RS rows.
Pretty, isn’t it? And that’s all there is to it!
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
There are many ways to join a new ball of yarn to your project, the magic knot is one of them. Personally I prefer to work a felted, braided or Russian join instead, but that’s just because I don’t like knots in my work. If done correctly, the join should not fail and leave a neat, nearly invisible connection between the old and the new yarn.
This join is basically 2 knots pulled tight, with the yarn ends trimmed of. Due to this, it’s less suited for the more fragile yarns: These may break when pulled to tighten. Very bulky yarns may leave a too big knot that can’t easily be hidden between the stitches or at the back of the work. So, other than that the magic knot join really is a viable option to connect two pieces of yarn.
Materials used
Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors Tea Rose and Vintage Pink.
Making a magic knot step by step
Time to get this join started!
Take your pieces of yarn
Align the yarn from your project and from the new ball of yarn as pictured below.
Making the first knot, part a
In this step one of the yarn tails is turned over, then under the other yarn tail, followed by turning it under itslef to form a loop.
Making the first knot, part b
Next, fold the yarn tail over itself, and then underneath again to form a knot.
Tighten the knot a bit
This is how it looks after this:
Making the second knot, part a
Now we take the other yarn tail and fold it over, then under the other strand of yarn.
Making the second knot, part b
Next, fold the yarn tail over itself, and then underneath again to form a knot.
This is how it looks after the second knot has also been tightened a bit:
The magic step!
First tighten both knots a bit more, and then comes the fun part. Take both pieces of yarn and pull to slide the knots close to each other.
After pulling and tightening it should look something like this:
Removing the yarn ends
On this step, after making sure the connection is tight and snug, we snip away the yarn ends as close as possible to the knot. Take care not to accidentally cut the wrong piece of yarn!
The end result!
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
Zomerzon is a semi-circle Pi shawl, worked in a luxury merino lace weight singles yarn. Truly a ray of sunshine when it’s rainy and gray outside! This design can, of course, also be made in a (light) fingering weight yarn.
Zomerzon is worked from the top-down and is started with a garter stitch tab. The lace is patterned on both right and wrong side rows. The instructions for all patterning are, of course, both charted and fully written out.
This pattern is suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.
Sizes and measurements
Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: Span width of 186 cm (73 ¼ inches) and a depth of 67 cm (26 ½ inches), measured after blocking.
Change the size of this shawl by using lighter or heavier yarn and/or working fewer (or more) repeats of the lace border. This will of course change the amount of yarn needed.
Pattern details
Top-down
Written for a gauge of 18 sts / 28 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette, measured after blocking.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)
Materials
Yarn: 800 m (875 yds)/ 100 g The Coloured Cat Abyssinian Lace (100% Merino; 800 m (875 yds)/ 100 g) in “Setting Sun”. Substitute a tonal lace weight singles yarn for a similar result, or a (light) fingering weight yarn for a slightly larger shawl.
Size 3.5 mm (US 4) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles.
Yarn needle.
Stitch markers (optional, for use between repeats of the lace border).
In an earlier tutorial I already showed you how to pick up stitches. But what is the difference between “pick up and knit” and “picking up stitches”? The main difference is that with “pick up and knit” new yarn is introduced to form new stitches. “Picking up stitches” is merely placing loops from an edge of the existing piece of knitting on a knitting needle.
Pick up and knit, like just picking up stitches, is a way to add knitting to an existing piece of fabric, independent of the original knitting direction. It can be used to create finished edges around necklines, button bands, etc.
Materials used
Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color Marine.
A stitch is usually wider than it’s tall: it has a different row gauge than stitch gauge. This has as a result that picking up stitches along vertical edges at a rate of 1:1 usually doesn’t give an optimal result. In other words: we have to plan in advance how often to pick up and knit the stitches to avoid puckering and ruffling in the newly added piece of knitting. For this it’s useful to divide the edge into sections, using stitch markers. The possible sections would be vertical edge, diagonal edge and horizontal edge. The latter would be picking up along a bind-off or cast-on edge, where every stitch in the edge equals a stitch to be picked up and knit.
For the vertical and diagonal edges, if no ratio is specified in your pattern, a rule of thumb is to pick up approx. two stitches for every three rows or three stitches for every four rows. It’s also possible to calculate the pick-up rate exactly. To do so, measure the gauge of your blocked piece or swatch and pick up the correct number of stitches per 10 cm/inches along the edge to match your stitch gauge.
Pick up and knit step by step
In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to pick up stitches from the bind-off edge of a piece of simple stockinette. For this I made a little swatch. Of course, you can also pick up stitches along a cast on or side edge. Some people prefer using a crochet hook to pick up and knit, but in this example I’m just using knitting needles. Time to get started!
Find the most right stitch on the edge
With picking up stitches we work from right to left, with the right side of the fabric facing. We start by finding the outer right stitch on the edge and insert the knitting needle underneath it. In this example I’m working on a bind-off edge and I’m inserting my needle underneath both legs of the v. You can, of course, pick up only one of the strands, but that will result in a looser, less tidy connection. When working on a vertical edge, insert your needle under both strands of the edge stitch.
Wrapping the working yarn around the needle
Next is to wrap your working yarn around the knitting needle (or crochet hook). Leave enough of a tail to weave it in later on. About 15 cm or 6 inches should be enough.
Pulling the yarn through
Now pull the yarn wrapped around the needle through the fabric to form a stitch.
Repeat steps 1-3
Now just repeat steps 1-3 starting at the next spot where you want to pick up and knit a stitch until the whole edge has been worked. The result will look something like this:
What about garter stitch?
Yes, you can also pick up and knit from a fabric in garter stitch, or any kind of stitch, actually. The nice thing of garter stitch is that it has those typical garter bumps or ridges. This makes it very easy to pick up and knit a stitch every other row, when working on a side/vertical edge. Just insert your needle underneath a loop of the ridge! In the picture below that’s exactly what I did.
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
Picking up stitches, not to be confused with “pick up and knit”, is a knitting technique that most knitters will encounter sooner or later. It’s a way to continue working on an otherwise finished edge of a knitting project. It can be used to add a finishing around necklines, to add button bands or to make a project seamless for example.
The main difference with “pick up and knit” is that with plain “picking up stitches” no new yarn is added and no new stitches are formed. In other words: loops from an edge of the existing piece of knitting are placed on a knitting needle. That’s it.
Materials used
Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color Marine.
In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to pick up stitches from the side of a piece of simple stockinette. For this I made a little swatch. Of course, you can also pick up stitches along a cast on or bind off edge.
If you take a look at the picture below, you can see that I’m holding the swatch in such a way that one of the vertical edges is facing. Do you see that the outer column of stitches forms a (somewhat wobbly) line of v’s?
In the following picture you can see it a bit more clearly. I’ve inserted the knitting needle underneath both legs of the v at the edge of the fabric.
However, when merely picking up stitches, it is very hard to pick up both legs of every v/stitch along the edge. Therefor usually only one of the legs is picked up. For example the left one:
Or the right one:
Picking up stitches step by step
Find the most right stitch on the edge
With picking up stitches we work from right to left. We start by finding the outer right stitch on the edge and insert the knitting needle underneath one of the legs of the v. here I’ve chosen to insert underneath the left leg, which is the one closest to me.
Continue picking up stitches
Next I move one stitch to the left and pick that one up. Again by inserting the knitting needle underneath the leg of the v closest to me.
The result
When all stitches along the edge are picked up, this is the result:
Pick up rate
In this example I picked up 1 stitch for every row of the stockinette. However, a stitch is usually wider than it’s tall: it has a different row gauge than stitch gauge. This has as a result that picking up stitches along vertical edges at a rate of 1:1 usually doesn’t give an optimal result.
If no ratio is specified in your pattern, a rule of thumb is to pick up approx. two stitches for every three rows or three stitches for every four rows. It’s also possible to calculate the pick-up rate exactly. To do so, measure the gauge of your blocked piece or swatch and pick up the correct number of stitches per 10 cm/inches to match your stitch gauge. This would also work for any diagonal edges you may encounter. Take for example when picking up stitches for finishing off neck edges.
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
Ochtend Mist is a semi-circle Pi shawl, worked in a fingering weight yarn held together with a lofty kid mohair silk lace yarn. Make it in the small size for a cute shawlette or the larger size for a cuddly wrap. The shawl pictured is in size S.
This shawl is worked from the top-down and is started with a garter stitch tab. The lace is patterned on both right and wrong side rows. The instructions for the lace are, of course, both charted and fully written out.
Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)
€
Skills required
This half-circle shawl is knit from the top down, starting with a garter tab cast-on. Lace patterning is worked on both RS and WS rows. Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, double yo, m1, skp, k2tog, and left and right leaning double decreases.
This pattern is suitable for the intermediate knitter.
Sizes and measurements
Size S (L): span width of 140 (180) cm (55 (71) inches) and a depth of 57 (77) cm (22 ½ (30) inches), measured after blocking.
Change the size of this shawl by using lighter or heavier yarn and/or working fewer (or more) repeats of the border. This will of course change the amount of yarn needed.
Pattern details
Top-down
Written for a gauge of 16 sts / 21 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette, measured after blocking.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)
Materials
Yarn: In the Ochtend Mist pattern both yarns are held together throughout, substitute a smooth solid or tonal fingering weight yarn and a lace weight mohair-type yarn for a similar result.
418 (732) m (458 (802) yds) / 100 (175) g Crelando Anika [75% wool, 25% nylon; 209 m (229 yds) / 50 g] in blue.
420 (740) m (460 (810) yds) / 50 (88) g Garnstudio DROPS Kid-Silk [75% mohair, 25% silk; 210 m (230 yds) / 25 g] in blue-grey 08.
Size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles.
Yarn needle.
Stitch markers (optional, for use between repeats of the lace border).
There are many ways to join one piece of yarn to another. Think, for example, of the braided join or the Russian join. However, if you have a feltable yarn, in other words: an animal fiber capable of felting (non-superwash!), the felted join gives a truly invisible connection. This also means that this way of joining a new yarn can be used at any place in your project, mid-row really won’t make a difference in how the finished piece looks.
This type of join literally felts the fibers together, thus making the join indistinguishable from the non-join parts of the yarn. I mean, if I hadn’t used 2 different colors of yarn in the picture above, it really wouldn’t have been visible where one ball ends and the other starts.
Felting occurs when friction is applied to the wet fibers. Of course, there are more things that influence and can induce felting, but for this join, this is the one that matters. One can go to the sink and get some water there to wet the ends of the yarn to connect, but often people go for an easier source of moisture. This is where the alternate name of this join comes from: the “Spit Splice”.
Working a felted join step by step
1. First take your 2 pieces of feltable yarn. Often this will be the yarn tail coming from your knitting or crochet project and the yarn from the new ball to attach. The yarn I’n using here is Ístex Léttlopi, a nice aran weight yarn, made form 100% Icelandic wool.
2. Next, tease the ends of both pieces of yarn apart a bit. This can be in the various plies as pictured here. Or, in case of a single ply yarn, just fan out the fibers over a length of approx. 5-7.5 cm / 2-3 inches.
3. After this, I removed one of the plies at each end of the yarn, again over a length of approx. 5-7.5 cm / 2-3 inches. This way the join will be less bulky and blend in better with the rest of the yarn.
4. Next, I place the 2 yarn ends next to each other in such a way that they overlap for about 5-7.5 cm / 2-3 inches. Now it’s time to wet the yarn where it overlaps in any way you please.
5. Now comes the fun bit: rub the overlapping pieces of wet yarn vigorously between your hands for a bit. On a side note, see that ring on my middle finger? It’s a gauge ring (the metric version) by Malojos. The best knitting accessory gift I’ve gotten myself to date!
6. And there you have it: a felted join!
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
Many knitting patterns contain shaping or patterning. The latter may be lace, cables, knit/purl patterning, color work or a combination of these. These instructions may be written out completely. But, especially with more complex patterning, this can become a veritable wall of text pretty soon.
Enter charts! A knitting chart is a compact visual representation of the knitting project shown from the right (or front) side. Each box on a chart represents a stitch, and every chart includes a legend explaining what to do for each symbol included. My patterns always contain both charted and written out instructions, because there just are differences in how people parse information best. That said, charts can be intimidating if you don’t quite know how to read them.
So, in this tutorial I’ll tell you all about it, for both knitting flat and knitting in the round.
Where to start reading knitting charts?
Yes, there are differences in reading charts for knitting flat back and forth and for knitting in the round. There are, however, more commonalities than differences. I’ll show you, using the chart for my (free!) Autumn Leaves Shawl pattern.
As you can see, there are numbers at the top and at the bottom. These represent the stitches that are to be worked horizontally. Also, there are numbers at the sides of the chart, these indicate the rows or rounds to be worked. Since this is a chart for flat knitting, the numbers are alternated on the right and left side of the chart.
The rule of thumb is always to begin reading your chart at the box marked “1” for both stitch and row indication. In this chart that’s in the lower right corner. Then, proceed going left to the stitch marked “2” in the same row etc until you’ve finished the row.
Since this is a chart for flat knitting, after we’ve finished the row we have to turn the work. Next is row number 2, this one is to be worked from the left to the right. If you have your knitting in front of you, it really makes sense. You’re working the back (the wrong side) of the work, but looking at the chart from the front, so the chart is to be worked backwards when compared with the previous row.
If you’re working in the round, all vertical numbers will only be on one side of the chart. See for an example the chart above. And since every round is worked with the right side showing (towards you), you just move up vertically and work the second round from the bottom from right to left as you did for the first round.
Decoding the symbols
As I told you above, every chart includes a legend. The legend is very important, because it defines the stitches or colors that correspond with the stitches on the chart. Quite good to know when trying reading knitting charts! Also, do make sure to closely examine the legend before you begin knitting. There may be different meanings to certain symbols in the particular chart, than you’re used to.
In the leafy border chart posted above, there are 2 stitches for which the symbols have a different meaning on the wrong side and right side of the fabric. In this example, a blank box is knitted on the right side (odd rows) and purled on the wrong side (even rows). Boxes containing a black dot are purled on the right side (odd rows) and knitted on the wrong side (even rows).
The other stitches used, also have their wrong side equivalents. They are, however, not mentioned in the chart because they are not used on wrong side rows. This makes the chart “cleaner”.
Another symbol you may encounter is the gray “no stitch” box. These may be used in a chart to make the charted representation more clear. When you encounter one, just ignore and skip it in the chart. It does not represent a stitch to be worked on your needle. As a matter of fact, the leafy border chart also had some of these stitches on the left side of the chart. I just hid them to make the chart look more clean and save toner/ink for folks wanting to print it.
Repeats
Many patterns feature a repeat. This is a section of patterning that is to be repeated both horizontally and vertically. Repeats are typically indicated by a box or frame in a contrasting color. In the example below a red frame is used.
In this chart, stitches 1-8 are to be repeated until 1 stitch before the end of the row. After that stitch number 9 is worked. When working repeats, it may be useful to place a marker between the repeats. This helps you keep your place and makes it easier to identify and correct mistakes. Once all 4 rows in the repeat are worked, they can be repeated too if the pattern asks for it.
Reading your knitting = reading your chart
Remember that I said that a knitting chart is a compact visual representation of the knitting project shown from the right side? Let’s put both the chart and the resulting piece of knitting next to each other:
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the knitted leaf detail in the same orientation as the chart. So, trust me when I say that the leaf pictured above, was started at it’s upper right corner. The stitches that were bound off in row 18, can be seen in the lower left corner of the shawl edge.
Do you see that the elements in the chart are very recognizable in the resulting knitting? Take for example the rows with “yo, k1, yo”, in the knitted leaf they form the very recognizable “midrib” and “veins” of the leaf. Similarly, the centered double decrease in row 17 forms the apex of the leaf.
In other words: once you get more comfortable in reading your knitting, this will also enable you to see at a glance where you are in the pattern (chart) and whether any mistakes are made. If there are any errors, this will usually be noticed because things don’t “look” right, don’t line up correctly or because there are not enough stitches to work the chart.
And that’s how to go about reading knitting charts!
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.
