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tutorial – casting on & knitting magic loop

Knitting magic loop - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

When working in the round with lots of stitches, using a circular and just going round and round and round is a relatively easy thing to do. It’s however, a different case when working in the round on a project with a small circumference. With small circumference knitting, it usually just doesn’t work in a circular needle, because the needles and the cables are just too long to accommodate the limited number of stitches.

What exactly is magic loop knitting?

The short description is, that with this method, you pull out a loop of cable of your circular needle to divide your stitches. This is usually done into two equal parts. Once the stitches are divided, you can use the free needle tip to knit across half of the stitches. Next, the project is rotated and the needle pulled through to work the remaining stitches.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 142 Tea Rose.

Needles: * Addi Lace Circular Needles, in this tutorial I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 100 cm (40 inches). I would like to advise using at least a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches) to facilitate magic loop knitting.

Magic loop knitting step by step

1. Begin by casting on the required number of stitches for your project. I used the cable or knitted-on cast on in this example. Once this is done, you can continue to the next step. However, doing so directly increases the odds that the cast-on twists around the needle, resulting in a twist in your work when joined in the round. To avoid this, I usually just knit the first “round” of the pattern flat. So, that’s what I also did here!

2. Next, lay the work down on a table in front of you in such a way, that the working yarn is on the right. Make sure that the cast-on edge is not twisted around the needle.

3. Now, move the stitches to the center of the cable and find the middle point in the stitches. If working with an odd number of stitches, no worries: this won’t make that big of a difference. Gently bend your cable and bring it up between the center stitches.

4. Next, pull the cable gently to reposition both sets of stitches on the needles as pictured, instead of on the cable. Make sure the working yarn is near the tip of the needle at the back, in between both needles. For working the first stitch, make sure it runs up between the needle tips for knitting, and for purling that it runs down.

5. To join in the round and to start knitting, grab the needle tip that is at the back and pull it out so the stitches on it slide to the cable. Now is also the time to put a “beginning (or end) of round” stitch marker on this needle tip. This needle tip becomes your right-hand or working needle.

6. Now you’re ready to work your way across the stitches on the left-hand or main needle. Especially with the first few rounds, you can encounter a “gap” at the spot you joined in the round. You can help avoid this by connecting both sides of this gap with a removable stitch marker. It also helps to tighten up the second stitch you work on each needle.

7. Once you worked across these stitches, it will look something like this:

8. Next, turn your work so that the working yarn is on the right again and the former back needle is now in the front.

9. To be able to use the needle that is now in the front as your main (left-hand) needle, we first have to pull the cable connected to the needle tip. This way the stitches slide from the cable onto the needle tip.

10. Again pull out the other (back) needle so that the stitches rest on the cable and the tip can be used as your working (right-hand) needle and work across all the stitches on the main (left-hand) needle.

11. Continue steps 6 to 10 for each round as described in your pattern.

And that’s all there is to it!

After a couple of rounds the work will look something like this:

Knitting a “round” flat before joining in the round, as I described in step 1? Don’t forget to use the yarn tail to sew it closed when finishing your project.

But what about laddering?

Laddering is nothing more than that the stitches are pulling apart a little, if it happens it’s usually where you switch from one needle to the other. As described with step 6, it really cuts down on laddering if you tighten the second stitch when working the stitches on each needle.

The material of the cable of your circulars, however, also has a great influence. The stiffer the cable the more resistant it will be to being fold in half to accommodate magic loop knitting. This means that with a very stiff cable it will actively push apart the stitches on the ends of both needles. The same issue may happen if you’re using a circular needle that is too short. I like my circs to be at least 80 cm / 32 inches. Do try out for yourself what length hits the sweet spot for you!

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.

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kurkuma KAL!

My LYS Sticks & Cups and I are organizing a Knit-A-Long for my latest shawl design Kurkuma. It’s very spicy and so much fun, so join the Kurkuma KAL!

We cast on Thursday 11 April during the Cast-On Party at the Sticks & Cups store in Utrecht. Also, I’ll be there with a bunch of my designs, so if you want to take a closer look at some of my shawls and try them on, this is your chance! Can’t make it to the party? No worries! Get your kit before the 11th and post a picture using the #kurkumakal #stickscups and #lavischdesigns hashtags!

The pattern is available through this website, but if you can also get it at the shop in a kit. Visit Sticks & Cups on Instagram or Facebook to see some of the yarn combinations Lili has prepared.

Prizes!

Of course, there will also be prizes! The prize drawing is on May 18th during the Beltane Yarn Festival at the Sticks & Cups store in Utrecht. There will be 2 prize drawings, both to be held on May 18th:

The first drawing is for all who join by getting a kit at Sticks & Cups: You get a number when you buy your kit at the shop with which you are entered in the prize drawing. Prizes consist of yarn and your pick of a La Visch Designs pattern of choice.
The second drawing is for all who love to join the KAL but don’t have the option to visit Sticks & Cups for a kit. On May the 18th I will select my 3 favorite pictures tagged with #kurkumakal & #lavischdesigns. Each of the 3 winners may select a La Visch Designs pattern of choice that will be gifted to you. Both (pictures of) WIP’s and FO’s count, so share pretty pictures on Instagram and Facebook as often as you like! During the KAL I will repost some of the pictures that catch my eye.

Make sure to follow La Visch Designs on Instagram or Facebook for all the latest news about the Knit-A-Long. Also, visit the Kurkuma KAL event on Facebook for more info on the KAL.

Recap

The KAL runs from 11 April to 18 May 2019.
Get your Kurkuma kit at Sticks & Cups or just the pattern here.
The prize drawing is on 18 May.
Post lots of pictures using the hashtags #kurkumakal #lavischdesigns and #stickscups.

So go get your pattern and yarn and be ready to cast on with us on Thursday. I’m looking forward to seeing your WIP’s and FO’s!

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tutorial – Kitchener stitch: grafting stockinette

It seems there are 2 distinct camps when it concerns the Kitchener stitch: either you love it or you hate it. Personally, I don’t really understand the hubbub around this technique, it’s a very useful one in certain situations. One just has to know how to do it. And that’s where this tutorial comes in!

But first: what is Kitchener stitch? It’s a method of grafting two sets of live stitches together in an invisible way. It’s often used to seamlessly close the toes of top-down socks, for example. The “seam”, so to speak, is really a new row of stitches that you create using a yarn needle. To do so, the needle is passed through the live stitches of the pieces of knitting to be joined, in a similar manner similar as the direction in which a knitting needle is inserted within a stitch. This can be purlwise or knitwise.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 155 Vintage Pink for the swatches and 125 Spearmint Green for the Kitchener stitch.

Darning needle: * Hiya Hiya Darn It Yarn Needle, or any other tapestry needle, threaded with yarn.

Working Kitchener stitch to graft stockinette step by step

Before we start, we have to make sure that the two pieces of stockinette fabric that we will be grafting together, each have the same number of stitches.

Set-up

1. To start, we hold the two needles containing the live stitches parallel to each other, with the wrong sides of the fabric facing inside and the right sides facing outside.

2. Take your darning needle and pass it purlwise through the first stitch on the front needle. Pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

3. Next, thread the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch on the back needle. Again, pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

Repeat

1. Front needle: Pass the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch of the front needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. The below picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped.

2. Front needle: Next, thread the darning needle purlwise through the second stitch on the front needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through.

3. Back needle: Pass the darning needle purlwise through the first stitch of the back needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. Again, the picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped off.

4. Back needle: Next, thread the darning needle knitwise through the second stitch on the back needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through. Gently adjust the tension of the newly made stitches to match the fabric of the pieces you’re grafting together. Be careful not to pull your yarn too tightly!

Repeat steps 1 to 4 until only 1 stitch remains on each knitting needle. This is how it then looks:

Finishing

1. Now insert the darning needle knitwise into the first stitch on the front needle and pull the yarn through, dropping the stitch from the needle.

2. To finish, insert the darning needle purlwise into the first stitch on the back needle. Pull the yarn through and drop the stitch from the needle.

And that’s it! Pretty seamless, isn’t it? The only reason it can be seen as clearly as it is in this example is that I used a contrasting yarn.

Points of attention

If the tension of the new connecting row of stitches is not right yet, you can use the tip of your darning needle to further adjust. Just start at the right edge of the work, where grafting began, and gently pull the various stitches to adjust the tension until it matches the tension of the joined pieces. Also, when moving from front to back needle and vice versa, make sure to pass the working yarn and darning needle underneath the knitting needles, not above them.

Many people use a little rhyme to help remember the various steps that are to be repeated. It goes like this:

Front: Knit off – (knit first stitch on front needle, drop stitch off)
Front: Purl on – (purl next stitch on front needle, leave stitch on)
Back: Purl off – (purl first stitch on back needle, drop stitch off)
Back: Knit on – (knit next stitch on back needle, leave stitch on)

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kurkuma

Kurkuma is a shallow, triangle scarf, knit sideways. This design features lace patterning in the tradition of the Shetland isles. The triangle edging is worked at the same time as the body of the shawlette. Worked at a loose gauge, Kurkuma is a lovely and airy layering piece.

The pattern contains both fully written out as well as charted instructions for the lace. The lace in the border of the shawl is true lace knitting, worked on both wrong and right side rows.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

The lace in this pattern is worked on both RS and WS rows. Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, kfb, skp, k2tog, and the k3tog tbl decrease.

This pattern is suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: Span width of 170 cm (67 inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 52 cm (20 ½ inches), measured after blocking.

The size of this shawl is, however, easily adjusted.

Pattern details

Gauge: Approx. 15.4 sts / 26 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over garter stitch, after blocking. Gauge is not critical in this design.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages for the English version and 5 for the Dutch version (letter size)

Materials

Yarn: 500 m (546 yds) / 100 g Ístex Einband (100% wool; 250 m (273 yds) / 50 g). Substitute any lace weight or light fingering weight wool yarn for a similar result. The yarn used in the sample has been dyed yellow using onion skins (click for the tutorial!). Ístex Einband yarn is however available in a wide range of colors.
Size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles.
Yarn needle.
1 stitch marker to differentiate the body from the edging of the shawl.

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tutorial – working Judy’s magic cast on

Working Judy's Magic Cast On - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Perhaps you’ve heard about Judy’s Magic Cast On: a truly magic and invisible cast on for toe-up socks. This cast on was first devised by Judy Becker and shared in her article on Knitty. It’s a very clever cast on, as it creates a truly seamless start of your work. As Judy shares in her article, this cast on can be used for a wide range of projects and not just for socks. It can be used for anything that requires knitting in the round and a neat, seamless start.

Since I’m such a fan of this technique, I’m giving you my take on this cast on in this tutorial.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, in the color 128 Lime Green.

Working Judy’s Magic Cast On step by step

1. This cast on is worked with both the yarn tail and the working yarn. This means, that to start, we need to estimate a sufficient length of yarn tail. One method to do this is to wrap the yarn around your needle once for every stitch to cast on, and then give yourself approx. 15 cm / 6 inches extra so you’ll have enough to weave in later.

2. Make a slipknot leaving a yarn tail as determined in the previous step and place it around the top needle. Pull to tighten this first loop/cast on stitch. Arrange the yarn in such a way, that the yarn tail is above the top needle and the working yarn is below the bottom needle as pictured.

3. Now move the yarn tail downwards, under and then over the bottom needle and next underneath the top needle to bring it back to its starting position. You now have cast on a loop on the bottom needle.

4. Next, take the working yarn and move it under and then over the top needle and next underneath the bottom needle to bring it back to its starting position. You now have cast on a loop on the top needle.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve cast on the required number of stitches. Take care not to tighten these stitches too much, since this will encourage a little bump to form on each side of the cast on stitches. In this picture, a total of 18 stitches, 9 stitches per needle, have been cast on. (And yes, I really should have used a slightly longer yarn tail….)

Working the first round after the cast on

There are some peculiarities with the first round after the stitches are cast on using Judy’s Magic Cast On. Read on to find out more!

1. Turn the needles so that the bottom needle is now on top and ready to serve as your main (left-hand) needle.

2. Pull out the other needle to place its stitches on the cable and to use the tip as your working (right-hand) needle to knit into all the stitches on the main needle, magic loop style. Make sure that the yarn tail lies between the working yarn and the main needle. This way you can lock the yarn tail in place once you start knitting.

3. Knit the stitches on the main (left-hand) needle. If the first stitch loosens up a bit, just tighten it back up by softly pulling the yarn tail.

4. Next, turn your work so that the working yarn is on the right again.

5. Pull gently on the left-hand cable loop to pull the needle into the stitches and the former bottom needle is now on top and ready to serve as your main (left-hand) needle.

6. Likewise, pull out the other needle to place the stitches just worked on the cable, and to use the tip as your working (right-hand) needle to knit into all the stitches on the main needle, magic loop style.

7. Work the second set of the cast on stitches. Only this time, knit them through the back loop to correct their stitch mount.

The result

Once all the above steps are followed, this is the result. You’re now ready to continue with your knitting in the round (using magic loop) as described in your pattern.

And this is how to work Judy’s Magic Cast On and the first round after casting on!

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kitties all around hat

Kitties All Around - a pattern by La Visch Designs

Are you a cat lover? I know I am! I love to surround myself with those furry critters and enjoy their soothing purr. Kitties All Around is a cute hat with cables and texture to create a kitty cat motif. Twisted stitches are worked to make the motif “pop” from the reverse stockinette background.

This pattern contains instructions for 4 sizes, ranging from child to adult. The Kitties All Around hat is seamless and knitted from the bottom up. The instructions for the cat motif are provided both charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €4.90)

€