knitting

tutorial: Russian bind-off on the purl side

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

In a previous post I have shown you my favorite method of binding off: The Russian bind-off method. This is a very elegant way to bind-off your knitting project to get a very elastic edge on your piece. This is often important to me, because I knit a lot of lace shawls. Knitted lace usually shows its beauty best when it has been gently washed and blocked out. This is only possible if the edge has plenty of stretch.

But what if you need to cast off from the wrong side of the work? Think of a situation that you don’t have enough yarn to knit another row before binding off. In such a case, it is nice to know that you can also bind-off the Russian way on the wrong or purl side of your work!

In short instructions for a Russian bind-off on the purl side may look like this:
Russian bind-off on the WS: *P2tog, slip stitch from right-hand back to the left-hand needle; repeat from * to end.

The Russian bind-off on the purl side step-by-step

For this tutorial I have prepared a little swatch to bind off:

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

1. Purl the first 2 stitches together.

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

2. Slip the new stitch on right hand needle back to the left hand needle.

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all stitches have been worked. On the wrong side of the work this will look as follows:

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

And on the right side of the work the Russian bind-off on the purl side will look like this:

Tutorial Russian bind-off on the purl side by La Visch Designs

Looking good, right?!

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tutorial: Estonian lace knitting – nupps

Knitting nupps

Maybe you are already familiar with them: Those funny little buttons that give beautiful lace shawls texture. Take for example the beautiful Luule shawl pictured below. A nupp (rhymes with “soup”) is a characteristic of lace as traditionally knit in Estonia.

by La Visch Designs

The special thing of Estonian lace knitting is that besides the openwork it also contains a lot of texture. As a result, in lace knitting in the Estonian tradition there are many stitches that you will probably encounter (almost) nowhere else.

History of lace knitting in Estonia

The tradition of knitting lace shawls in Estonia, began about 200 years ago in the city Haapsalu. From the early 18th century until about 1918 Haapsalu was a popular destination for Russian tourists. To benefit from this tourism the women of Haapsula started selling their knitted lace shawls.

The story goes that these shawls were sold by weight. And because nupps consume a lot of yarn, a pattern with many nupps increase the weight of the resulting shawl considerably. This is the reason that the characteristic Estonian lace patterns have been devised in such a way that they combine the so popular delicate appearance as well as many nupps.

In this post I want to show you how to knit nupps.

Knitting nupps step by step

Knitting nupps is actually a 2-step process: first stitches are increased and in the following wrong side row all these stitches are decreased back to 1 stitch by purling them all together.

1 . To start knit 1 stitch, leaving the original stitch on the left hand needle. Make sure to knit loosely.

Knitting nupps

2. Make a yarn over on the right hand needle.

Knitting nupps

3. Again knit 1 stitch loosely, leaving the original stitch on the left hand needle.

Knitting nupps

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 once more (for a five-stitch nupp), and then slip the original stitch of the left hand needle. You know have 5 stitches where there originally only was 1. The result will look something like this:

Knitting nupps

5. For this example, I set up several nupps in the same row:

Knitting nupps

6. On the following wrong side row the nupps will be completed. The clusters of five stitches look like this from the wrong side of the fabric:

Knitting nupps

7. Insert your needle in all five stitches at the same time to purl them together. This works best if you have made the new stitches for the nupps loosely and when using sharp knitting needles.

Knitting nupps

8. Once purled together it looks like this:

Knitting nupps

And this is how it looks on the right side of the work:

Knitting nupps
When knit in a thin yarn nupps will of course look very different from the ones in the worsted weight yarn I used for this tutorial. Depending on the effect you want to achieve you can make 5-stitch, 7-stitch or even 9-stitch nupps. Just repeat steps 2 and 3 as desired.

And don’t forget:

  • Knit loosely.
  • Use sharp needles.
  • Use a crochet hook to purl the nupps stitches together if you have to.
  • Don’t sweat it if they don’t turn out the way you want at first: it is only yarn!

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diva

Diva Shawl by La Visch Designs

Like a true Diva, this design is glamorous and truly eye-catching with its exquisite lace border. The stockinette body lets that special skein of fingering weight yarn really shine.

Diva is a semi-circle Pi shawl worked from the top-down, started with a garter stitch tab. The lace in the border is patterned on both right side and wrong side rows. Instructions are provided both charted and written out.


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Size and finished measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: span width of 142 cm (56 inches) and a depth of 50 cm (19 ½ inches), measured after blocking.

Difficulty

Knit this half-circle shawl from the top down, starting with a garter tab cast-on. The lace border contains patterning on both sides of the fabric. Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, M1, kfb, skp, k2tog, p2tog, p2tog tbl as well as a centered double decrease.

The pattern is therefor suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Pattern details

  • Worked flat back and forth
  • Gauge is not critical in this design. For the sample shawl: 15 sts / 12 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: 100 g / 400 m (437 yds) Diva Sock Glitter by Dutch Wool Diva [75% Merino wool, 20% nylon, 5% silver stellina]. Substitute any fingering weight yarn for a similar result. Please note that while this pattern can use more variegation in the yarn than most lace, it will be best displayed using a solid or tonal colored yarn.
  • Size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles.
  • Yarn needle
  • 31 stitch markers (optional)

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tutorial: 3-needle bind-off

a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Binding off with the 3-needle bind off method is a way to bind off and connect two sets of live stitches, each on their own knitting needle. It is often used to close the shoulder seams from sweaters that are knitted bottom-up. It can for example also be used to close a cowl in the round, that has been started with a provisional cast on and knit flat.When connecting the pieces of your work with the right sides against each other, then the seam will be on the inside of your work. When placing wrong sides together, then the seam on the outside. This can be very nice as a design element because this method of binding off / closing the seam yields a very neat seam.

The 3-needle bind off step by step

1. To bind off this way, you will need two sets of stitches, each in their own knitting needle, and a third knitting needle to work with. Please note that both sets should contain the same number of stitches. Otherwise, you will have a problem with remaining stitches that cannot be cast off, because the other needle is already “empty.”

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

2. Hold in one hand both needles with stitches. In this example I have placed the right sides together, to get the seam on the wrong side of the work.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

3. Insert the third knitting needle into the first stitch on the front needle as if to knit as usual, then immediately after that do the same with the first stitch on the needle at the back.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

4. Wrap yarn around the needle as usual …

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

5. … and pull it through both stitches.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

6. Next slip both first stitches from the 2 left-hand needles to complete the stitch.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

7. Repeat steps 3 to 6, you now have two stitches on your right-hand needle.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

8. Slip the first stitch on your right-hand needle over the second stitch to bind off one stitch.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

9. Repeat steps 3 to 8 until all stitches have been worked. You can now break your yarn and pull it through the last live stitch on your right-hand needle to finish.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

The result will be as pictured below. On the left, you see how the seam is on the right side of the work looks and on the left how it looks on the wrong side.

3-needle bind off - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

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tutorial: crochet provisional cast on

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

A provisional cast on is a way to make it possible to “release” the initially cast on stitches and knit with them in the other direction of the piece. This can be very useful, for example when knitting a completely symmetrical stole. Most cast ons have a different look than the bind off, but when completely avoiding a visible cast on, both ends will have exactly the same bind off look.

I really like the crochet provisional cast on, because it is also very simple and can be undone quickly. Besides the yarn for your project, you will also need a length of (smooth) waste yarn in a contrasting color and a crochet hook.Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Crochet provisional cast-on step by step

1. Make slipknot with the waste yarn (pink in the example) and place it around the hook.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

2. Get your knitting needle and put it on the piece of yarn as pictured and pull up a loop through the loop on the hook. This is actually pretty similar to crochet a slip stitch around the knitting needle.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

3. Wrap the yarn around the knitting needle again and make another slip stitch around the needle.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

 

4. Repeat this until you have made the desired number of stitches (loops) on the knitting needle.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

5. Next, crochet a small chain of about five stitches, break the yarn and pull the yarn tail through the last stitch.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Now you can start your knitting project with the good yarn, using the temporary stitches on the needle. In the example after the temporary set-up I started with a small swatch of green.

Undoing the crochet provisional cast-on

The whole idea of a provisional cast on is of course that this is a temporary cast on. In the next couple of steps I will show you how to undo the cast on and free up the stitches for further knitting.

6. The side where you have created the crocheted chain, is the beginning. Loosen the yarn tail again and gently pull out the stitches of the chain.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

7. Once a stitch of the project itself is released, catch it with your knitting needle. Note: In this example, I catch the stitches from the wrong side of the work from bottom to top. This releases the stitches in such a manner that their orientation on the needle will be twisted. If you catch the stitches from top to bottom instead, the orientation of the stitches will be as usual.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

8. Pull for each stitch the waste yarn a bit more out of the work.

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

9. The last stitch might look like a weird half kind of stitch. Count your stitches to be sure that you have the correct number.

Now you can continue knitting on this side of the piece! Take care to see whether the stitches are positioned normal or twisted:

Making a crochet provisional cast-on - a tutorial by La Visch DesignsLeft in this picture is the regular orientation, on the right, there is a twisted stitch on the needle. This is no problem though: Just knit (or purl) the twisted stitch through the back loop to untwist the stitch mount.

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tutorial: binding off when yarn has run out

a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Of course, you always make sure that you have enough yarn left to bind off your project. I myself like to weigh the amount of yarn each row or round uses when I’m nearing the end of the project (or yarn!). This way I can make sure I have enough left to bind off. Depending on the type of bind off I plan on using, I know I have to reserve about twice or three times the amount of the last row.

However, it won’t hurt to know more about binding off when yarn has run out, in case of emergency. You know, in that very rare situation that you have lost that game of yarn chicken… Mind you, this is really only an option in special cases, because this bind off tends to be quite tight. This lack of elasticity makes it not really suitable for things like neck openings of sweaters. I wouldn’t use it for projects to be blocked out significantly for best results, like lace, either.

Binding off when yarn has run out – step by step

1. In the picture below you can see that there is very little yarn left: Too little to bind off the normal way.

Binding off when yarn has run out - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

2. Slip the first stitch knit-wise from the left to the right needle.

Binding off when yarn has run out - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

3. Slip the next stitch from your left needle knit-wise to the right needle.

Binding off when yarn has run out - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

4. Pass the first slipped stitch on the right needle over the second stitch.

Binding off when yarn has run out - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until all stitches have been bound off.

Binding off when yarn has run out - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

6. As you can see in the picture above, there will be leftover yarn on the right while you have one last loop remaining on the left side. If the work must be joined in the round, you can connect it by pulling the remaining yarn through the last live stitch, securing the end by weaving it in. If the work will remain flat, you need about 10 cm of yarn from the yarn end to secure this last live stitch. Cut this length, pull it through the stitch and weave all the loose ends in.

Not ideal, but a good technique to know in case it is ever needed!

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old school gaming hat

Old School Gaming hat by La Visch Designs

Old School Gaming Hat is a simple hat with a folded brim and fun stranded color work depicting old school gaming characters. With only two colors for the color work, this hat knits up super quick and is a great first stranded project for anyone who has never attempted this technique before.

This pattern contains instructions for three adult sizes when worked in an aran weight yarn. Use a DK or light worsted weight yarn instead for sizes suitable for children from 3 months old and upwards.

The Old School Gaming Hat is completely seamless and knitted from the bottom up. The color work pattern for the body of the hat is provided charted only. All other instructions are in written form


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Difficulty level

The Old School Gaming Hat is seamless and knit in the round from the bottom up. This pattern involves following a color chart and working in stranded knitting. An alternative technique for creating the design is to duplicate stitch this design onto the hat after knitting.

Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog and the M1 increase. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

Adult sizes S (M, L) to fit size: 46-53 (53-60, 60-67) cm, 18-21 (21-24, 24-27) inches.
Children’s sizes 3M (6-12M, child-teen) to fit size: 33-38 (38-43, 43-48) cm, 13-15 (15-17, 17-19) inches.

Pattern details

  • Worked in the round
  • Gauge for adult sizes in aran weight yarn: 17 sts / 24 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette, knit with larger needles and measured after blocking.
  • Gauge for children’s sizes in DK or light worsted weight yarn: 19 sts / 26 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette, knit with larger needles and measured after blocking.
  • Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
  • Digital PDF has 3 pages (A4 size)

Materials

  • Yarn: In the adult sized aran weight sample Peruvian Highland Wool by Filcolana [100% wool; 100 m (109 yds) per 50 g skein] was used. Substitute any wool aran weight yarn for a similar teen/adult sized result. For a child sized hat, choose a DK or light worsted weight yarn instead.
    • Main color: 100 (125, 150) m (110 (135, 165) yds) / 50 (62, 75) g in gray.
    • Contrast color 1: 21 (26, 32) m (22 (28, 33) yds) / 27 (30, 32) g in pink.
    • Contrast color 2: 21 (26, 32) m (22 (28, 33) yds) / 27 (30, 32) g in yellow.
  • Needles in your preferred style for small circumference knitting in the round in the following sizes (or to match gauge):
    • Adult sizes knit in aran weight yarn: Size 4 mm (US 6) and size 4.5 mm (US 7).
    • Children’s sizes knit in DK or light worsted weight yarn: Size 3.5 mm (US 4) and size 4 mm (US 6).
  • Yarn needle
  • 1 end-of-round stitch marker
  • 3 (4, 5) differently colored stitch markers (optional)

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tutorial: horizontal 1-row buttonhole

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

Many projects are not really finished until buttons and buttonholes are added. A simple buttonhole for small buttons is made by making a yarnover, followed by knitting 2 stitches together. This decrease is needed to keep the total number of stitches the same. For larger buttons and a firmer and neater buttonhole I very much like a horizontal 1-row buttonhole, which basically is a buttonhole knitted over 1 row.

In this post, I’ll show you how to make such a buttonhole. If you want to try it yourself, be sure to practice first on a swatch. It may take a few times to make nice consistent buttonholes!

The horizontal 1-row buttonhole step by step

1. First, you must decide where you want to place the buttonhole and how big it should be. Make the buttonhole just big enough to be able to just pass your button through. Much bigger and it will loosen too easily, smaller and buttons are difficult to open and close. This is also a matter of trying out. In this example, I will be placing the buttonhole somewhere in the middle of the sample piece.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

2. Once you get to the point where you want to begin the buttonhole, bring your yarn between the needles to the front. Then slip 1 stitch purlwise from the left needle to the right needle. Next, bring the yarn to the back of the work again.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

3. Slip 1 stitch purlwise from the left needle to the right needle.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

4. Pass the second stitch on your right needle over the first stitch.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as often as necessary to get the correct number of cast-off stitches for the size button chosen. In this example I repeated steps 3 and 4 twice.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

6. Now slip the first stitch from the right needle back to the left needle.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

7. Turn your work and pull the yarn tight to prevent holes and loose stitches next to the buttonhole.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

8. Now cast-on stitches, for example by knitting them on, or by using the backward-loop method. Cast-on the number of stitches you have cast-off earlier, plus 1 extra. In the example I cast-on a total of 4 stitches.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

9. Turn piece again and slip the first stitch purl-wise from your left to your right needle.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

10. Pass the second stitch on your right needle (the last cast-on extra stitch) over the first stitch.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

11. Now slip the first stitch from your right needle back to the left needle and continue knitting according to your pattern.

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

And this is how your horizontal 1-row buttonholehole will look:

Tutorial horizontal 1-row buttonhole - by La Visch Designs

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enigma

Enigma

Enigma is a cozy layering piece, perfect for those times that you just want to wrap up in warm woolens. With its easy construction and textured stitch patterns, Enigma is an interesting but relaxing knit.


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Difficulty level

Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog, skp, yo and a centered double decrease. This pattern is suitable for the beginning knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

This pattern includes 5 sizes: XS (S/M, L/XL, 2XL/3XL, 4XL). For more sizing information, please see the data page in the picture gallery below. The pattern is written for an over-sized relaxed fit. Instructions are included to customize the fit of the garment.

Pattern details

  • Worked flat
  • Written for a gauge of approx. 14 sts / 20 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over in Double Moss stitch using larger size needles, after blocking.
  • Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie).
  • Digital PDF has 4 pages in the English version and 5 in the Dutch version (A4 size)

Materials

  • 720 (790, 840, 850, 900) m (790 (860, 915, 930, 980) yards) / 360 (395, 420, 425, 450) g or 8 (8,9,9,9) balls of Ístex Létt-Lopi [100 % wool, 100 m (109 yards) per 50 gram skein]. Substitute any aran weight single ply type yarn for a similar result.
  • Size 4.5 mm (US 7) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needle (because of the large number of stitches) or size needed to obtain gauge and a size 4 mm (US 6) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needle.
  • Yarn needle
  • Waste yarn for provisional cast on and holding stitches
  • 2 stitch markers
  • Crochet hook equivalent to the smaller size knitting needles (optional – for seaming using sl st only)

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tutorial: Russian bind-off

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

You probably already know that there are many different ways to bind off. A problem that sometimes occurs is that the bind off too tight. That is when you get the sweaters were no head fits through the neck opening, or those toe-up knitted socks where no foot can be put in and lace shawls that can’t be blocked out to reveal their patterning.

Of course, you can choose to go up in needle size when binding off. However, a too loose bind off is not pretty either… What to do? In these cases, my go-to bind off is the Russian bind-off. This is an elegant way to get a very elastic edge on your piece. This is often important to me because I knit a lot of lace shawls.

In patterns you may encounter the following instructions for this type of bind off:
Russian bind-off: K1, * k1, slip stitches from right-hand back to left-hand needle and k2tog tbl. Repeat from * to end.

The Russian bind-off step by step

1. Knit the first stitch.

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

2. Knit the next stitch

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

3. Slip the two stitches on your right-hand needle back to your left-hand needle.

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

4. Knit these two stitches together through the back loop.

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until you have reached the end. The result on a piece in stockinette stitch will look like this:

Tutorial on how to work the Russian bind-off - La Visch Designs

Tip

The Russian bind-off can for example also be used to bind off in rib pattern. You only need to adjust step 2 of the above instructions: Knit the knit stitches that you encounter and purl the purl stitches. That’s all there is to it!

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