This section includes tutorials about knitting techniques that help us to add shaping to our projects. From several ways to work short rows to impeccable armhole shaping, there are a lot of helpful tips here.
Sometimes we want to show off the place where we add stitches to our project. We use decorative methods to increase stitches (like centred double increase, for example), and we stack the increases on top of each other to form distinct lines. But when we’d rather draw attention to the texture, colour, or construction of […]
“Work both sides at the same time”. “Finish both sides separately”. “Work both sides at once”. These instructions mean the same thing – we knit and purl two groups of stitches simultaneously. Usually, these groups of stitches are separated by a few stitches that we bind off in the middle of a row. It happens
This method is a fusion of two basic ways to add short-row shaping to our knits – yarn over short rows and turn and slip short rows. When used separately, each way has its drawbacks – loose stitches or visible holes. Combined and enhanced by a few adjustments, these methods form practically invisible short-row shaping.
When we bind off stitches in the middle of a row, as we do when we shape a neckline, we inevitably form a gap at the right-hand side of the bind off. This gap makes the shaping look sloppy, but more importantly, it often results in a hole when we pick up stitches from that
The easiest way to increase two stitches in one spot is to work into the same stitch three times—knit into the front leg, then the back leg, and finally, into the front leg again. This method works for adding stitches to any part of any project. No matter whether the project is worked flat or
When it is time to shape shoulders, the pattern will tell us to ” bind off 3 sts at beg next 6 rows”, “bind off 4 stitches at each shoulder edge 4 times”*, or it will give us row-for-row instructions telling us exactly what we should do in every row of the shaping. If we
It is not difficult to pick up stitches from an edge formed by the provisional cast on, but when we do it for the first time, the task could seem intimidating. If the live stitches sit on a piece of scrap yarn, they are often uneven and some of them could even be concealed, making
When we finish sweaters and cardigans, we often need to pick up and knit stitches along a neckline, an armhole or a vertical edge to make a neckband, an armhole band or a button band. The patterns usually instruct us to pick up stitches evenly. If we fail to do so, some segments of the
This method is a simplified variation of the shadow wrap short rows. The swatch at the left side of the photo below is shaped using the shadow wraps short rows, and the swatch on the right – using the lifted short rows method. We get the same almost invisible look of the short-row shaping but
It’s not that stitch markers are bad. No. They are very helpful tools, our big friends. But because we attach one marker each time we turn the work using the Japanese short rows method, the process of shaping gets really slow and all those small objects dangling on the wrong side of the work quickly
