Whether we use the classic way to pick up stitches from an edge of a project, or a neater alternative to the classic method, we inevitably form a ridge on the wrong side of the fabric.
This imperfection is especially annoying when we add bands to cardigans, blankets, shawls and other reversible projects.
We learned to accept this issue as a fact of life, but it doesn’t have to be this way. With just a little bit of effort, we can decorate our projects with neckbands and button bands that look the same on both sides of the work.
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This method is used by professional knitwear designers, but we can easily apply it to hand knits to give our knitted creations a special treatment.
All it takes is one additional set of circular needles and three simple steps.
STEP 1
1.1. Place your project so that the right side of the fabric is facing you. Take a circular needle in your right hand. The circular needle should be in the same size as the needle that you plan to use to knit the band.
1.2. Insert the tip of the circular needle from front to back into the first spot at the very right side of the future band.
If you pick up stitches from a horizontal edge of the project, that spot will be inside the first stitch at the very top of the right side of the fabric.
If you pick up stitches from a vertical edge, insert the right needle under the first two strands (classic method) or the first strand (neater alternative) at the right side of the edge.
I will follow the classic way of picking up stitches, so I inserted the right needle under the first two strands from the edge of my swatch.
1.3. Wrap the right needle with the yarn just as we do when we knit a stitch.
To make the very first stitch, fold the working yarn leaving a tail that is long enough to weave in later on, and place this fold on the tip of the right needle.
1.4. Pull the yarn through the fabric to form a new stitch on the right needle.
Repeat steps 1.2 through 1.4 until you pick up all stitches you need to make a band.
When we pick up stitches from a horizontal edge, in most cases, we pick up one stitch from every stitch of the fabric.
When we pick up stitches from a vertical edge, things get more complicated. Depending on the stitch pattern of your project, you might need to pick up one stitch from each row of the fabric, or from every other row, or skip every fourth row, or use a different approach.
The pattern that you follow will tell you how many stitches to pick up and it will explain how exactly you should do it.
If you “whip-up” a project without a pattern, the general guideline is to pick up one stitch from every garter ridge if the project is made in garter stitch, and three stitches out of every four rows of a project worked in the stockinette stitch pattern.
My swatch is made in stockinette stitch, so I skipped every fourth row of the fabric as I was picking up stitches from the edge of the fabric.
1.5. Now that we have all stitches lined up on the right needle, we are going to work them in stockinette stitch for two rows or rounds.
You can work them in the stitch pattern of the band right away, but it seems that working the first two rows or rounds in stockinette stitch makes the band look cleaner and more elegant.
If you make a neckband of a sweater, knit all stitches for two rounds.
If the band is worked back and forth, purl all stitches in the first row and knit them in the next row.
Move all stitches of this mini-band to a cable of the circular needle.
STEP 2
In this step, we’ll make a “mirror mini-band” – a piece of fabric that looks exactly like the mini-band that we’ve knitted in the previous step, but on the wrong side of the fabric.
2.1. Turn the fabric so that the wrong side is facing you and take the other needle in your right hand.
If you make a neckband of a sweater, it will be another circular needle. For a band worked back and forth, it could be any type of needle you like. Because my swatch is not wide, I’ll use one of my favourite double-pointed needles.
2.2. Insert the tip of the right needle from the bottom up under the purl bar of the first picked-up stitch at the right side of the fabric.
To make sure you can clearly see those purl bars, uncurl the very edge of the fabric and look for a line of bars that runs perpendicular to the lines of rows of the fabric. Note that the first bar will be at the far right side of the edge.
Because we moved the stitches of the first mini-band to a cable of the circular needle, the picked-up stitches are loose, and it is fairly easy to insert the right needle under each purl bar.
2.3. Wrap the right needle with the yarn (the same strand that we used to make the first mini-band) as we do when we knit a stitch.
2.4. Pull the yarn through to form a new stitch on the right needle.
Repeat steps 2.2 through 2.4 until you pick up one stitch from a purl bar of each stitch that we picked up in step 1. The number of stitches on your right needle should be the same as the number of stitches resting on the cable of a circular needle.
2.5. Just as we did with the first mini-band, we’ll work all stitches in stockinette stitch for two rows or rounds.
The point in making a mini-band at each side of the project is to hide the ridge formed at the edge of the fabric inside the band. We do it by joining the mini-bands, and we’ll do it in the next step.
STEP 3
The process is similar to the three-needle bind off method but with one important difference – we won’t bind off stitches. We’ll simply join the stitches of both mini-bands into one set of stitches that we’ll use to make the band.
3.1. We start by turning the work and moving the stitches of the first mini-band from the cable to the tip of the circular needle so that the mini-bands are aligned, the tips of the needles are pointing to the right, and the yarn is at the right side of the fabric.
3.2. To knit a stitch, bring the yarn to the back of the work. Then insert the tip of the right needle (it could be the other tip of the circular needle or the other single-pointed or double-pointed needle) from left to right into the first stitch on the front needle and into the first stitch on the back needle.
3.3. Wrap the right needle with the yarn the same way as we do when we knit a stitch.
3.4. Pull the yarn through both stitches.
If you find it difficult to pull the yarn through both stitches in one smooth move (especially if you work with the yarn as thick as the yarn in my swatch), pull the yarn through one stitch first, and then pull it through the other stitch.
3.5. Slip both stitches off the needles.
3.6. To purl a stitch, bring the yarn to the front of the work. Then insert the tip of the right needle from right to left into the first stitch on the back needle and into the first stitch on the front needle.
3.7. Wrap the right needle with the yarn the same way as we do when we purl a stitch.
3.8. Pull the yarn through both stitches.
3.9. Slip both stitches off the needles.
Repeat steps 3.2 through 3.5 to knit the stitches that should be knitted and steps 3.6 through 3.9 to purl all stitches that should be purled according to the stitch pattern that you use to make the band.
The band in my swatch will be worked in the 1 x 1 ribbing pattern, so I alternated knit and purl stitches as I was working this row.
Continue to work on these stitches until the band is as long as it should be. Then bind off all stitches.
For best results, bind off stitches in pattern. It means working each stitch in the established pattern (knitting the knits and purling the purls) before you bind off that stitch.
To make the edge of the band more elastic, use the yarn over bind off for ribbing also known as Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off or sewn bind off.
When it is time to weave in yarn tails, hide them inside the tube formed by two mini-bands. This way, the tails won’t show on either side of the work.
HERE’S A VIDEO TUTORIAL THAT SHOWS EVERY STEP
With a band like this, you won’t worry that someone will see the wrong side of your project. All they will see is what an amazingly skilled knitter you are.
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This and 36 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #7.
