Thursday, July 1, 2010

Remembering your increases and decreases

I finished the lace portion of my Leaf Yoke top. My gauge here is tighter than the pattern instructed, but I know that I can block it out. Also, the gauge in the pattern was stated for the body, and my gauge here is correct. I really like the shaping of the pattern and I think I should be done by the end of the weekend. I love that it is knit in the round. After the shaping, then it should be pretty brainless until I get to the hem. One of my friends repeated the lace pattern for her top's hem, but I think I will knit the hem as instructed in the pattern. It is a new design element that I never had the chance to try. Perfect!

KITR (knit in the round) should be my middle name. I don't think I have ever knit anything that I had to seam, in fact. Even the doll clothes that I made for my niece last year were knit in the round with small needles.

When I started knitting sweaters, I often forgot to knit the last decrease or increase...the one before the EOR marker. I don't know why.

To remedy this, I do the increases and decreases in 2 sets. This is what I mean:

Most patterns written for knitting in the round instruct you to:
1) (at the beginning of the proper round) K* (with * dependent on the designer) and ssk
2) knit to * stitches before the next marker and k2tog, knit to marker
3) slip marker, knit*, ssk
4) knit to * stitches before the EOR marker, k2tog, knit to end of round

Instead, I do the increases/decreases in 2 sets (one per marker):

(instructions are to decrease the number of stitches):
1) * stitches before the appropriate row, k2tog, knit to end, sm, k*, ssk, knit to * before the next marker.
2) k2tog, knit to marker, sm, k*, ssk, knit to EOR.

Repeat as necessary. I perform the increase rows the same way, but substitute M1R and M1L respectively.

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