Hi Everyone,
If a pattern says cast off loosely in rib, what does that mean?
Do I continue knitting and purling while casting off?
Cast off means to bind off. A plain bind off is usually done in knit, but you can also do it using purl stitches. Go to the top of this page under Basic Techniques and look at bind off and you’ll get lots of help.
Yes, to cast off/BO in ribbing means to knit/purl your stitch like you were doing in the ribbed section. When you BO, it only affects the stitch after it’s been worked.
sue
You would knit 1, purl 1 then bind off by pulling the knit stitch over the purl stitch. Be sure to keep it loose though because the bind off will affect the stretchyness of your project at that end.
I find that my casting off is fine except when it comes to my neckbands. I use round needles for the neck, and without fail, when I cast off, the collar becomes too tight. Is there a special technique for preventing this? I finally found in a knitting instruction book after some research the suggestion that one use needles up tp 2 sizes larger to keep the collar edging looser, but when I tried this, I still encountered a much tighter collar.
I would 
to learn any techniques for preventing this, especially because I will be doing a collar this week.
Thank you!
Evelynne
P.S. Perhaps there is a difference in the casting off tension between sticks and the round?
When you talk about doing a neckband, is it knit from stitches that you have picked up around the opening?? If your neckband is consistently too tight, I wonder if you are not picking up enough stitches?
Thank you for responding to my post.
I am referring to my casting off. Knitting the collar/neck is just fine until the very end when I am ready to cast off. Regardless of how “loose” I try to keep my casting off (my tension is usually not a problem), it is quite evident that the neck is finished too tight because the neck opening (a) has no give, and (b) if it is a turtleneck or a mock turtleneck, it actually curves inward rather than appearing straight. I have tried switching up to a larger needle size as suggested by one book, but this trick does not always work the best.
I am assuming that there is a better casting off method better suited for collars so that it does not tighten improperly. I do not have this problem when casting off on sleeves or on the back and front pieces. Only on the collars! :wall:
Does this make better sense? Thank you!
Evelynne
Knitqueen was asking if, when you make the collar or neckband, you pick up stitches or are they an extension of the back and front. If you don’t have enough stitches on the needles, it doesn’t matter how loosely you cast off, it won’t be large enough.
I am a little confused, when you say loosely, how can you ensure it is loose?
I generally go up a couple of needle sizes, but depending on the pattern of the neck, I will also bind off in pattern. Though one other suggestion I could make is, if you normally bind off in knit, you might also try a purl bind off. Figured I’d add my .02
suseeq:
Thanks for explaining the previous post to me, but this is not the problem. It have everything to do with the casting off itself which has me confused because my neck goes from perfect to curving inward after the casting off. My collars always err on the side of being too big rather than being too small. The first time I noticed this was on a sweater I knit for my mom - instead of being a nice relaxed collar, the moment I cast off, it tightened the edge so that it curls under making the collar look like a round ring.
Thank you.
Evelynne
KellieD:
What I mean by “loosely” is that I normally have a firm tension, but after I started having this problem, I would try keeping my tension less firm and more loose. However, this did not do the trick.
Thank you.
Evelynne
Rorshach:
Thank you for your suggestion. I have tried the 2 sizes up method which I found in a knitting book. At the time, I thought, “Aha! That’s it!” But I do not find that this helps me consistently - I still encountered the same problem on my last sweater which struck me as odd. And yes, I do knit according to pattern if called for (i.e. usually a ribbed style neckband or on several of my kids’ sweaters, a st st for six rows to make a little curl effect). Interesting that you find a purl bind off gives you .02 more.
My local knitting store offers a class on the various casting techniques, both on and off, which apparently can make a difference to your project - I would not be surprised if they address collars specifically, but I am hoping to find the answer here!
Thank you for your suggestions!
Evelynne
And you use the same size needles for the neck/collar as the rest of the sweater? Interesting that the whole thing appears to get tighter. Are you knitting in the round? Sometimes your tension will be different than knitting flat, so maybe use a larger needle for the whole thing, not just the BO.
sue
actually, all that .02 was “adding my 2 cents” which pretty much means I’m throwing in my idea.
Hello Sue!
Usually I use needles .5 mm or .75 mm smaller than the ones I use for knitting the main garment, as I do with a ribbed edge at the bottom of the garment and with the ribbed sleeves. This is why I am so ??? Maybe there is something to my casting off with the round needles versus the sticks after all. It is just so strange how the neck can be just fine, but the moment I cast off, the neck hole immediately becomes tighter and smaller. I think that switching to needles a full two sizes larger prior to the casting off is best for me to do, but it has not proven to be the answer 100% of the time. I just thought I would ask in case there might be an alternative way to cast off which would prevent this. So far it does not appear to be a common problem!
Thank you, Sue!
Evelynne
Rorshach:
Thanks for clarifying. My blond roots were showing when I read it quickly before posting a response! :oops:
Evelynne