I’m knitting a pair of wool pants for my ds. They are going to have an elastic waistband and I’m at the part where it’s telling me to close the waistband. I’m feeling a little intimidated by the instructions. Anyone know if there are any online visuals on how to do this?
What are the instructions calling for?
First it says I must fold the waistband over, with the cast on folding to the inside of the body. IT says to be sure that the fold is smooth and there are no wrinkles or puckers in the waistband. It says to look closely at the cats on row, and you will see that it has a smooth line for each stitch, with a purl-like bump behind that smooth line
It then says insert the left needle tip under the cast on (that smooth line part) so that the line now seems like a stitch on the left needle.
Knit the stitch and the cast on together (same as if they were two normal stitches and you were working a k2tog).
Repeat the two steps above until all but the last 5 stitches are worked.
I guess I should try it, eh? I’m just a little scared to try it. I don’t want to insert the needle into the wrong place. I wish I had someone here to show me.
And it’s saying to insert the left needle. Doesn’t that mean It’ll be like knitting backwards?
You won’t need to knit backwards. You will be picking up the stitches with the left needle, then knitting from the left needle.
I don’t think I’d get to panicked over it, though. It’ll be on the inside, right?
Ahhh. OK. It makes sense now, but that doesent mean it’ll make sense when I have those needles in my hand. :lol:
I guess it will be on the inside. I’m going to put my little one to bed and then have a go at it. :oo:
I think everything makes more sense with the needles in hand. Often, confusing directions suddenly click. :figureditout:
So far so good. :happydance: We’ll see how it looks when I get to the end.
Actually I have two more questions. How do I know how long the elastic should be and how do I go about inserting the elastic into the waistband?
The elastic should be a little smaller than the waist and you insert it by leaving about an inch of the band open, putting a large safety pin on one end of the elastic and scooching it through the waist band until you get around to the opening again. It helps to pin down the loose end of the elastic. Then sew up the opening.
sue
Ok, so I have yet another question about this waistband. :oops:
It says to leave the last 5 stitches unworked so that you have an opening to later thread the elastic through. The last set of instructions called “Finishing” instructs me to thread the elastic through the waistband.
So I’ve done all but the last 5 stitches but am not sure how to move onto the next step. I’ve got 5 stitches on my left needle unworked. Should I put them on a stitch holder? My next set of instructions are to “knit 45, kfab, knit 5, kfab…” with no mention of how to handle the 5 unworked stitches on my left needle.
bump
How about leave them on the stitch holder, thread the elastic through, then close up the waistband? Are you sure the next set of k45, kfb, k5, kfb are to be done at the waistband?
sue
No not really. The instructions say after I’ve closed all but the last 5 stitches to move onto body shaping. There are 3 options for body shaping and I choose “Increases”. The instructions say "Increase round, work as follows: knit 45, kfab, knit 5, kfab, …)
It doesn’t say anything about where I’m supposed to “knit 45” so I’m just assuming I keep going with what’s on my needles. :shrug:
Ugh! Patterns confuse me so much. Maybe I should try to contact the person I bought the pattern from. It’s the Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants pattern if anyone is familiar.
That sounds like a good idea. Maybe you’re supposed to pick up stitches somewhere…? :shrug:
sue
Ok, I just sent an email to the LTK site. Hopefully they get back to me soon. I want to knit!!!
I keep looking at the pattern and after I follow the next set of instructions it says “There are now 92 stitches on the needle.” My original cast on was 84 so I think that I’m supposed to just keep working the yarn that’s on my needles. :??
I’m going to wait to get confirmation on that though. Hopefully soon I’ll have an answer from someone. :pout:
Read ahead to the finishing instructions and see what it says about closing up the waistband. Sounds like you k 45 of the next stitches, then inc around and that will `grow’ into the body. Try it like that and see how it goes.
sue
“Finishing - Elastic Waist - Put a safety pin on the edge of the elastic to aid in threading it through the waistband. Insert it into the hole on the underside of the waistband where you left a small opening and pull it through the the waist, round to come out other hole again Pull the elastic so that it’s at the tension you want, then overlap the edges and sew securely with needle and thread. Whipstitch the opening in the waistband, using the cast on tail.”
OK, I think I’m just going to start knitting again. I see no other way then to just skip those 5 stitches and keep on knitting.
Ok - just got a response. She said to knit the last 5 stitches normally (without attaching them to the waistband) to the beginning of the round and then continue with the instructions.
I would’ve never known that. Shouldn’t that be part of the instructions.
Yes it should. Possibly an experienced knitter could figure out something that works, but it may not look so good. And a new knitter couldn’t figure it out very well either.
sue