Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I have been on here. Once school started things have just been constantly happening. Afterschool activities and the chores and errands I need to finish during the day have taken over. Lately though I have been finding time to work on some of my Christmas knitting but am having a hard time understanding the directions on one of my projects at the moment.
I am working on the Lion brand wool-ease thick & quick fast & easy sweatshirts (it is from a booklet of patterns of theirs I purchased). I started the front and the directions are trying to tell me how to start a pocket, but I have never done that before so I don’t know if it is looking like what it is supposed to look like. I will give you the directions and tell you where my trouble lies.
Work ribbing and 3 rows St st as for back ending with a WS row. Adding Pocket placement to front Work first 7 sts of front; place next 40 on a holder; keeping holder to RS of work, cast onto the right needle the same number of stitches until piece measures 12 1/2" from beg, ending with a WS row.
My question is, when I put the 40 sts on a holder, do I cast on with a new skein of yarn? Then, how do I work those to the end and is there supposed to be a big gap between the newly cast on yarn and the sts on the holder?
My brain just isn’t computing this, so thanks for any and all help!
My question is, when I put the 40 sts on a holder, do I cast on with a new skein of yarn? Then, how do I work those to the end and is there supposed to be a big gap between the newly cast on yarn and the sts on the holder?
You’ll put the 40 on the holder and cast on with the yarn that you’re using and continue knitting with that. The gap between the stitches on the holder and the back of the sweater is the pocket opening.
I’m guessing that the stitches on the holder will be ribbing to edge the pocket and that you will knit pocket linings to sew in.
This is probably a dumb question, but I have to make sure for myself. When you say I use the same skein of yarn to cast on, I assume I am supposed to cut it then and just leave a tail on the stitches on the holder right?
Thanks, it just looked so strange to me so it made me worry I wasn’t doing it right.
You should be able to knit up to the 40, put them on a holder, cast on 40 to your right needle and continue from there with the stitches on your left needle.
There shouldn’t be a need to cut or have a tail on anything. What you’re really creating here is a very big buttonhole, if that helps.
Hmm…I don’t think I have ever done a button hole before and I don’t know any other way of casting on than the slingshot cast on(I had to look in my book for the name of that, I usually just call it the knot starter thingy). How do I hold the yarn to cast on more stitches if it is already attached to the sweater?
Check out the videos on casting on in the Basic Techniques. Any of the single strand castons will work. You’ll hold your needle with the working yarn on it in your left hand to do the knitted or cable cast on and then switch back to continue knitting, or hold it in your right to do the backward loop.
The backward loop is the easiest, but it can be loose and a bit sloppy looking.