Does my topic make sense?? I’m ready to put the ribbed collar on my baby sweater (pattern here: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/655.html if you are registered with lionbrand.com). And I’m having trouble getting the stitches picked up correctly.
I have 4 on a holder a space of cast-off area that needs to have 7 or 8 picked up, another 26 on a holder, a second space for 7 or 8 picked up and then 4 more on a holder. The working yarn is still attached to one end of the 26 on the center holder. I did one baby bootie that had you pick up stitches out of the knots on the edges (not with a new strand of yarn unless I misread it then, too)… I’m pretty lost.
When you are instructed to PICK UP stitches for a neckline, for example, some of the stitches will be new pickups, and some may be already in reserve on holders and you knit those onto the needle as they present themselves to you…then you may move on into another blank area again, where you will need to pick up new stitches again…etc. I use a crochet hook to create new pickup stitches.
Yes, Thank you!!! I had been thinking I was supposed to somehow continue using the strand that was still attached to the center live stitches on the holder and still to the ball of yarn. I’m realizing now that I just need to cut that one and start a new strand for the cast-on and beyond.
Out of curiosity, is it normal to have an easier time picking up stitches on one side of a symmetrical thing than the other? I’ve had a hard time getting the left dip of the neckline to look as nice as the right side and I"m wondering if casting it all on at once (not in symmetrical halves) does make that more challenging.
Yes, it is normal. I always have to tweak and re-tweak the neckline stitches for one of the sides. And I will re-tweak it til I get it right. Very important to have the neckline looking perfect. It is one of the most visible parts of the sweater because it is close to your face.
As I said, I use a crochet hook to pull the pickup stitches through the edge of the neckline…I pickup about 6-10 at a time onto the crochet hook, then offload them from the other end onto the knitting needle. I put stitch markers in place to mark the number of stitches. I remove the stitch markers after about the 2nd row.
I use a Crystal Palace bamboo crochet hook for this process because it is perfectly round, with no thumb or finger rests making it wider in areas.
Load 'em on at the hook end…load 'em off at the other end right onto the waiting knitting needle!
Be careful where you insert your crochet hook into on the edge of the neckline. It is always tricky, and never quite the same. It depends on how the neckline decreases were done. I don’t usually work the decreases at the very edge. I work the decreases at least one stitch in…like instead of involving the 1st and 2nd stitch in the K2T or the SSK…I use the 2nd and 3rd stitch from the end for the K2Tog or the SSK. I usually maintain my edge stitch as pure and true as possible. It makes for much easier seaming, and of course, for the neckline, it makes for easier picking up of stitches for the collar or neckband.