I am trying to knit the button band of a cardigan - my first ever.
I followed the pattern instructions but the band came out way too short, curling up the cardigan so much that even good blocking wouldn’t have stretch it. I thought it could be due to my cast off being too tight, but I wasn’t pulling much because of fear of snapping the yarn (it was an Italian cast off with a very long working yarn) so it seems odd. So I think that perhaps the number of stitches I picked up was just not enough.
The button band is a 1x1 rib. The cardigan has a ribbed band at the bottom, and the rest follows a basket pattern with garter edge (i.e. all k1 at edges). The pattern says to ‘pick 5 stitches and skip 1’ all around the collar.
I did some maths with my gauge, and in theory that’s correct, I should pick up 5 stitches and skip one. BUT… I understand that one garter edge counts actually as 2 rows, so if I pick up one stitch on each garter stitch (either on the ‘bump’ or under the ‘bridge’ of the stitch) I’m picking up one stitch every two rows, rather than every row as I should. Is this correct? If it is, then I should pick up 2 stitches on each garter stitch but I’m not sure how as I haven’t seen any tutorials online, and I haven’t seen this suggested anywhere so it seems odd.
Am I missing something?
I’m a beginner so I might just be misunderstanding something basic!
These can be something that requires more than one attempt to get it right. I’m sure there are all sorts of recommendations out there but the usual ratio for garter stitch it to pick up 2sts for every 3 rows.
In this video Suzanne Bryan is picking up one stitch per every 2 rows or one stitch per every ridge and that seems to work and is easier to count.
Give that a try and see how it works. You’re right that a good, stretchy cast off is important too.
I’m interpreting your post as saying that only the edge stitch is in garter and that the body of the cardigan is in a different stitch pattern?
If so, you’ll need more stitches than if the whole body is in garter.
Was your tight button band when you were picking up 5 out of 6 stitches? If so, you may need to use a bigger needle.
With the garter edge, you’d pick one stitch up on the bump and the next, in the bridge, and skip the relevant 6th stitch.
I’m not sure why so many patterns have a garter selvage stitch. I usually omit it as I find it harder when picking up stitches and when seaming. But I may be missing something!!!
Hi Mel61, thanks for your reply.
So the edge of the cardigan is always k1 on both rs and ws. The rest of the cardigan follows a basket pattern which is blocks of k1,k1,k1 and p1,p1,p1,p1,p1 repeated over and over, and alternating on the following row. The pattern I’m using is Korshavn Cardigan.
When I picked up stitches along the ribbing band it seemed to work OK, but along the rest of the cardigan the band was crunching up the fabric quite a bit. Then the Italian bind off made it all even worst.
So it sounds like you agree and that my intuition may be correct, which is reassuring! I’ll try and pick up 2 stitches on each garter stitch along my edge and see what happens. And also do a much looser bind off. Fingers crossed!
Thank you! I watched this video many times, and that’s where I learnt it’s better to pick up stitches on the bump of the garter edge. However, it really didn’t work as well for me and not sure why… I’ve now blocked the body of the cardigan which I hadn’t before my first attempt and the button band, and will try again. I suspect that the button band may also relax a lot after wetting the project, so perhaps it would not crunch so much?
Yes, the buttonbands will likely relax a bit. I actually prefer that the buttonbands are slightly short. They lengthen with wearing and gravity. If the bands are too tight however, that’s not good and it’ll help to re-pick up the sts.
That said, if the edge stitch is k1 on WS and RS, and only one stitch wide, you can pick up between the edge stitch and the basket pattern blocks. In that case it’s easier to pick up between the ladders that connect sts and pick up 3sts for every 4 rows of the basket blocks.
What is the name of your pattern and designer?
Yes, effectively your body gauge is more similar to stocking stitch than garter. As salmonac says pick up a whole stitch in from the side. You don’t want to see the garter selvage from the front. If you only pick up half a stitch in, you’ll get a gappy join. Good luck!
Lycia it’s good to persevere in getting the band as you like it and I hope your next attempt is successful. I look forward to seeing your finished project.
Yes, the garter edge is just a single stitch wide. Your knit fabric is stockinette (and reverse stockinette). Picking up 3sts for every 4 rows of stockinette means picking up more than one stitch for every 2 rows (one stitch per ridge). It’ll give you a longer buttonband that won’t scrunch up the sweater front.
Pick up in the join of the garter edge and the next stitch in from the edge. Ignore the garter selvedge sttich. https://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/pick-up-and-knit-stitches
!
The right leg of the edge sts has the red dots. I’m picking up 3sts for every 4 rows. The picked up sts are between the edge stitch and the main body of the sweater.
OK so now I think I worked out the number of stitches issue. But I’m having another issue when picking up stitches on the front LEFT panel!
There are big gaps forming along the edge, just under the bridge of the garter stitch. However this doesn’t happen along the right side which seems very odd to me.
I picked up one stitch on the purl ‘bump’ of the garter selvedge and one under the two legs of the ‘bridge’ of the stitch, and I got these holes:
Since I took the picture above, I changed my pick up technique going inside the purl bump of the garter as shown in this video, rather than picking up the ‘hat’ of the purl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J_cgTAjapo. Now the holes are less obvious, but the finish is not as neat as the right side still and I’d like to know why!
This is the right side - no gaps:
So I’m thinking maybe there’s an issue with how I did the decreases on the front left panel?
The pattern doesn’t specify which decrease to use. It just says to decrease one every ws row. So my thinking was: since the cardigan follows a basket weave pattern, sometimes the decreases happen to be on a knit, some others on a purl row. So I need to ssk on knits and p2tg on purls to get a right slant on the rs of the fabric.
I also kept the garter selvedge as the pattern didn’t specify I should not. So I always knit the first and last stitch of each row, and decreased one stitch in from the edge. But now I think that maybe that’s the issue? Maybe I should have scrapped the garter selvedge, and just decreased the first stitch??
Decreasing one or two stitches in from the edge is a good way to do the decreases. You’re correct that to maintain the slant on one edge you need to work k2tog and p2tog to maintain the slant to the right. On the other edge, ssk and p2tog through the back loop maintains the slant to the left.
Picking up the bridge over the decreases is a weak point since it adjoins the decrease. Picking up a stitch emphsizes that opening because it pulls on it. It would be better to pick up on the row before or row after the decrease. Working the decreases two sts in from the edge would allow you to pick up between knits or purls rather than between a stitch and a decrease.
I’m not clear why the designer has a garter selvedge or any selvedge since you’re going to cover over the edge when you pick up sts. There won’t be a conventional seam here or an esposed edge (as in a scarf). I usually leave the selvedge stitch and knit in pattern for a seam or pick up.
“Work back and forth according chart A, while at the same time, cast off the row’s 1st st for the v-neck shaping every other row. […] Start with the decreases for the v-neck shaping as follows:
The next rs-row, cast off the 1st st at the neckline and continue in established pattern”
The ‘established pattern’ in chart A has the selvedge stitch, so that’s why I chose to keep it. How would you interpret it?
