Just got my new book Stitch-n-Bitch :cheering: yea, I’m a couple of years behind!!! Anyway she mentions a method for a nice edge: K or P first st then put needle in second st but do nothing, Stop and pull the yarn tight :doh: then go on kintting…Is that just slipping the st… :shrug:
When you slip the first stitch, you don’t knit or purl it–you just move it from one needle to the other. That way works to keep a tight edge, too, though.
you continue knitting once you’ve pulled on the yarn it’s just telling you to do it as a step between knitting the first and second stitch. Conversely you can do as Ingrid suggested and just slip the first stitch then knit the rest, it will be knit on the next row.
“pull” what yarn??? K or P first st, needle in second st, but don’t do anything (work it) just pull the yarn tight and continue…again, what yarn am I pulling??? :??
You’re pulling your working yarn. Since the first stitch is frequently loose since it is only attached to the stitch that follows rather than to one before and after it, by pulling the yarn and holding it tight as you knit the second stitch, you tighten up the first one.
Here’s a question for y’all… I’m finally slipping my first stitches because I’m doing an entrelac scarf and the slipped stitches lie flatter on the back side. The knit rows are working out all right by knitting the last stitch on the previous row and slipping pwise, but the purl stitch is still loopy and too loose. Yes, I pull, it doesn’t help. I tried purling the last stitch on the previous row and slipping it kwise, but that’s worse. Any tricks for slipping the first stitch on a purl row?
sue
When I do a slipped-stitch edge, I always knit the last stitch. :shrug:
But that’s normal for stockinette on the knit side row. It leaves a really loose stitch to slip the purl stitch to do that. Which is why I’ve never liked it when doing scarves and things, so haven’t done it. Not only is the stitch loose, when I pick up along those stitches, it sort of pulls on the stitches next to the edge and doesn’t look so good.
sue
Cheley: I don’t own that book so I can’t refer to it, but I agree with Dee that she is probably describing a technique that simply has you tighten up the second stitch of the row a little bit (no slipping involved). In the version I use, you do the first stitch normally, and then stick the right needle point into the next stitch as usual, but before completing it, tug a little on the working yarn to tighten. (I think keeping the right needle point under the stitch while pulling keeps it from getting too tight.)
A slipped stitch selvage is easier to do (IMO), but there may be times when you don’t want a chain selvage because it doesn’t match, or makes the edge tighter than you’d like.
If your edges are still loose when you do the second stitch tightening thing, you can also try to just consciously knit the last few stitches of a row a little more tightly than usual. That’s supposed to help too.
Sue: This is something I’ve read up on (can you tell?) because loose edges really bug me. There are several ways to get a chain selvage, and all of them look pretty similar, but according to one source, the “technically superior” one when using stockinette is to slip 1 knitwise on knit rows and slip 1 purlwise on purl rows. (The last stitches of a row are not modified at all so the last stitch of a knit row will be a knit, and the last stitch of a purl row will be a purl.) It’s different from what you’ve been doing, so you might want to try it and see whether you get a better result. The main advantage to this particular method over other chain methods is that your working yarn will be in the correct position when you start the next row – though it sounds unlikely, it’s conceivable that less manipulation of the working yarn will result in less looseness for you. Who knows? It’s worth a shot, anyway. You can try the tightening the second stitch thing too.
P.S. Where did you happen to get your chain selvage instructions? It’s not a version I can find in any of my books. Is it possible you mis-read it? If so, that could be the source of the problem. :shrug:
I’ve done the regular sl kw on knit rows and sl pw on purl rows and they’re just really loose. Maybe because I don’t use teeny needles (less than 10s). The purlside chain idea is something I made up based on Ingrid’s suggestion of knitting the last st on a purl row, then slip that pwise on the knit side. I just reversed it for the purl rows. It’s slightly better than just slipping pw on the p row, but not much.
sue
Okay, I found one statement in a book that might help… the problem is that the way it reads, it’s hard to tell whether the statement is universal for any method of doing chain selvage, or whether she’s just referring to the version she mentioned immediately before, in which case it won’t necessarily apply. Anyway, it’s this: slipping knitwise rather than purlwise and vice versa, gives a twisted chain.
It might be something to investigate since a twisted chain should be a little tighter than a non-twisted one, don’t you think?
Have you tried tightening the second stitch of every row?
What I’ve been doing does twist them, and the second stitch is fairly tight. I may have to go down another needle size, or just live with it and see how it comes out when blocked. I was thinking of blocking the end anyway because the corners curl up a little and I wanted to see if that might help.
sue
ok, tell me as I am brain deadddddddd.
I have been told to slip the first stitch as if to purl. This is the edge of a sweater, not the seam. If I do this where do I place the
yarn after I slip so that I can go on and knit the knit row. The border is in garter. Do I take the yarn that is in front after I slip the first stitch and put it between the two needles and then knit?
hope I am clear as I said I am brain dead. I do not want it to look like it has holes. I also do not think this yarn will curl but it would be a nicer edge if I could make the stitch look good.
Thanks for your help.
phyllis
If it’s a garter stitch border, I wouldn’t bother slipping, just pull the first stitch a bit after you’ve made it and that should tighten up the edge stitches nicely.