Ok, I have crocheted forever, but recently taught myself to knit. I am making a hat from a pattern in a magazine and at the top of the hat, knit from the bottom up, it says at the end “Place stitches on holder.” and then later when I sew up the back seam I am supposed to use the thread to also go through all the loops and tighten up. Ok, fine but how long do I leave the end of my knitting on the holder when I cut the yarn and how do I secure it? I feel like there is something I should know that all knitters know. Thanks!
Welcome!
It sounds like you use the tail to seam up and close the top. I would leave a fairly long tail just to make sure you have enough. Maybe 15"?
You can put a piece of contrasting color yarn through the top loops and tie it loosely till you need to seam. There are also some long stitch holders that work well.
All this said…I’ve never seamed a hat. I always make seamless ones so maybe others will have more info.
I’m wondering what happens with the held stitches? What do you do next? A link to your pattern or its name at least would be helpful.
Welcome to KH!
Yes, Jan’s direcitons answer your question and will help you follow the pattern.
I wonder if there’s a reason to put the live sts on a holder though? Is there some other direction in between putting the sts on hold and seaming? I ask because commonly you would use a long tail of the working yarn to thread through the loops and tighten up and secure the top, then use the same tail to seam the hat from the top down. Similar to this video with your favorite seaming technique.
I’ve never seamed a hat either, just following instructions. My patter is in knit style magazine (knitstylemag.com) and I am making the cat & mouse hat on page 52, in case any of you have. It really just tells me to put the top stitches on a stitch holder. Then I add the ear flaps. Then I sew the back seam, and then thread yarn through the stitches on the holder, gather tightly and secure. The pattern doesn’t say to use the attached thread to do the seam or to use other thread. Based on my crochet experience, it seems weird and I guess, based on your replies, it is.
Well either way will work. In case I’m missing something, go with the directions Jan gave. Once you see how it works you’ll know more for the next time. The video I linked to shows one way to seam. If you’re interested, mattress stitch seams are a neat and almost invisible method.
I’m thinking the stitches are moved to a holder to keep the hat flat while doing the ear flaps. I agree that doing it as Jan says is the better way rather than adding another piece of yarn to your project. If you think that it would be easier to work the flaps with it flat then moving the stitches to a holder kind of makes sense.