Hello everyone…I’m knitting the “Out of the Fog” cardigan by Sweaterfreak and it’s designed that the right side is the purl (reverse stockinette) side, which I really like. I’m ready to pick up the collar and band but honestly I don’t know how to do it. It’s very hard to see any stitch definition on the purl side. Does anyone have any hints on how to do this? I’m afraid this may be the end for me if I can’t figure it out. I’ve watched countless videos but they are all shown picking up on the stockinette side,. Prior to this, my only experience with picking up stitches has been sock gussets…Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you all. Here are the instructions:
Collar:
Starting at the bottom right with the RS (purled side) facing you, and using the smaller needles pick up 3 sts for every 4 rows all around resulting in even number of stitches.
Note:
If you’d like the cardigan to be fully reversible, you can use a reversible pick up method (see References ).
Work in (k1, p1) for 8” (8”, 8”, 8”), (8.5”, 8.5”, 8.5”) and bind off in pattern.
Weave ends and block.
*The designer is referencing this reversible pick up method on youtube, but that seems complicated, so not sure if I will try it.
The reversible pick up method is very nice. Thank you for including the link to the technique which is new to me. It is an alternative when you aren’t sure which side to pick up stitches from.
If you want to pick up from the RS of reverse stockinette you can pick up in a slip stitch edge if you have one. If not, pick a column of purl sts near the edge and pick up between the bumps.
I’ve marked the holes (red dots) that you can use on the purl side of a project that happened to be handy. The edge was too difficult and small to photograph so I picked an internal row but the same column of sts exists near an edge.
At the curved collar edge, you won’t have a regular line of purl bumps but you could pick up and check the position of the pick up from the knit side to make sure of the line of sts. This pick up is going to be hidden by the roll of the collar but you’d like it to be as neat as possible of course.
I wish I had done a slip stitch edge, it sure would have simplified things.Thanks for your answer, and I appreciate the photo, it really helps. I’ll give it a try. How close to the edge should I be?? It’s going to be a pretty slow process for me! I’ll be looking at the reverse side to make sure the line is straight.
That’s a good idea to check on the reverse edge. Pick up close to the edge, say one stitch in from the edge or the first line of sts that is clear to you. Let us know how it’s going.
Hello
It may help to put in a running stitch all around in a contrasting colour as a guide. So, you can look at the knit or ws to put this in (the ide where its easy to see) and just use a blunt needle to go up one knit stitch and down the next, up the next, down the next. This way you can see where to pick up on the rs as the running stitch yarn will be there, and just pull out the running stitch as you pick up and knit, or even leave it until the end and pull it out.
I have done a couple of extra things like this in my projects to help me place things and found it useful.
As a knitter I’m nothing if not lazy enough to spend time finding or figuring out a different way to do things. I think I would do my pu&k on the knit side but do it as in this video. I always end up with loose picked up stitches and this would help take up the slack. I think that it should work if you wish to try it. This is a different take on the video you shared which I found to be very helpful, thank you. I can’t find it again but I watched a video in which she carried a very thin yarn or crochet thread in a contrasting color with the yarn for picking up stitches and that makes finding the purl bump or the picked up stitch for adjusting tension much easier.
I did this once with a sleeve pick up. It made the stitches easy to find for tightening up the tension, as you mentioned, and I got a really snug pick up which I liked. I had not thought to use the same method for a button band so that’s a good tip as a pick up can be a bit loose.
How much excess yarn I end up with varies but often it’s a lot. I don’t know why but that’s how it works for me. Suzanne Bryan also has a video for a double sided pick up but her way was difficult for me.
