Separating Stitches to Needle and Stitch Holder

How-to Questions
1

I have a kit for a baby bib, booties, and beanie hat (sold by Horizon Group, called “Knit This!”). The beanie starts by knitting the decorative edging, then you join the stitches from a stitch holder to the decorative edging and follow the pattern from there.

The directions for the beanie say to cast on 61 stitches, then knit the first row by knitting into the front and back of each stitch, so I end up with 122 stitches on the needle. I am using 10" long (approx.) size 7 needles.

Then I have to divide the stitches–slip the first stitch (the one that has the “working yarn”–is that the right term?–onto a stitch holder, the second stitch onto the empty knitting needle, third stitch onto the stitch holder, etc., until I have 1/2 the stitches on the stitch holder and 1/2 the stitches on the knitting needle. I see 2 problems with this:

the stitch holder I used was the biggest one I had (maybe 5 inches long?), and it got very crowded, and the stitches got kind of stretched out between the stitch holder and the knitting needle. Should I find a larger stitch holder, or use yarn instead of a stiff holder?

The instructions say next to knit using the stitches that were slipped onto the knitting needle, but the end of the yarn that’s attached to the skein I’m knitting from is firstly, attached to the first stitch that was slipped onto the stitch holder and not the knitting needle and, secondly, at the wrong end of the stitch holder (the bottom, instead of the top, if that makes sense).

So how do I knit the stitches that are on the knitting needle? The first time I did the beanie (using the yarn that came with the kit–I’m now doing a second set with new yarn), I slipped the stitches from one needle back onto the other needle, so at least the stitch on the holder that has the ball yarn attached is next to the stitch that’s on the pointy end of the knitting needle. Is there a better way?

Also, when I got to the end of the decorative edge (it’s made by binding off 4 stitches, casting on 2, binding off 4, casting on 2, etc., until you’re down to one stitch on the knitting needle), I was supposed to put the stitch holder stitches back on the knitting needle, and knit the first 2 stitches (the one left from the binding off and the first stitch holder stitch) together. It was sort of okay, but the place where the regular knitting joined the decorative edge, the stitches of that first row that joined the decorative edge to the rest of the hat were all stretched out, so that row looked kind of messy and uneven.

Is there something I’m missing? Is there a better way to join the decorative edge to the stitches that will start the body of the hat?

Sorry for such a long-winded question, but I’m just looking for a better way to do this baby beanie. Thanks!

2

Where it calls to start knitting with the yarn that isn’t there… do you have another yarn end you can use, like from the other part of the ball or skein? Or maybe you could use a circular needle instead of straight ones so you can slide the stitches around to the other end where you have the yarn attached.

sue

3

It might be easier to slip the stitches onto a strand of yarn with a tapestry needle attached–it won’t stretch them out, and would be more flexible.

4

You guys are awesome! suzeeq, I’d thought about the circular needles–that’s a wonderful idea. I just have to wait until I go somewhere I can purchase them. In my town, the only place for supplies is Wal-Mart, and they are getting rid of a lot of their fabrics and crafts. The have size 8, size 10, and size 11 circular needles (the last time I looked, anyway), but no size 7, which is the size for the pattern. And Ingrid, that’s also a good idea about the string; maybe my stitches won’t get stretched out that way.

Thanks again!

Elisa