Short Rows (wrap 'n turn stitch) in the round

#1

Apparently this is all greek to me. I’m going crazy since I clearly am making the same mistake over and over again and it’s still not working. Can someone watch my 4 little short videos of how I’m screwing this up and tell me what I’m doing wrong. Thanks a million!

I had to take this in 4 sections so that it wouldn’t be like a 10 minute video. I hope that it makes sense. Here are the pictures first:
First, here is the left hand side of the longies when you’re looking at the front.

And the right hand side when you’re looking at the front. Notice those good for nothing holes!

Videos:

#2

Have you looked for Cat Bordhi’s w&t videos on You tube? They’re very good.

#3

Yes, I was following her directions to the “t” or so I thought. But I figured I was making a mistake somewhere since when I come back around (I’m knitting in the round) I cannot pick up the wrap that I did when I was purling back across my short row. I always get a hole. But on the knit side where I wrap it looks perfect, I can pick the wrap up no problem and now hole.

#4

Unfortunately I can’t get your videos at the moment (tech difficulties with my network). But if it’s holes that are the problem…take a look at http://www.knotions.com/techniques/short_rows/how_to_knit_short_rows.aspx – specifically the bits on wrapping on the purl side and then later picking up the purl side wraps…hope that helps!

#5

I think my problem is that because I am knitting in the round, I do not come to my “purl” wrap on the purl side. I knit around to the second stitch marker, do the wrap and turn on the knit side, purl back to the first stitch marker, do the wrap and turn on the purl side, turn and knit around. When I come to the second stitch marker I am on the knit side, so it is easy to pick up the wrap and knit it together with the stitch and move right along. When I come back around to my first stitch marker, because I am knitting in the round, I am on the knit side of the work, not the purl side. But I did the wrap on the purl side, so I am having a hard time picking up the wrap. I think it’s because it is on the opposite side of my work.

Does this make any sense? Can I pick up the wrap somehow differently? I can’t find any knitting document that explains how to do this when knitting in the round.

#6

I sometimes have to rearrange the wrap stitch when I come to it so that it ends up in the back of the knit stitch, even when knitting flat.

#7

I can’t even seem to pick up the wrap though. It’s like it doesn’t exist when I come back around.

#8

You might want to give a sort of modified Japanese short row technique a try then – basically you put a stitch marker (the kind you can open and close) onto the stitch and then when you get back to it, you use the stitch marker to lift the wrap up onto the needle.

http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/japanese_short_.html

#9

I, too, am doing short rows in the round and am experiencing the same problem as Amitchell98. Thanks to Cat Bordhi and sock heels, I have done lots of her short-rows in my knitting life, but none - apparently - in the round. I can pick up stitches going knitwise and get no gaps (as Amitchell98 says), and pick up stitches going purlwise with no gaps. But when I’m working in the round and come to a wrapped stitch that I would ordinarily handle on the purl side… well… I’m knitting in the round so when I come upon the stitch that’s wrapped that I’d normally purl, the wrap seems to be be on the wrong stitch.

Let’s see… how to better explain… when knitting in the round from left needle onto right needle, when you come to a stitch that you wrapped from the knit side, you’ll see the wrapped stitch, the wrap at its base, then an unwrapped stitch.

When knitting in the round and come to a stitch that you wrapped from the purl side (because you did a W&T on the knit side, so you’ve wrapped on the purl side), you’ll come to an unwrapped stitch, the wrap at the base of its stitch, then the wrapped stitch.

If I lift the wrap and knit it with its stitch, I still get a hole between the unwrapped stitch and the new stitch. If I lift the wrap and try to knit it with the unwrapped stitch, it elongates the wrap and looks sillier than the gap. (I was trying to figure out a new way to close the gap).

I can’t think of anything else to do to eliminate that gap, except maybe just yank the heck out of the yarn when knitting the stitch with its wrap? Using a needle 2 sizes too small when knitting that stitch? Any other suggestions I (we) can try?

  • Meg
#10

I’ve never done short rows that way, but if you’re interested…I use this method http://www.woolywonder.com/forums/showpost.php?p=74291&postcount=34 when knitting in the round (I make longies all the time, so I use this method a lot!).

HTH!

#11

Thanks, ABMama, for the link. It doesn’t address where I’m having the problem, though. When knitting in the round, conventional knitting has you going clockwise around your item (from left needle to right needle). After doing a wrap on the knit side, I purl to where I’m going to do a wrap and turn, landing back on the knit side, where I continue knitting in the round.

Let’s say I have a 100-stitch circle and I have to make my first wrap at stitch #50. I knit #50, wrap the next stitch, then purl back, let’s say 10 stitches (stitch #40, because I’m going back the other way). I wrap that one and turn so I’m knitting ‘forward’ (clockwise) again. Now, the first wrap I come to is the one I’ve made at stitch 50. I can lift and hide the wrap on that one no problem (thank you, Cat Bordhi). When I continue around my circle, I go back to my beginning of round and keep knitting. The next wrap I come to is #40, the one I made while I was actually purling. Going this direction, the wrap is actually on the stitch on my left needle, not the stitch on my right needle (as when going in the knit direction).

I found a thread on Ravelry about this; the suggestion outlines manipulating the stitch and its wrap so it’s sorta hidden, but it’s very fiddly.

Any other ideas?

  • Meg
#12

YEah, that’s what I’d do. Move the wrap so it won’t show on the RS when you knit it together.

One thing I found is that no matter which W&T instructions I used, I had to always manuever the wrap stitch to hide it. Then I found that if I wrapped the outside of the stitch, that worked. So instead of bringing the yarn to the front of your work, slip the stitch and turn, I slip the stitch first, then move the yarn to the front, then turn which wraps that stitch the other direction. Maybe try that on your purl wraps.

#13

Oooh… the Kobyashi Maru scenario! (Obscure Star Trek reference…) I like the concept, but still think the ‘wrong’ stitch will be wrapped when I come back around to it. I’ll play with the next round of wraps to see if that changes the situation. Thanks!

#14

I do know the Kobyashi Maru… <lifts one eyebrow>

No, you’re wrapping the same stitch as in other directions for wrapping, it’s just going a different direction and that’s what seems to make it work better. At least for me, and I haven’t tried this in the round yet, just flat knitting.

#15

Hi Suzeeq… Doing the move before the wrap seemed to make it a tad bit easier to lift the wrap over the stitch; thanks so much for that suggestion. I still think there’s got to be a better way to hide the wrap and gap when short-rowing in the round, but for now, this trick plus the Ravelry suggestion have made for a smooth pick-up. Thanks!

#16

I have never added a short row before. I mostly make afghans,ponchos, and scarves but I just started making soakers for my neice. I was reading this pattern that calls for short rows so I looked at the video on how to do a short row and I could see there would be a gap if I did it that way in the round as you never end up on the purl side. So what it looks like is I (we) want to know is how to change the technique to accomidate working in the round since after the short row part don’t end up on the purl side. It seems that wraping the yard differnently would work, but I just can’t figure it out.

#17

Yes you knit it on the purl side when knitting in the round. When you wrap a stitch you turn and purl back to where you wrap another st.

#18

Yes, MoosesMuse, like Suzeeq said you’ll knit that stitch. The finicky part comes when you are hiding the wrap, but the concept is the same.

On the knit side, when I come to the knit stitch that was wrapped, I (a) lift the wrap onto my left needle, (b) pass the wrap over the knit stitch, then © knit the two (wrap & stitch) through the back loop.

On the knit side, when I come back around to the stitch that had been wrapped on the purl side, it’s a little more fussy, but the same concept. I (a) take my left needle and pick up the wrap (lifting from the bottom up), (b) using my right needle, I gently coax the knit stitch off the left needle and through the wrap, © then I place that knit stitch onto the left needle, keeping it to the right of the wrap (which is now on the left needle), (d) knit those two (wrap & stitch) together.

Manipulating the purl wrapped stitch on the knit side is very fussy, but after trying a lot of different techniques, I have found that this way hides the gap better, especially after some gentle blocking.

Good luck!

  • Meg
#19

I’m knitting a baby cocoon and having the exact same problem. I keep getting a hole on the side I’m picking up the wrap that I placed from the pearl side. Still trying to figure out a solution and will be watching closely to see if anyone posts one on here.
I thought it was just me doing something wrong…I was actually relieved to see this! lol :slight_smile:

Kellie

#20

Did you ever find a workaround for this problem? I’m going through the same thing with doing short rows in the round. In my case I’m doing a short row shawl collar that is part of a ribbed button band that goes all the way around the sweater (530 stitches!) in one piece. The designer wants you to do YOs but her instructions are vague and I still get holes. W&T works perfectly going down the front, when the wrap is on the right side of the gap, but coming back up the other side when it is on the far side of the gap, confusion reigns. I’ve tried pulling the wrap up onto the left needle and then knitting it with the last worked stitch on the right, which kind of works but doesn’t look all that great.