wrap and turn - I'm in another pickle

I am in yet another pickle with this Purl Soho half and half triangle wrap (I wish I’d never started it!!) Its all borne out of my inexperience but I’ll try and explain my current problem. Due to many people (new knitters I guess) struggling with the Purl Soho tutorial (as it’s in stocking stitch and the pattern for the wrap is garter stitch) I’ve wrapped and turned as per a utube video by the unapologetic knitter that I was directed to and I think its going to cause me issues when picking up the wraps later.

This is how I’ve done it:
How To: Wrap & Turn in Garter Stitch - YouTube
W&T - move working yarn to front between the needles, slip next st purlwise from LH to RH needle, move working yarn to back between needles (creating a collar around the slipped st), transfer the st back to the LH needle purlwise. Turn work. Move working yarn to back between sts with the RS facing (as to
knit the next st).

I’ve only wrapped about 30 stitches up to now (which still equates to many hours of knitting for me!) so I guess with another 230 stitches to go I could perhaps change it and try and sort the 30 out when I come to them. (I just can’t contemplate taking it all out).

I did have a conversation with a knitter in the comments on the unapologetic knitters tutorial and she directed me to another video showing how to pick up the wraps when I’d asked her how she’d done it.

I quote her "Yes, I am picking up the wraps, a step that is called for in the H+HTW pattern. However, it took me FOREVER to find a YouTube video that actual showed me how to do that step when working in garter stitch. This video does not have sound, but the visual is so good that no sound is needed. It covers both steps, the wrap+turn and then the pick up the wrap step. That second step starts at about 1:50 in the video below. Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/rFaxEY-gf5s.

When we discussed my wrap and turns were slightly different she said:

The video I posted to you matches the written instructions of the actual H+HTW pattern as far as doing the wrap and turn: you slip the stitch from the left needle to the right needle before bringing the yarn to the front. In other words, you do not bring the yarn forward until AFTER you slip the stitch from the left needle to the right needle. I do not know if your following the instructions in the video shown here about bringing the yarn forward BEFORE you slip the stitch from the left needle to the right will make any difference or not. I sympathize with your frustration with the H+HTW pattern. I knitted four small samples of that pattern (using a cast-on of 40 sts) before I finally got one right. I did not want to order the Linen Quill yarn until and unless I first was able to master the pattern.

So my problem is this second tutorial did not take into account my first move of the yarn forward prior to slipping the stitch the first time and I can’t find anything to help me when I get to that stage.

So it it all solvable or am I indeed in a pickle with it.

Thank you again - I think I’d be better taking up a different hobby wouldn’t I !

Don’t do that. Hang in there. I’ve been knitting a little over a year. I have one pattern and yarn for it set aside. I just could not get it. So I’ve moved on to many other projects since (scarves, socks, hats and several children sweaters). I figured I would gain more experience and come back to it later. (Actually plan to look at it again this summer). My point is don’t give up. I get a lot of enjoyment out of knitting and find it relaxing and I feel productive. Hang in there, we’ve all been there and for me probably will be again!

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KnittingGigi is spot on. Don’t give it up. Maybe put the project on hold for awhile but promise that you’ll get back to it eventually. This is supposed to be fun. Often frustrating but enjoyable in the end.
One thing you might try is to make a swatch in garter using the same method that you used for the wrap & turn, bringing the yarn forward before the slip. Then go back and pick up the wrap and its stitch and see how it looks.
You can also try no wrap & turn. Sometimes the recommendation with garter stitch is not to bother with wrap & turn or any other method of closing up short rows. The garter stitch pattern itself is enough to hide the turn.
Best way to figure this out is to take a step back and work it out on a swatch. Or let the project rest for short while. Whatever you choose, good luck with it and please let us know how it’s going in general.

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Hi thanks for your replies. I have tried the no wrap and no pick up on swatches and that’s a no go for this project to be honest. I’ve done what you both suggested and stepped back from it. I’ve also started doing some swatches (in a dishcloth material so still useful) to see what the various options look like, I just need to work out what direction to pick the particular wraps up the way I’ve wrapped them!

I don’t want to leave it too long as I really wanted to knit this for my daughter who is coming home from Australia early May (first time I’ll have seen her for well over 2 years) and that’s why I’d picked the colours and the lightest yarn I could.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over this Purl Soho half and half wrap, especially judging by the comments on utube channels and Ravelry and all mainly from people like myself new to techniques. I guess experienced knitters just work their way around things.

It’s supposed to be a very peaceful knit, all garter stitch apart from the wraps and turns. I’ve found it anything but!

I’m now trying to work out if I can switch to GSR’s mid way as it certainly looks a lot easier.

Thanks all
Sal

Wonderful that your daughter is coming home after such a long time away. I can see why you’d like to persist with this wrap.
GSRs are certainly a good alternative. It’s fairly easy to recognize the double stitch and much less fiddley to work than w&t. Let us know how it goes. I like your idea of using a dishcloth size swatch to work out the technique.

Well a little update on my half and half wrap. I thought I’d check back in as you’d all been so helpful to me.

I managed to get through the ‘picking up of the wraps’ not without a lot of googling and utubing though, and after 57 stitches of wraps and turns done in the traditional manner I changed to GSR’s which were a lot easier. I had also found a pick up demo for the first 57 wraps that I felt would work.

My next problem came on this project at the half way mark. To create a nicer edge I had followed a tutorial to slip last three stitches with yarn forward at end of each row. All was fine until I reached the last few stitches which I had to GSR as this then interfered with the slipped stitches. This interference continued to the start of the second triangle as you began the GSR’s (or wrap and turns) at the beginning so you had to get at least 4 stitches in before you could do your slip stitch edging but you also had two rows in the middle, to change colour on one then the other to get back to the right side of the work.

This was causing a jog in my work and quite a messy transition as you were now working previous slipped stitches, and …the icord type edge was then pulling the work back in again when you did have enough stitches to start slipping and looked back to front!

Despite enough swatches to make a blanket :flushed: I never really got a definitive answer on how people were dealing with this on the many utube channels dedicated to this wrap and extensive research indicated others were having a similar issue. Some were just just muddling through I think and ignoring it (I wish I could have done) and others never really came back to the questions so I presume they either found a solution or lived with it. I think it was more inexperienced knitters like me that probably were struggling however the nice ladies at Purl Soho were also struggling to come up with a solution to make it work.

Incidentally Purl Soho’s helpline is fabulous and they are also updating their wrap and turn tutorials to specifically answer the questions pertaining to this wrap.

My solution finally came when I found a tutorial for an edge demonstrated by Norman of Nimble Needles (thank you Norman) on his utube channel. Using this method allowed me to get through the middle section and have an edge that didn’t jog the work and matched nicely with the slipped stitch edge on the other side.

After finally laying all my swatches aside I was good to go and then ended up with a ‘dropped stitch/unwrapped stitch, whatever it was, 17 stitches from the end of resolving my wraps!!! I won’t bore you with the week it took me to sort that!!!

So this ‘lovely, relaxing knit’ as it’s described, has been a little stressful, however I’ve learnt a lot along the way and it certainly is a beautiful wrap that despite my stresses I’ve fallen back in love with. (It’s nearly been in the bin on a number of occasions!).

It’s now almost finished, with still 3 weeks before my daughter comes home from Australia, so I’m quietly confident I will be able to gift it to her as I intended.

Pride comes before a fall though so I’d best shut up and knit carefully on :wink:

Thanks all for your help at the beginning, when it’s finally finished I’ll get you a pic.

Sal.

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Thank you so much for the update. This is certainly a wrap to remember but you have succeeded with it! I admire your patience (even avoiding the bin more than once) and persistence. Hope the next few weeks fly by.