Tips & Techniques: May 2004 Archives

I've been putting alot of thought into my Drape Along project this week. Last night I knitted up a swatch and it was "OK". Not great - but OK. So I'm going to tweak some things and even try a different stitch pattern today. I think I'm close though and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post what I'm finally going to be doing with this yarn!

Cast On Methods

I pretty much always use a long tail cast on unless the pattern specifies a particular technique. I tried to use it for the beginning of Smooch - which starts out with that picot edge - but the edge was too stiff and heavy. I finally tried the thumb cast on and I liked it alot better.

I also used the thumb cast on for the ruffly beginning of cheesylove. Again, it seemed perfect for the design.

Added Later - Here's a link for the thumb cast on. It's called the single cast on.

Then, over the weekend, I was playing around with some sock yarn that I picked up at MDSW. I have a Fiber Trends sock pattern that I really like that's cuff-down. I was afraid of a too tight cast on so I looked around. Finally, my Twisted Sister sock book suggested that same thumb cast on for a very elastic edge. I tried it, and poof - VERY stretchy cuff. To the point where the ribbing almost looks ruffled when it's not stretched. It was very pretty. So, I think I'll be using that cast on from now on for cuff-down socks.

I'm curious though, was I the only one who was clueless about using that cast on for the cuffs of socks? I don't knit many socks so it's entirely possible. I figured I'd share it though just in case it's not totally common knowledge. Are there any other good cast ons for cuffs?

Tune in tomorrow for more than your fill of linen drape swatches. I hope to have a winner by then.

A few of you have mentioned that you were interested in how I steeked my cotton Mission Falls tank so here ya go...

I started out by pin fitting the tank on my body:

Once I got a good fit all around (it took a bit of tweeking), I carefully took it off to make sure the pins didn't fall out.

Then, I laid the garment flat, folded along the center front and center back so the side seams were in the middle (hopefully that makes sense). I then pin marked the excess fabric that needed to be taken in on both sides of the side seams. Note: Since I knit it in the round there really aren't side seams. In my case I marked along the line where the side seam would be, which is also where yarns were joined.

See all those ends I was able to get rid of? Woohoo!

Then, I took out my trusty Viking sewing machine, and stitched along the lines marked with the pins. The hardest part about the stitching was the fact that the shaping was at the sides, so I couldn't just sew between 2 stitches. I had to sew across them at times. I fiddled with the presser foot tension, the stitch length, and even dried dropping the feed dogs. I finally determined I should use a very weak presser foot tension, and a stitch length of 3.5. I liked it better with the feed dog up - it helped push the fabric through and didn't catch it like I had been concerned about.

Once I stitched along both pin lines, I cut up the center.

Here's a closeup in case you can't see the stitches. Sorry it's a bit blurry.

And then, I sewed a second row of stitches about a quarter of an inch away from the first row. This second row is further out than the first row and is hidden in the seam.

I then clipped very close to the second row of sewing and seamed up the tank using the mattress stitch.

Voila! A tank that actually fits!

In case you're wondering why I had to go through this exercise at all, here's what happened. This is the first tank that I've made for myself. I pulled out some knitted tanks that I own to use as a comparison for sizing, but they all had some kind of rib in them. So they were definitely smaller than I'd like for a st st tank. So, I made the tank just a bit narrower than I would a sweater and it was just way too much ease. In all honesty though, I'm glad I went through the exercise. I taught myself that steeking isn't so bad, and I saved my time weaving in all those ENDS. Hell, it was worth it just to get rid of the ends!