Image Details: ‘Down With Shorts’ by theotherdan, via Flickr.
This is the third in a series of blog posts exploring techniques used in the Lush Cardigan by Tin Can Knits, and some recommended resources for those techniques I have used.
After a bit of a delay in progressing the Lush, and watching many of the #lushpodkal participants screaming towards the finishing line, I have now re-engaged with the project and am well on my way.
During the course of the chatter on Ravelry, I noted a few people who had knit the collar who were not happy with the appearance of their picked up wraps. Having had this problem before when knitting the Aviatrix Hat by Justine Turner, which I managed to fix with a different method half way through – and disguise the rest with some strategically placed crocheted flowers – I knew I would be turning to Cat Bordhi’s Concealed Wrap technique.
I’ve embedded the videos here for anyone that wants to try this technique. It’s a real shame that the quality of the video is poor, as her teaching and explanation is excellent. I really hope she can find time to record this again to make it clearer, as I think it’s a great resource. The video is split into 2 parts, the first covers picking up the wrap on the knit side.
The second covers the purl side.
As the wraps and turns on the Lush cardigan are at different points, I did have to do a bit of jiggery pokery to get them as neat as I wanted. Also, the concealed wrap technique is good for doing socks, where all the loopy bits are on the inside, but on the collar of the Lush, you end up knitting both right and wrong sides to knit all the wraps in. Also, to complicate it further, some are on knit stitches and some purl on the same side.
I therefore altered the technique used to make sure all the loops were on the wrong side. There was a point (I think it may have been the 12 sts on both sides, so the first two wraps and turns) where you could see part of the loop at the front. To fix this, I dropped down to that row when I got back to that point as I was knitting the right side. I then twisted the rear loop so it was tighter and looked like a purl of the rib, before picking up the dropped stitches again and knitting on.
As you can see there is on both sides a slightly wonky rib stitch. If you look closely, you will see the extra bit of yarn between the two legs of the stitch. Had I noticed this at the time, I would probably had fiddled with this to try and make it total invisible. As it is though, I think it will be hardly noticeable when wearing, and certainly much less so that conventional wrap and turns.
Do any of you have any alternative wrap and turn methods that you have used? Please feel free to share any links in the comments. Thanks!
Your short rows look great and I love the colour of the yarn.
I used a wrapless technique – German Short Rows. Mimi Kezer has a video tutorial on YouTube and one explaining how to use this instead of standard wrap and turn.
I’m not sure how to link to the videos, I can only copy and paste the address!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6Pjl20zKA – tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xvi0mCP_Ao – substitution
Oooh thanks Julia! It’s always good to get a few techniques, so people can go with their favourite. Thanks for sharing.