Knitting Know-How: Techniques, Lessons and Projects for Every Knitter’s Library

477 Pages·2016·22.86 MB·English

by  Dorothy T. Ratigan

This book is dedicated to Bob and to Philippe.
You are our reasons for being.
Knitting
Know-How
Dorothy T. Ratigan
& Judith Durant
Contents
Introduction
Part I
Materials and Tools
Chapter One: Yarn
How Yarn Is Sold
What Yarn Is Made From
Ply and Twist
Weight, Gauge and Hand
How to Substitute Yarns
Estimating Yardage
Chapter Two: Needles
Needle Composition
Needle Types
Needle Sizes
Chapter Three: Working with Patterns and Charts
How to Read a Pattern
Common Abbreviations
Reading Charts
Part II
The Basics
Chapter Four: The Stitches
The Knit Stitch
The Purl Stitch
Twisting Stitches
Slipping Stitches
Combining Knits and Purls
Other Ways to Manipulate Stitches
Styles of Knitting
Starting a New Yarn and Weaving in the Ends
Fixing Mistakes
Chapter Five: The Edges
Casting On
Selvedge Edges
Picking Up Stitches
What If I Knitted the Wrong Type of Edge?
Binding Off
Special Considerations
Chapter Six: Shaping
Increases
Decreases
Short-Row Shaping
Chapter Seven: Flat and Circular Knitting
Flat Knitting
Circular Knitting
Troubleshooting and Special Considerations
Part III
Decorative Knitting
Chapter Eight: Color Knitting
Fair Isle Knitting (Or Not)
Intarsia
Mosaic Knitting
Mitered Knitting
Double Knitting
Working with Hand-Painted and Variegated Yarns
Multicolored Ribbing
Two-Color Braids
Duplicate Stitch
Cross-Stitch
Embroidery
Knitting Stripes in the Round
Chapter Nine: Cables
Types of Cables
Traveling Stitches
Accents
Panels
Cabled Ribs
Background Stitches
Planning Cable Designs
Fixing Mistakes
Chapter Ten: Lace
Special Decreases
The Magic of Blocking
Fixing Mistakes in Lace
To Chart or Not to Chart
Lace Edgings
Chapter Eleven: Knitting with Beads
Beads for Knitting
Stringing Beads
Bead Knitting
Beaded Knitting
Slip-Stitch Bead Knitting
Hooked Bead Knitting
Carry-Along Bead Knitting
Beaded Cast On
Part IV
Garment Planning
Chapter Twelve: Planning Projects
Why Gauge Matters
Measuring Body Parts
Planning for Sweater Ease
Negative Ease
Sweater Shapes
Balancing and Centering Patterns
Planning Aran Patterns
Knitting in Different Directions
Altering Patterns
Chapter Thirteen: Sleeves
Drop Shoulder Sleeves
Raglan Sleeves
Set-In Sleeves
Saddle Sleeves
Chapter Fourteen: Necklines and Collars
Neckline Shapings
Collars
Chapter Fifteen: Pockets
Pocket Placement
Basic Horizontal Pocket
Vertical Pocket
Diagonal Pocket with Decorative Edge
Kangaroo Pouch
Patch Pocket
Afterthought Pocket
Chapter Sixteen: Closures
Button Bands
Buttonholes
Zippers
Frogs
Chapter Seventeen: Finishing and Storing
Blocking, Cleaning and Storing
Special Considerations
Part V
Project Lessons
Faux Earflap Hats
Beady Cable Gloves
Double-Knit Mitts
Diamond Central Scarf
Stranded Lattice Socks
Austin’s Jacket
Ambrosia Sweater
Lisdoonvarna Aran
Resources
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Authors

Introduction
Dorothy and Judith met in the mid 1990s, when Judith was book
editor at Interweave Press and Dorothy worked as a freelance technical
editor for Interweave’s knitting books. When Interweave Knits magazine
was launched in 1996 with Judith as co-editor, Dorothy was a big part of
the enterprise, both as technical editor and writer of the “Beyond the
Basics” column. And, of course, we both contributed designs. Although
Judith had been knitting for more than thirty years, it wasn’t until
knitting became a big part of her working life that she realized how
much she didn’t know.
Early on in the relationship, Judith saw the potential for gathering
Dot’s knitting knowledge into a book to share with the world. The
problem was finding the time to do it. While Dot had gathered an
enormous amount of knitting know-how, it wasn’t collected and filed in
any particular order. Some things were written down; many things were
not. No disrespect intended, but Judith likes to say that each bit of Dot’s
information is stored on a sticky note in her brain; you never know
which sticky note may fall out at any given time, and there’s no way to
easily access the one you want. We tried to start pulling it together a
while back, but the need to work on other projects to pay the bills kept
us from completing the task.
When F+W Media offered us a contract to do the book, we finally had
no choice but to get to it. Judith caught Dot’s sticky notes as they
dropped and made a list. We then added some of Judith’s know-how to
the list and came up with a master plan. As we worked through our
outline, we remembered questions frequently asked by our students and
made sure we answered every one of them. And as we worked through
the chapters, we realized once again that knitting is an ever-evolving
craft, and that there is almost always more than one way to solve a
problem. So, rather than just present a dictionary of techniques, we
chose to include only those that have worked best for us over the years.
And we’ve done our best to describe why we’ve chosen these methods
over others.