Beyond Basic Knitting: Techniques and Projects to Expand Your Skills

Introduction

Beyond Basic Knitting assumes that the reader has a moderate amount of experience with the craft. Therefore, skills such as executing the basic knit and purl stitches, checking gauge, joining new yarn, weaving in new stitches, and blocking are mentioned, but not explained. For a thorough explanation of these skills, please see Basic Knitting: All the Tools and Skills You Need to Get Started (Stackpole, 2004).

What you will find in this book is a brief review of some intermediate skills as well as an introduction to more advanced techniques that you can add to your repertoire. The true focus of the book is the projects section that will highlight these advanced techniques and show how they are applied in a particular project. The Skill Workshops throughout the book each focus on an individual technique and provide in-depth explanations on how to apply them. The Project in Progress sections take an in-depth look at a particularly complex aspect of a project and guide you through step by step.

The projects in the book are not arranged by level of difficulty, and are independent of one another. You can select whatever type of project suits your fancy without worrying about missing any of the skills in previous projects.

So browse through and see which of the ten projects you want to try out first. Then head out to your local yarn shop for supplies, pick up your needles, and get started!

Yarn

WEIGHT

In order to provide a measure of consistency in yarn labeling, the Craft Yarn Council of America (CYCA) has issued a set of standards dealing with yarn weight. The guidelines organize yarn into six main weight categories ranging from Super Fine (1) up to Super Bulky (6). In between are Fine (2), Light (3), Medium (4), and Bulky (5). See the appendix on page 114 for more details on this organizational structure.

The CYCA’s 6 yarn weight categories (from top to bottom): Super Fine, Fine, Light, Medium, Bulky, and Super Bulky.

COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE

The vast majority of knitting yarn is created by spinning fibers together. Fibers can be natural, such as wool or mohair, silk or cotton; man-made, such as acrylic, nylon or polyester; or a blend of the two. Each fiber has its own distinctive characteristics and properties, some of which are desirable and others which are less so. Wool, for example, is extremely warm, but is not as strong as other fibers. Acrylic, on the other hand, is extremely durable, but does not breathe well. Sometimes a blend of the two materials maximizes the advantages of each. For example, a sock yarn made of a 92% wool and 8% nylon blend provides the warmth and comfort of natural wool with the added strength and resilience of synthetic fiber.

The way in which the yarn’s fibers are spun together determines its structure. There are a variety of different yarn structures:

Spiral: A thinner yarn twisted around a thicker yarn.

Chenille: A velvety pile, wrapped with two thin, twisted threads. Can be either long-pile or short-pile.

Bouclé: Two strands twisted at varying tensions, held together with a thin binding thread to produce loops of yarn.

Nubby: Two strands twisted so that one overlaps another to produce a bumpy texture.

Slubby: A strand that is alternately thick and thin, twisted with either a smooth or a slubby second strand.

Tape : Yarn made of knitted threads and woven into a narrow, flat band.

Novelty Yarns: Most common types combine metallic threads or feature long eyelash textures.

Knitting Needle Sizes*

*From the Craft Yarn Council of America’s Standards and Guidelines for Crochet and Knitting

Needles

Needles come in three main varieties: straight, circular, or double pointed. They range in both length and size from a 2.25 mm size 1 needle up to a 25 mm size 50 needle. They also come in a range of different materials: aluminum, steel, plastic, bamboo, or wood. The last two materials are typically more expensive, but can be more pleasurable to knit with.

Other Equipment

CABLE NEEDLES

Used to hold stitches when working cables.

STITCH HOLDERS

Used to temporarily hold a group of stitches while continuing to knit others.

SMALL SCISSORS

Used to cut yarn.

TAPESTRY NEEDLES

Used in finishing to sew up seams and run in ends. They come in both straight and bent-tipped varieties.

CROCHET HOOKS

Used to correct mistakes by rescuing dropped stitches or to create trims and accents in finishing.

ROW COUNTERS

Used to keep track of rows as you knit. They slip over a single-pointed needle for easy access.

STITCH MARKERS

Used to slip over needle to indicate groups of stitches or the start of a round of circular knitting. Split markers can be used to indicate placement of seams or individual stitches.

STITCH MARKERS

Used to slip over needle to indicate groups of stitches or the start of a round of circular knitting. Split markers can be used to indicate placement of seams or individual stitches.

In addition to the basic knitting-on cast-on, there are several other cast-ons that can be used in specific patterns.

THE LONG-TAIL CAST-ON

For garments such as sweaters, socks, or hats that require a more elastic edge, the long-tail cast-on is a better choice than the basic method. In this method, you estimate how much yarn will be required for the cast-on stitches, leaving enough yarn for an adequate tail.

1. Estimate how much yarn you need for your tail by simply wrapping the yarn around the needle: one wrap for each stitch to be cast on. Add an additional 3-inch length of yarn to run in later.

2. Unwrap the loops and use that length as the tail. Make a slip knot.

3. Holding the needle with the loop on it in your right hand, let the working yarn and tail hang straight down from the needle, with the working yarn behind the tail. Hold the thumb and index finger of your left hand together.

4. Insert your thumb and index finger in between the two dangling pieces of yarn.

5. Pull the needle toward you, wrapping the working yarn clockwise around your left index finger and the tail counterclockwise around your thumb. (This process looks a lot like making a slingshot.)

6. Draw both ends into your palm and hold them down with your remaining fingers. The needle in your right hand and your left hand with the yarn should be straight up and down, with a little slack between the two.