Learn from Ruth Nguyen, knitwear designer and short row geek.
Have you ever wanted to go beyond the wrap and turn? Explore the incredible world of knitting short rows. Learn how to knit short rows, five variations including w&t. Learn when to choose
Most of us have our first short row experience with the wrap and turn (W&T), but this may not necessarily be the best choice for every project. W&T short rows can distort stockinette stitch or interrupt stripes (among other things), and some knitters just don’t enjoy working it.
In Beyond Wrap & Turn (W&T): Short Row Variations course, we’ll be going over four alternatives to wrap and turn short rows:
- Yarn over short rows
- Twin stitch short rows
- Japanese short rows
- German short rows
Yarn over short rows
If you’re making something that needs to be very flexible or will be blocked very aggressively, the looseness of yarn over short rows will give your fabric the extra bit of stretch it needs. So if you’re working short rows in a super lacy shawl for example, yarn over short rows may be the perfect choice.
Twin stitch short rows
They melt nicely to stockinette stitch. I personally like to use them where I’m working short rows and stockinette stitch. So when I’m raising the back neck on a sweater or shaping a curved hem, or doing a shawl with lots of stockinette.
Japanese short rows
They are ideal for shaping stockinette stitch because they create very little distortion in the fabric and make your short rows as invisible as possible. It’s also easier to keep track of your row ends in Japanese short rows than in other short row methods because we use stitch markers to keep track of the row ends.
German short rows
German short rows are perfect for stockinette because they’re super easy to work, they don’t distort your fabric, and don’t leave the holes the way that wrap and turn short rows can sometimes.
Also included are tips and tricks on substituting short row styles in your projects, and when the W&T can be an ideal choice. This course does assume that you’ve already learned to knit wrap and turn short rows; if you need a w&t refresher, review the SOS video: W&T Short Rows tutorial.
Share your new short row knits with us! And questions and chat is taking place over at the SOS forums, plus tag your Instagram posts with #sosknitting and #schoolofsweetgeorgia!
#ProKnitTip :: Wet blocking superwash wool sometimes results in a piece that`s larger than the schematic dimensions. It seems to have stretched or grown. Does this happen to you?.
DON`T PANIC!
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If you swatched properly—and by that I mean …
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✅ knit a large enough swatch (or 2 or 3) to accurately measure your gauge,
✅ chose the right needle size to get gauge (not necessarily the one listed in the pattern),
✅ used the *same needles* that you swatched with,
✅ *blocked* that swatch and got gauge,
✅ got gauge on the *project* and not just your swatch,
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… then as the fabric dries, it will ease back into the right gauge.
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In the photo I`ve pinned out the schematic measurements and placed the wet piece within those measurements. It looks too large, right? Then I gently patted and massaged the wet fabric until it fit. When it was dry, it was the perfect size.
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I was confident that would work because I followed all the swatching rules above AND when I blocked it, I laid it flat to dry *without* pinning it to shape. I picked it up a few times while it was drying and tossed it in the air, then laid it back down again. This allowed the stitches to dry into the shape/size/gauge that they naturally wanted to be in. I didn`t force them to become my gauge. Since I paid this attention to my gauge swatch, I knew that my project would successfully come out to the right size.
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Bookmark this post to refer back to later. My Fundamentals to Finishing Knits schoolofsweetgeorgia course covers blocking and all the other finishing techniques you could need. Tap the link in my bio to check it out.
Join us at the online SOS meetups taking place this week…
• TODAY, May 1st, 10:00 AM PDT: Knit Meetup with Robyn // Bring along any fibre craft project and come enjoy the fun chat on Zoom.
• Wednesday, May 3rd, 12:00 PM PDT: Looking at Twills with Laura Fry // We`ll be meeting on Zoom for the live lecture where Laura will talk about how twill works and how to create designs that work best with your cloth.
All of the information and links to join in can be found at our SOS Event Calendar. We hope to see you online soon!
Top-down vs. bottom-up sweaters is one of the most passionately debated topics in the knitting world. As an avid sweater knitter and designer who loves both constructions, I firmly believe there’s a place for both—but when should you choose a top-down sweater pattern or a bottom-up one?
Continue reading Ruth`s @redearthdesignstudio new article about the Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Breakdown where she shares how there isn’t a simple answer, but hopefully, this article will take some of the mystery out of deciding. Follow our link in bio to continue learning more!
#sosknitting #schoolofsweetgeorgia #knitting #knittersofinstagram #sweaterknitting
The magic of making educational videos… @tabismiles has socks knit to every step of the sock knitting process! Here are all the sock knitting step-outs that Tabetha prepared for our upcoming “two at a time sock knitting” workshop that we have coming out this fall. What is YOUR favourite way of knitting socks?
Have you ever had trouble with a messy long-tail cast-on? One end seems to be getting all kinked up while the other end is separating before your very eyes! What is going on here? Well, every time we make a wrapping motion, we change our yarn. Some projects are fine, but others… well, they just seem to be so difficult! Let’s have a look under the hood to see how and why the twist direction of our yarns can make or break a project.
New at the School is Amanda Buckley`s @mandythephilomath article Twist And Shout: Why Twist Direction Matters In Your Making, arming you with the knowledge of how our techniques can change yarn as we work with it, and how we can choose to compensate for it or even amplify it for effect.
Read the full post at the SOS site (link in bio)!
#schoolofsweetgeorgia #sosspinning #sosknitting #soscrochet #spinningyarn #handspun #yarn #handspunyarn #handspunstagram
The tubular cast on is an invisible cast on that’s great for hems, cuffs, and ribbing edges where you want to have a bit of elasticity. It creates a super stretchy and beautiful edging for your knit pieces, and in Tabetha`s @tabismiles new How to Work a Tubular Cast On post, you can find a step-by-step tutorial on how to work these cast on stitches!
Find the new Tubular Cast On post at the School – link in bio »
Shown in the image is Kristen`s @kristentendyke Drifter pattern, knit in @sweetgeorgia Superwash Worsted.
#sosknitting #schoolofsweetgeorgia #tubularcaston #knitting #knittingtutorial
Lisa Congdon calls it loud quitting: an assertive and unapologetic no to everything in her life she finds draining, feels done with, one-sided, obligatory, without purpose or joy. Sounds cathartic. If project management is a matter of managing our motivation, then loud quitting is the decision to face our setbacks and hang-ups, evaluate the project, and get rid of it completely. It is time to get frogging.
At Amanda Buckley`s @mandythephilomath new article `Frogging & The Art of Project Management`, continue reading about frogging and the anatomy of a quit. We can undo a little bit to fix an error, or we can undo the whole lot and reclaim the yarn. Both options are valuable tools in the art of project management. Find the article link in our link in bio!
#sosknitting #schoolofsweetgeorgia #frogging #knitting #knittersofinstagram #knittersofig
Have you ever wished you knew exactly what yarn to get in a rush order or trip to an LYS, that you could predict the finished drape and feel of your project, or (gasp) could skip gauge swatching? I have some tips and tricks on creating a gauge library to help you with all three of the objectives above. (Okay, you might not be able to skip gauge swatching; Tabetha Hedrick, SweetGeorgia’s guru of gauge, is watching me! But having a gauge library will make that step go by just a little quicker!)
Continue reading Ruth Nguyen`s @redearthdesignstudio new How to Create a Gauge Library article, where we hope you are inspired to start your own. Knowledge is power, and knowledge that is catalogued and easy to access is that much more powerful—especially when it comes to our knitting and crochet projects!
#sosknitting #gaugeswatch #gaugelibrary #gotgauge #knitting #knittersofinstagram #schoolofsweetgeorgia
Download the Beyond the W&T workbook here!
Download the full course transcripts here>>
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