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Sunday 30 October 2011

Intermediate Knitting #2/3: Increasing and Decreasing Fun

Hi Everyone!

This week was my second Intermediate Knitting Class. Technically it's the third one, but i had to miss the second session. Having covered a number of ways to Cast On in the first session, we have now moved on to learning how to increase and decrease on both knit and purl stitches. It's great to learn the correct techniques and methods since up until now i have been mainly self taught, so i think i have picked up a lot of bad habits and sometimes just guessed at how to do things. Naughty i know!

We were taught to increase or decrease two stitches from the start/end of the row, as this leaves a nice parallel edge to the knitting. I have attempted to take a few pictures to illustrate the techniques here...hopefully they make sense. If this is helpful, or if you would like more pictures, please let me know and i'll see what i can do! (apologies for the very chipped nail varnish!!)


1) Increase on Knit Stitch

 To increase on a knit stitch, we were taught to use the "make" method. You first pick up the "ladder" which connects the previous stitch to the next.



Loop this around the needle to create a stitch, and then knit through the BACK of this loop, as below. Knitting through the front results in a hole, as i found out!



2) Increase on a Purl Stitch

Increasing on a purl stitch starts off the same way as for a knit stitch, by picking up the "ladder" between stitches, and looping it around the needle. Then purl the stitch through the back, as so...




3) Decrease on a Knit Stitch

Decreasing on a knit stitch basically involves knitting two stitches together. By knitting through the back of the stitches at the start of a row, and through the front at the end of the row, this creates a nice "triangular" pattern. Here i am decreasing at the start of a row.



  
4) Decrease on a Purl Stitch

As for increasing, decreasing on a purl stitch is very simialar to decreasing on a knit stitch. Again it involves knitting two stitches together, but the opposite way round as for knit - at the start of a row purl two together through the front, and at the end of the row purl together through the back.

Hopefully this made some kind of sense! Here is a bit of increasing in action...



This week i also started a new knitting project, a scarf for my boyfriend (he knows as i wanted to check the colours!!). It is basically a simple rib pattern of knit 2, purl 2. Here is a sneak peak!


K xx

2 comments:

  1. This has gone over my head a little Kat, but I suspect I'll be coming back after my lesson next week, as we'll be learning to decrease. Thanks so much for the pics etc, I know they'll come in handy for me after next week ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job, Kat. As well as producing great things, knitting is also very relaxing. It's something you can do while watching TV.

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