Ah, the lowly knit stitch. Usually, the first thing that a new knitter learns is the knit stitch. Then we make a garter stitch scarf or a hat in the round. Sometimes, experienced knitters forget how wonderful this most basic stitch in knitting can be.
The Oxford dictionary defines basic as:
an adjective: Forming an essential foundation or starting point; fundamental.
a noun: The essential facts or principles of a subject or skill.
The ubiquitous knit stitch is indeed the foundation for everything in knitting. In a way, it even shows us how to purl, considering that the purl stitch is a mirror image of a knit stitch. We can cast on by knitting the stitches onto a needle.
We vary our stitches by manipulating the knit stitch. Everything starts with knit. (Well, actually, everything starts with “e”, but we are talking about knitting here.)
Notice that when we tell people what we are doing with two needle ends and some yarn, we refer to the activity as “knitting”, not “purling”. And it is certainly not weaving, crocheting, quilting or macrame, although some non-crafty people lump all of these things into one big category of “things I don’t know how to do, even though my grandma tried to show me once”. There are a couple of ways to look at the knit stitch. If you are working a piece flat, back and forth, the fabric that is produced by the knit stitch is referred to as “garter”. This fabric is bumpy on both sides, and has furrows. Mind you, if you worked a flat piece back and forth in all purl, it would still produce garter fabric. (Remember, purl is mirror of knit, so if you only purl a flat piece, you will get the same result as if you onlyknit a flat piece.)
Another fabric that consists of only the knit stitch is anything that is joined into the round and worked in knit. In that case, you are only working on the outside of a cylinder of knitting, and piling knits on top of knits in the round produces stockinette stitch. The fabric is smooth on the outside and bumpy on the inside, and without the deep furrows of garter stitch. Think of a knit sock worked in the round. All knit stitch. All on the outside of the stocking. Voila, stockinette stitch.
The Poncho a la Mode is knit in the round in one piece. (Ok, it has some rib at the very beginning so the edge doesn’t curl.)
Even though this is the first stitch we learn, it can create variety of very sophisticated looking items. Some of the most beautiful blankets and shawls are made with only the knit stitch. The “Mrs. Watson” is one great example.
On huge needles, thick yarn for a garter stitch blanket looks like something straight out of a fancy catalog.
Thin yarn on tiny needles is extremely warm and can be the foundation of an amazing shawl.
And, believe it or not, the Newport Summer Shrug is only the knit stitch! There are yarn overs, but isn’t that just a manipulation of the knit? No purling in this one!
And when is a flat piece in all knit stitch not garter? You can manipulate what you are doing by starting a yarn at the other end of a circular knitting needle to create “purl” rows! Check this out! Sliding Garter Blanket. My newest pattern on Ravelry!
Coming up! In part 2 of this blog about the knit stitch, I will discuss picking up stitches around garter.
We are coming up to hat season. I love making hats! They can be teeny tiny for a newborn, or a shower cap slouchy style for my mom. (She doesn’t like her hair to get smashed!)
Hats are relatively easy to make, firstly, of course, you need an idea of yarn, needles, and, yes, stitches per inch! (Remember that gauge swatch?) Now, of course gauge is not as important in a hat as it is in a sweater, so I will look the other way if you check the ball band and make an educated guess about the number of stitches in one inch! For our hat today we will be making a knit hat with no special stitches. I only make hats in the round, on 16″ circular needles, then switch to double point needles when decreasing.
Let’s talk about some numbers. Don’t get all scared. These numbers are about a third grade (ok, maybe fourth grade) level.
Next, check how many stitches are in one inch of knitting in your desired pattern. The ball band usually states the number of stitches in 4” and gives a suggested needle size. Start there. If you are not sure about the gauge on the ball band, you must make a swatch. Again, since this is a hat, I will let you get away with making the swatch flat, but technically, you would make the swatch in the round, since you will knit the hat in the round.
So… Let’s say the ball band says 22sts=4”/10cm in stockinette stitch. (I like to use inches, ‘cuz the US never switched over to metric back in the ‘70’s.) We know how to get the number of stitches in one inch because we know how many stitches are in four inches, right?
22sts (from the ball band) ÷ 4 (inches) = 5.5 sts in one inch.
Now, take the number in one inch (5.5) and multiply it by the inches you would like your hat to be. Let’s say Child. We look at our handy dandy Craft Yarn Council chart above and find that a Child’s hat circumference should be 18”.
5.5 sts in one inch x 18” (calculator on phone, hold on one second) = 99.
99 is the magic number to cast on for this hat, in this yarn, on this needle, for this size. You get my drift: different yarn, different needle, different size, = different numbers.
To make things a bit easier for shaping the top of the hat later on, I like to cast on a multiple of 8. You don’t have to cast on that multiple, but the number should be a multiple of 12 or less. I like 8 because it is also a multiple of 2 and 4, so you can have 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 ribbing at the edge.
But wait… you say! 99 is not a multiple of 8! You are so correct, my little mathematician! What is the number closest to 99 that is a multiple of 8? You can go to your calculator, I won’t look. Ta Dah! The number to cast on for this hat is 96!!
Instructions for knitting in the round often say something like: Join into round, being careful not to twist. Pm (place marker) to show the beginnning of the round. The marker should be a round one, not a pin, small and thin. I used to do a couple of “fancy joins”, but now I just commence knitting and use the tail to close up any gaps later.
Work the hat in the round on 16” needles or double point needles to the desired height. The minimum height before shaping is as follows.
When you arrive at the height for your size, you will begin decreasing for the crown. You can stay on the circular needle to decrease a few rounds before changing to double point needles (dpns).
Because our hat has a multiple of 8 stitches, we will decrease in groups of 8. For the first round, you will k6, k2tog around. Get it? 6 plus the 2 you knit together = 8. This is like magic, isn’t it?
I like to work one round of plain knit between each decrease round, but you can also decrease on every round.
Then, on the next decreased round, since you have reduced your number of stitches, you now have a multiple of 7 on your needle. So… You guessed it, this next decrease round is k5, k2tog. Knit one round even and the next decrease round is k4, k2tog around. You will always end a round with a k2tog, so if this isn’t the case you need to go back and check your work, take out a round and re work. We like these decreases to line up, and it will show if they don’t. Here are two videos showing how to take out stitches:
Now you can clearly see what we are doing here! Every time you reduce stitches on a decrease round, you go to the next multiple down. Genius!
When the stitches become too snug to work around on your circular needle, begin using double point needles. Don’t be scared. You can do it.
I like to start using my dpns at the beginning of a decrease round, not an even knit round. This keeps the decreases in tidy order for next rounds.
It is not important that you have the same number of stitches on each dpn, but it is important that you end each dpn with a decrease. For instance if your sequence is k3, k2tog, you will do a few of those onto the first dpn, always ending the dpn with a k2tog. In this way, you won’t have to be shifting stitches from one needle to another later.
When the top of your hat is somewhere between 6 to 10 stitches (this isn’t rocket science), you will gather the top of your hat. Cut the yarn leaving about a 9” tail or so, and thread the end into a tapestry needle. (A fat sewing needle with a big huge eye.)
Starting with the first dpn you would have continued to knit off of, run the sewing needle through the remaining stitches. I like to remove the stitches one at a time onto my tapestry needle slipping them as if I am purling. Do not pull tight at this point. After all of the stitches are transferred off of the dpns, carefully run your yarn tail through those stitches again. Careful, ‘cuz you don’t want to split the yarn. Then ease the stitches closed by gently pulling the yarn and stretching the hat to even everything out. Take the tail to the inside of the hat (not through the center, but to the side), and voila! HAT ACHIEVEMENT!
There are a couple of ways to look at the knit stitch. If you are working a piece flat, back and forth, the fabric that is produced by the knit stitch is referred to as “garter”. This fabric is bumpy on both sides, and has furrows. Mind you, if you worked a flat piece back and forth in all purl, it would still produce garter fabric. (Remember, purl is mirror of knit, so if you only purl a flat piece, you will get the same result as if you only knit a flat piece.)
