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Master’s Monday Returns

Jen

As I promised myself back in July, I hauled out the stuff for my TKGA’s Master Knitter (level 1) course and knitted up a seed stitch swatch. It sucked, so I knitted up another one. That one sucked too.

seedstitchswatchattempts

See the holes? Not good. I am knitting with Cascade 220 on 4 mm needles. Any readers out there really good at seed stitch? I could really use some advice.

4 thoughts on “Master’s Monday Returns”

  1. Try purling more tightly. Holes in seed stitch occur when your purls are looser than your knits. This is natural. If you know how to read your knitting, and are comfortable with recognizing stitches that are ‘backward’ on the needle (meaning the leg you knit into is actually on the far side of the needle, instead of closer to you) then try purling clockwise. When you purl normally, the yarn goes over the needle counterclockwise; I suggest you purl by putting the yarn under the needle clockwise. It will be awkward at first, but your purls should end up much tighter than before.

    I do this when I’m working on something that you’ll see on the wrong side, like a stockinette panel on a scarf. If I purl normally, I get the ridged effect on back instead of an even series of purl bumps. By purling clockwise, though, my purls are the same tightness as my knits.

    As I mentioned, though, this orients the stitch in the opposite manner on the needle. You’ll see what I mean when you try it. :)

    Let me know how this works out for you! (and sorry for the long comment!)

  2. Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestions for getting rid of the holes. :-( I do have questions about the Master’s program though. How hard has it been?

  3. Divine Bird is suggesting that you try knitting combination style – check out Annie Modesitt’s site, or Grumperina’s for more instructions on this. They both do incredible work and expound upon the virtues of the Combination Knitter. I have done this, and it is an easy way to tighten up your purl stitch. The other way is to give it a good tug at the end of each stitch. This takes more practice, but EZ would recommend it, and I find it much easier knit complicated stitch patterns (cables and lace) using the traditional western purl. That said – I still use combination purls on simple ribs and I REALLY like it for seed stitch. It is sooo easy to tell what you are supposed to do next (the stitch tells you!) and the tension is even almost automatically. Worth a shot.

    Question – are you supposed to wash and block your swatches before turning them in? The wool might take care of all those holes itself if you give it a bath. They tend to plump up right nice after a bath. ;D

    Just a thought.

    I can’t believe I’m actually thinking of doing this to myself. Sigh. As if 3 kids weren’t enough to do. Gotta love ’em though. :D

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