Thursday, April 19, 2012

Lace tip - getting your yarn overs to look like regular knitting

So I've been experimenting with lace lately. Well, no, not lately. I started knitting with needles and crocheting too, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  I tried to mention in my last post about getting really nice yarn overs.  So here I have a sample of knitting that has a regular yarn over that one would get with needle knitting, and the e-wrap yarn over commonly done in loom knitting.  There isn't much of a difference, but I think the e-wrap yarn over looks a little more messy (the knot is at the side, whereas a normal yarn over creates a nice twist) and is slightly smaller when you are making eyelets.



There are reasons why I do my yarn overs that are initially e-wrap instead of just laying the yarn in front of the peg. For one, they are loose and easy to knit, whereas just laying the yarn in front of the peg may become too tight. Even if you leave space and do it loosely, the more you knit, the more you pull on the working yarn, so it's easier to just leave it as an e-wrap and unravel it later on.  This method provides the cleanest looking eyelets, and it doesn't take long at all! If you want your loom knitting to look like needle knitting, this is it.

I hope this tip helps!  Proceed onto the pictures for your perusal.





In my example, I am knitting 2 together before doing a yarn over (k2tog, yo).  In the pictures I am knitting right to left (from the point of view of the viewer). 

Step 1: In a k2tog, lift the first stitch off of your peg, and move it on top of the next peg (in the case of the pictures, the next left peg). 



Step 2:  Now you have the peg empty, where you will do your yarn over.  From a bird's eye view, my knitting goes from left to right (I'm left-handed).  E-wrap the empty peg.




Step 3: Now that we have done the yarn over, knit the 2 stitches together on the peg with 2 stitches.  Use the normal knit over method, or whatever you like the best (I abhor the e-wrap, twisted St st). Then, knit till you are done the whole round.



Step 4: When you are on the next round, and you get to the peg where you did your yarn over, lift the e-wrap stitch off the peg to unravel it. Place the unraveled yarn back in front of the peg. Knit over.



Personally, I only unravel the yarn overs as I get to them, instead of unravelling the for the whole round before knitting.  This way they make big eyelets.


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