Knitting. DUMmIES FOR 2ND EDITION

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3 Knitting FOR DUMmIES 2ND EDITION

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5 Knitting FOR DUMmIES 2ND EDITION by Pam Allen, Tracy L. Barr, Shannon Okey

6 Knitting For Dummies, 2nd Edition Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ Copyright 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, , fax Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, , fax , or online at Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH- OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at , outside the U.S. at , or fax For technical support, please visit Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: ISBN: Manufactured in the United States of America

7 About the Authors Tracy L. Barr is a professional writer and editor. She learned to knit when she was 10 and in the three plus decades since has continued to be an avid knitter. Shannon Okey is the author of nearly a dozen books on knitting and other fiber arts, a columnist for knit.1 magazine, and a frequent contributor to other crafty magazines. She hosts a call-in podcast about knitting and has appeared on many television shows, including Knitty Gritty, Uncommon Threads, and Crafters Coast to Coast. You can find her online at Pam Allen is creative director at Classic Elite Yarns. In addition to Knitting For Dummies, she s the author of Scarf Style and co-author of Wrap Style, Lace Style, Bag Style, and Color Style (all published by Interweave Press). Her work has appeared in Knitting in America (published by Artisan) and numerous magazines and knitting books. She lives in Portland, Maine.

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9 Author s Acknowledgments Tracy and Shannon would like to thank their Wiley editors, Chrissy Guthrie and Elizabeth Rea, whose suggestions and edits made for a better book; Andrea Smith, who did such a careful review of the material; Meredith Kubicki, who managed the co-op that knitted the new pieces in almost record time; and Arabella Proffer, Shayla Clark, Chloé Brossoit, Emilie Brossoit, Tara Sibery, Amber Singer, and Rowan Miller, who gamely modeled winter sweaters and hats during the summer photo shoots.

10 Publisher s Acknowledgments We re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies Online Registration Form located at Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development Senior Project Editor: Christina Guthrie Acquisitions Editor: Michael Lewis Senior Copy Editor: Elizabeth Rea Editorial Program Coordinator: Erin Calligan Mooney Technical Editor: Andrea Smith Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck Editorial Assistants: Joe Niesen, David Lutton Cover Photos: Boston Stock, Inc. Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( Production Project Coordinator: Katherine Key Layout and Graphics: Brooke Graczyk, Joyce Haughey, Melissa K. Jester, Christin Swinford, Christine Williams Special Art: Select color photography by Matt Bowen Proofreaders: Cara Buitron, Jessica Kramer Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Special Help: Alicia South. Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

11 Contents at a Glance Introduction... 1 Part I: Getting Ready to Knit... 7 Chapter 1: Two Needles, a Ball of Yarn, and a Little Know-how...9 Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade...17 Chapter 3: Taking the Mystery Out of Patterns and Gauge...41 Part II: Knitting Primer Chapter 4: The Fundamentals: Casting On, Knitting, Purling, and Binding Off...57 Chapter 5: Basic Stitches You ll Use Again and Again...75 Chapter 6: Techniques Every Knitter Should Know...85 Chapter 7: Oops! Fixing Common Mistakes Chapter 8: Knitting in the Round Chapter 9: Practicing with Simple Projects Part III: Techniques for the More Experienced Knitter Chapter 10: Stripes Yipes! Chapter 11: Cable Musings and Interesting Twists Chapter 12: Let the Sun Shine In: Knitting Lace Chapter 13: Fair Isle and Intarsia Techniques Part IV: Making Garments Chapter 14: Anatomy of a Sweater Pattern Chapter 15: How to Knit a Sweater, Step by Step Chapter 16: Getting It Together: Blocking and Assembling Your Pieces Chapter 17 : Finishing Touches: Neckbands, Edging, Buttonholes, and More Chapter 18: Starter Garments Part V: The Part of Tens Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Unkinking Exercises for Knitters Chapter 20: Ten Quick Knitting Projects and Gift Ideas...309

12 Part VI: Appendixes Appendix A: More Stitches and Cool Effects Appendix B: Knitting Resources Index

13 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 About This Book...1 Conventions Used in This Book...2 What You re Not to Read...3 Foolish Assumptions...3 How This Book Is Organized...3 Part I: Getting Ready to Knit...3 Part II: Knitting Primer...4 Part III: Techniques for the More Experienced Knitter...4 Part IV: Making Garments...4 Part V: The Part of Tens...5 Part VI: Appendixes...5 Icons Used in This Book...5 Where to Go from Here...6 Part I: Getting Ready to Knit... 7 Chapter 1: Two Needles, a Ball of Yarn, and a Little Know-how Why Knit?...9 Knitting up good karma...10 A feeling of accomplishment...10 Keeping your mind and hands occupied...10 Creating a one-of-a-kind piece...11 What Knitter s Need...11 The tools...12 An understanding of the basics...13 An understanding of knitterese...14 Teaching Yourself to Knit from a Book...15 Swatching...15 Putting it into practice...16 Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade Yarn: The (Quick) Consumer s Guide...17 Fiber fundamentals...18 A weighty matter...21 Looking at yarn packaging...23 Choosing yarn for a project...26 Knitting Needles...28 Exploring needles...28 Sizing them up...30 The stuff they re made of...31

14 xii Knitting For Dummies, 2nd Edition Gizmos and Gadgets...33 The essentials...33 Not necessary but nice to have...36 Blocking Equipment...38 Organizing Your Equipment...39 Chapter 3: Taking the Mystery Out of Patterns and Gauge Reading Stitch Patterns...41 Deciphering Knitterese: Common abbreviations and shorthand...42 Following written stitch patterns...45 Reading charted stitch patterns...46 Gauge: Getting the Size Right...48 Things that affect gauge...49 Making a gauge swatch...51 Measuring your gauge...52 Matching your pattern s gauge...53 Designing with gauge in mind...53 Part II: Knitting Primer Chapter 4: The Fundamentals: Casting On, Knitting, Purling, and Binding Off Casting On...58 Two-strand (or long-tail) cast-on...58 Cable cast-on (cable co)...61 Thumb (or e-loop) cast-on...63 Now You re Knitting and Purling...64 Knitting know-how...64 Perfect purling...67 Knitting and purling, Continental-style...68 Binding (or Casting) Off...73 Chapter 5: Basic Stitches You ll Use Again and Again Stitches Every Knitter Should Know: Garter, Stockinette, and Seed Stitches...75 Garter stitch...76 Stockinette stitch...77 Seed stitch...79 Ribbed Stitches x 1 ribbing x 2 ribbing x 2 and 2 x 4 ribbing x 4 ribbing...83

15 Table of Contents xiii Chapter 6: Techniques Every Knitter Should Know Slipping Stitches...85 Making a Yarn Over...86 Between 2 knit stitches...87 Between a knit and a purl stitch...88 Between 2 purl stitches...88 Between a purl stitch and a knit stitch...89 Twisting Stitches: Knitting through the Back Loop...90 Working Increases...91 Bar increase...92 Working a make Knitting into the stitch below...94 Making a double increase...95 Increasing at several points in a single row...96 Doing Decreases...97 Knitting 2 stitches together...97 Purling 2 stitches together...98 Slip, slip, knit...99 Pass slipped stitch over Making double decreases Chapter 7: Oops! Fixing Common Mistakes Stopping Mistakes or Catching Them Early Dealing with Dropped Stitches Finding and securing a dropped stitch Rescuing a dropped stitch in the row below Rescuing a dropped stitch from several rows below Ripping (Your Heart) Out Ripping out stitch by stitch Ripping out row by row Chapter 8: Knitting in the Round How Going in Circles Can Be a Good Thing Choosing Needles for Circular Knitting Casting On for Circular Knitting Joining the Round Joining on a circular needle Joining on double-pointed needles Tidying up the first and last stitches Working Common Stitches in the Round Using Steeks for a Clean Break Sewing in a steek Crocheting a steek Cutting your fabric after you steek Measuring Gauge in the Round...123