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Friday, July 21, 2017

Put Them All Together...



Knitting is a strange beast sometimes.  A technique that one knitter "gets" instantly leaves another gnashing her jaws and throwing her project across the room (TAR) which is probably why I like it so much.  There is never just one way to do things, and for some things there are lots of different ways to achieve the same end.

If you "google" short row knitting and look at the wikipedia page it says :

"In knitting, a short row is a row that is not fully knitted; the work is turned before reaching the end of the row. Just before the work is turned, the yarn is generally passed around the next unknitted stitch to prevent a hole from forming at the turning point."

Looks like the writer of that article only knew one kind of short row!  But there are many more to pick from.

While working on my Quill Cardigan, which uses short rows for both the wide shawl collar and the top down set in sleeves, I did a lot of thinking about short rows and the different ways they could be done.

As you may have noticed I wrote up and entire series of tutorials on Short Rows for Knotions this month.

The first up was German Short Rows



















Followed by Japanese Short Rows and the Catch Method (these two are very similar!)

















And then  Shadow Wraps
















Which led to Yarn Over Short Rows


This week Knotions put them all together in a free pdf download with a bonus demonstration of how all the different kinds of short rows, I could find, stack up in garter stitch.  (If you know of any short row methods that I missed, let me know in the comments so I can swatch them too!)

But...give them all a try, see which one you like best, because no matter which method the pattern actually calls for, you can swap out one type for another because they all end the same way : with  a row that is not fully knitted; giving extra fabric on the outside edge of a curve, in the bust area if you need a little more give, an attractive alternative to bind offs that take several rows like in shoulders, heels of socks...the list goes on! 

Who knows you might find your own new favorite way of working short rows.

Now that that series of tutorials is complete....might be time to find another technique that can be done several different ways!  Are there any you would like to see me explore?  Leave a comment with your suggestions!

~M

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