Knitting Lesson #4

More on Wrap and Turns.

This knitting stuff can get complicated in a hurry!  I now know that there are almost as many ways to do wrap and turns as there are for casting on and off!  Eesh!  In knitting, the wrap and turn is used for doing short rows.  The wrapping of the next stitch is supposed to keep holes from forming in the fabric for the next time you come back across that stitch with a new row.

Youtube.com is a great site for finding videos/tutorials, but it's also a great site for finding "errors" and a multitude of variations of the same thing you're searching for. 

This is what I have so far on my Silver Nights jacket.  The big area on the left is the first sleeve done in all it's "wrong" glory.  The first mistake I made with this sleeve it to not read the directions correctly.  About the midway point, I'm supposed to increase a stitch at the ends of Rows 1 & 3 of the repeats, to give a slight curvature to the inside edge, closest to the  center "V" shape.  That will be the underarm area of the sleeve. 

I did make my increases, but got it backwards.  I started with the increases, so all the shortrows and shaping were done on the same side of the work, the cuff area.  WRONG!!  lol  (Looks almost like the shape for Superman's chest shield, doesn't it?)

So now I get to take the sleeve apart and get it done correctly, with the increases where they're supposed to be.  Why?  Because after the sleeve seam is sewed together, the seam does this spiraling act so it ends with being on my inside wrist instead of staying to the outside.  Because I did not get the shaping correct at the underarm area, it pulled the fabric around and out of kilter.  But that's ok, it will give me the chance to work on my wrap and turns better!

I had watched one video on youtube prior to doing my first wrap and turns on the center V shaping, did my cast off, and forgot to grab the wrap into the cast off.  Re-did the cast off with the wrap included, and it turned out MUCH better.  (pictures posted in Lesson #3.)

I can see exactly where each wrap was done.  I'm not sure yet if that's the way it will always be, no matter what, or if it's just my lack of experience in doing them.  Some don't look too bad at all, others are a bit wonky, and others yet are "holey".  Because the wrapped stitch and the wrap itself are supposed to be knitted (or purled) together, did I not pick up the right piece of yarn?  Or did I do the wrap itself incorrectly to begin with?  But I will tell you, it gives me a much better appreciation of the simple slip stitch we use in crocheting!!!

I continued doing the wrap and turns for the sleeve's shortrows, and this picture gives a pretty good idea of what it looks like.  Most are visible, some more so than others. Can you see the "wonkies"?  There are two vertical rows of them in this picture.

So back to youtube I went.  I found one that was doing the wrap and turns specifically for garter stitch, which is my stitch pattern for this jacket.  That's my next practice session - to see if I can get better looking results using that method, rather than the one I did use!  So all and all, I guess I really don't mind that I have to take the sleeve apart.  Again.  

Oh yeah, did I mention that this will be the third time doing the sleeve?  The first time I was doing the shortrows on alternating sides of the sleeves because I didn't know then that the wrap and turn is a two parter, kind of like Tunisian crochet.  The first part is working X amount of stitches and making the wrap.  The second part of that is turning the work and stitching back to the beginning of previous row.  What' that old saying about "third time's the charm"?  lol

Have a good day.  :D