kitchener fail, part two: now with pictures!

[geeksdoitbetter]

here's the promised pic of my kitchener fail

this is actually a pic of the *second* fail that happened over the weekend!

argh!

i totally paid attention this time: knit my knits and purled my purls

still, fail

after poking around the 'net this morning, i realize that many folks work their kitchener steps differently than i do*

i can't account for the half dozen properly seamed toes i've managed in the past using my method, but since it's failed me twice in a row, i'll certainly be trying someone else's next time


*since my method's proven unreliable, i'm choosing not to post it here lest some unwary knitter breeze this post and be lead astray

Comments

[hugh_mannity]

I have no idea what you're doing to make them come out like that.

I do have a solution though: Toe up socks. :)

I've been doing all my socks toe up since I ran out of yarn at the toe of the second sock one time. Irreplaceable hand-dyed yarn so there was no way I could buy more.

[geeksdoitbetter]

~grin~

as mentioned, i've made nearly a dozen socks cuff down successfully

two instances of (fixable) trouble aren't enough to get me to wrangle with toe up

[hugh_mannity]

There's not a lot of wrangling with toe-up socks. I've made at least 20 pairs using a variant of Wendy's generic toe-up socks (basically I've adapted her pattern to give me a slightly better fit.

I even adapted the Paraphernalia pattern (Ravelry link) to be toe-up.

Still, the nice thing about knitting is that there's not really any right or wrong way to do things. If you end up with something that fits and you like the way it looks, then it's all good.

[geeksdoitbetter]

ok, i was trying to be subtle before

let me be more clear:

i will not be knitting toe up socks

suggesting i do so is not a solution to the problem i'm having

[indeliblesasha]

You know, that looks like a three-needle bind off to me. That's very interesting.

[geeksdoitbetter]

~gasp~

you are so right!

after i'd got the great advice to make sure i wasn't twisting stitches, i started to pay attention

and it did really look like i was doing much more of a ... standard bit of binding off, instead of grating a new line of knitting in between the two existing pieces

i'm really excited to finish the current sock (haven't even turned the heel yet!) so i can try one of the two methods i linked to above

[indeliblesasha]

The knitty article is what I tend to use for reference. I have a detailed tutorial from a pattern I purchased -it's the same thing, but I think the knitty directions are written out a little more clearly.

I would bet somewhere between the toes that worked right and this toe you lost a step or so. I've done that in the past "I know how to do this, la la la...wait...o_O" :D

Good luck on the next one! You'll have to let us know how it works out for you.

[geeksdoitbetter]

~nods~ that make sense (losing a bit of the directions that were successful)

i've made myself a new lil note card, clearly labeling the "2 set up steps" referenced in the knitty article

[eruanna]

This video helped me remember better how to do kitchener. I had made an index card with simple directions, as well. You'd think I'd remember by now, but I seem to have to look it up every time so I don't get mixed up. The video made sense to me, so I think maybe now I'll be able to tell how to do it right by looking at the stitches. :)

[geeksdoitbetter]

hooray for a video, thank you!

i can't wait to try out this method

[hobbitbabe]

I don't do them the way people do in your "kitchener steps" link. I know that lots of written instructions have them that way.

The way I learned from mum who learned from grandma starts by skipping those first two steps.
Knit front and drop off
Purl front and leave on
Purl back and drop off
Knit back and leave on
is how I do it. And by the time I've done two or three repeats, I can see that it's right.

The only way that it differs from those published instructions is by having one fewer stitches at the beginning. I do do the whole stitch at the end. But I didn't think it would matter.

[geeksdoitbetter]

i've happily thrown away the lil note i used (successfully, til now) but i remember when reading the links above, being very surprised to see my "on" or "off" steps were backwards and out of order

[geeksdoitbetter]

also!

very happy to hear that other folks are having long term success using a different set of steps than those i linked to

[aunty_marion]

That's the method I've learnt - I finally 'got it' from the Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation book, I think, where the diagrams and instructions are clearer than any I'd seen before. 'Knit front Off, Purl front; Purl back Off, Knit Back' is what I recite to myself.

[eviltammy]

It kinda looks like you did it inside out - I was using it to add a convertible top to a pair of fingerless mitts and started getting a line like that. Had to pick it out and hold the top to the glove and kitchener from the other side, so that the line was on the inside where the convertible top would hide it, rather than on the outside where it showed horribly :) (And, yes, I'm sure there's an easier way, but it was what I was doing at that moment{g})

[geeksdoitbetter]

you are right, for some reason, my normal method all of a sudden started producing purl bumps on the front of the work

wacky

You stole my sock!

[rattlecatcher]

Okay, it wasn't that shade of blue, but that's the toe I've had before ripping out and trying again (a painful process that, if it's just for me, I've left in because FUCK. IT.

I skip the initial step and do the "knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on" procedure and seem to end up with a sock that works even if it gives the ghost of Kitchener the vapors.

Ultimately though, I nod and sympathize and wish you the best.

Re: You stole my sock!

[geeksdoitbetter]

hee!

it's knitpick's stroll sock, in one of their handpainted colorways i think

i'm so pleased to hear many ways to accomplish kitchener

i started the heel flap on the current sock this morning, hope to get to the toe sometime next week and i'll try out one of the other kitchener methods