Knitting -- Adventures in Argyle 4, locking purl stitches

You've knitted the bottom of the argyle pullover, wrapped the middle stitch and turned to purl back. You have one stitch left in the diamond and then you have to lock the diamond and rib colors to prevent gaps.

Now you need the technique in the next video.

This video shows how to prevent gaps between colors on purled rows

About minute 2:19 it shows how to work the left hand yarn in without leaving a gap. 

So you are going to wrap the diamond color clockwise around your right-hand needle.

Then you are going to wrap the rib color counterclockwise around that same needle like for a normal purl stitch.
Then you are going to unwrap the diamond color. Make sure it layers on top of the rib color instead of between it and the needle or it won't lock.
Then you are going to pull the rib color through.
Purl in rib color to the next diamond.

Now you are going to pick up the bobbin of diamond color for that diamond.

You're going to wrap rib clockwise, wrap diamond counterclockwise, unwrap rib, and purl in diamond color across this diamond.

Then you're going to do the same thing to lock together the colors, picking up the rib color from the new bobbin, and so on.

When you get back to your first diamond, you have a situation. The bobbin with the diamond color is on the other side of this diamond.  If you bring it back to you, you'll create a floatie, a tail of yarn which is prone to catch on things and break. What a terrible end to all your hard work!

What you have to do is add in a second bobbin of diamond color to work this particular diamond from both sides. Lock it in with your rib color, knit the diamond stitches to the center. This center stitch is the one you wrapped in the knit round.

Purl it with the stitch wrapped around it, wrap the next stitch, and turn to do the next knit round.

Here's what it looks like at the middle of the pale diamonds. Sorry for the crumpling, you'll see it better when I finish.

And here's what it looks like with ALL the bobbins. Now you can see why you probably don't want to travel with this.

The yarn from the bobbins easily gets tangled. Leave only about 4 inches and they'll have less room to play in. Also as you work the body, it will help keep them separated.

All right, now let's test how much you've learned. Do your first 15 rounds and then stop and check something out.

Look at the diamond where you are doing your stitch wrapping.  Can you smooth it out or does it pooch up?

If it pooches up, there are two possible reasons.

One is you weren't doing the wrap stitches loosely enough.  So when you picked up the wrap stitch while finishing the purl round, you had to pull all the stitches out of alignment.

The other is that on your purl rounds, you forgot about picking up the wrap stitch and purling it together with the stitch it's wrapped around. All you did was wrap the stitches in a solid vertical line.

Unfortunately in both cases you have to ask yourself if you want to wear this top out in public. If so, you have to unwind all 15 rounds, wind the yarn back up on the bobbins, and start over. To me, sacrificing 15 rounds is a lot better than making a whole sweater with that poochy diamond.

And now, the question you have all been asking for 4 posts: HOW MUCH YARN DO I BUY?

When I make a top, the body usually takes 6 skeins (50 grams a skein) of worsted weight yarn. It did work out that I needed 3 skeins of each color in this two-color top. The sleeves will be solid and I usually need 3 skeins each to make sure they're long enough, although plenty is left over. So calculate your purchase based on a) your size; b) the weight of yarn you're using and c) whether you're doing two colors or three.

There are two more steps, putting on the sleeves and putting on the lines. Next post I'll show you which one I did first and why.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2020 All Rights Reserved