Knitting -- Adventures in Argyle part 3 close the gap

This is turning out to be a real warts-on project, I mean, I'm showing you every problem I run into. One is at the end of this post.

This might be the most complicated part of knitting an argyle top so let's review the bidding.

1. You cabled on enough stitches for the dimensions of your pullover.
2. You did your bottom rib plus one knitted round.
3. You knitted one round, adding the base stitches of all the diamonds using bobbins of yarn in that color.
4. You knitted one more round adding the second stage of the diamonds, which had 3 stitches each. Between the diamonds you added in bobbins of yarn in the rib color to knit to the next diamond.
5. The first diamond only had 2 stitches so you added the third one.

Now you have to purl the next round to prevent floaties.
To do that, you have to turn the garment.
But turning to purl would leave a gap running up the underarm to the sleeve and you would have to sew that shut, matching the sides of the diamond. Yuck.

Instead, I'll help you with the technique in this video. Go to about minute 9:30 where she gets to the absolute end of the round. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_fb7nf2pP0

If you are used to knitting tightly, you must train yourself out of it.  Before you try this on a real sweater, knit a sample and do one wrap on a knit round. Put a marker through the stitch that you use in this wrap and when you come back you'll see why you have to knit loosely at the wrap.

So what you do is, bring the yarn under the right-hand needle and to the front. So let me explain this photo. I did this with the bottom stitch of the diamond so it would be crystal clear.  You have the dark brown rib. You have the single stitch at the base of the diamond. You have the dark brown yarn brought forward and laid over scrap yarn of a contrasting color so you can see it's there. You have the right-hand needle inserted purlwise into the bottom stitch of the diamond, ready to slip.







Now slip the stitch onto the right-hand needle.

Third, move the yarn under the right-hand needle again and to the back. That's what's in this picture.

Finally, put the left-hand needle knitwise through the BACK of the stitch that you just slipped, and slip it from the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle. So here's the photo of what it means to go knitwise through the BACK of a stitch.

Slip that stitch to the left-hand needle. Now you are ready to turn the knitting around and purl.

Now go to minute 17:10 of the video. Watch as she picks up the wrap stitch and the stitch it is wrapped around, TOGETHER. Then she purls them to produce one stitch. Then she wraps the next stitch as follows: she moves the yarn back; she puts the needle purlwise into this stitch and slips it; she moves the yarn forward; she puts the needle through the back loop knitwise and slips it.

If you don't train yourself to do the wrap loosely, purling it up on the purl side will be nearly impossible.

Be careful to count your stitches before you do the wrap. You only want to wrap the center stitch of the diamond on the knit round. Then you want to purl that with the wrap stitch on the purl round and wrap the next stitch over. 

If you wrap all the center stitches on both sides, you wind up with an unforgiving line up through the center of the diamond. The knitting on both sides will pooch up. No amount of blocking will let the diamond lie flat. On the knit round, you wrap the center stitch. On the purl round you purl this stitch with its wrap, and you wrap the next stitch.

Next session will tell you how to lock colors on the purl round, so don't purl the round until you see the video there.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2020 All Rights  Reserved