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Knitting Friday - KAL armhole bind off and cast on
OK, it looks as though while I was sleeping someone snuck in and removed my March pictures from the browser. Oh well, pictures will come later today; first I want to discuss the armhole bind off and the next row armhole cast on

Knitty has a very "hot" bind off called Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php

You'll find written instructions and pictures here. The only thing to remember about the YO they discuss: a backward K YO is the same as a usual P YO. So don't sweat it when they say do the K YO in the opposite direction. This looks like a very easy bind off and probably it's a variation of the K2tog bind off.

But on to our KAL bind off. By now, you should have completed the neckband, increased to double the stitches in the neckband and on larger needles ( US 10/10.5) worked at least 5" in the pattern of your choice. You're ready to bind off the top shoulder stitches and then cast on the underarm stitches. You should know the number of stitches you need for the body of your pattern. Divide that number by two to get your front and back stitches but remember that you will be adding stitches under the arm and they will be added to your total body stitches.

One thing to remember, you probably will not be adding more than 15 stitches under each armhole. Why? Because it get "gappy" with too many stitches. Here's an example on how I get the number of stitches I need:

1. I CO 80 for the neckband.
2. I double my stitches to 160 for the yoke.
2. At the top shoulder bind off, I knit 50 stitches for the front, I bind off 30 stitches for one arm, I knit 50 stitches for the back and bind off another 30 stitches for the other arm.
3. On the next row, I knit across 50 stitches, I cast on 10 stitches, I knit across 50 stitches and cast on another 10 so I have 120 stitches to work the body of the top.

As I've said before, I like to have the last row before the BO as the second *YO, K2tog* (pattern is: K 2 rows and *YO, K2tog* 2 rows.) That way, the YO will give you some stretchiness as you BO with the first straight K row of the pattern.

I'm going to assume that every one knows the standard BO of K 2 stitches and pass the 2nd stitch on the RN over the first stitch and off the needle. That's the standard bind off and it's usually done in your pattern stitch. So, if you are binding off in the seed stitch (K1, P1) the BO will be looser because the seed stitch itself is looser. (Never a good idea to incorporate rows of seed in your pattern unless you drop your needle size.)

Then there is the K2tog across BO which gives you a slightly looser bind off. But I find if I use the same tension in this BO as the standard one, I don't get a much looser BO. And then there is my "Hail Mary pass" BO. Born of the days when I never had enough yarn to finish the pattern unless I was working with large needles and a very open pattern stitch.

There have been times when I could only bind off 20 stitches for the sleeve (I would be casting on 10 for the underarm so I would have a total of 30 stitches.) because if I bound off more, I wouldn't have enough stitches for the body.

That's how I invented the extended K2tog BO which works because the the armhole is going to be doing a lot of stretching.

Extended K2tog BO:
1. K2. Bring the 2 stitches back to the LN and K them together.
2. Bring the stitch on the RN (which is the K2tog stitch) back to the LN.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 across the row.
4. End with K2tog the last two stitches.

What's happening is you are knitting the K2tog stitch a second time so in a normal world you would get a ripply BO but you are "buying" inches here so any ripple will just fit snugly (I hope not tightly) around your arm.

If you're interested in more bind off techniques, just google.

Finally, the casting on of stitches under the arm which will become body stitches. I read everywhere that holes are a real problem in this area; and they are. A couple of tips:
1. I find a knitted cast on tighter than a cable cast on.
2. I always tighten the first two and last two cast on stitches.
3. On the next row, I always pull tightly on the first two and last two stitches of this section.

But, that dreaded hole usually appears. So I experiment with pulling stitches from the inside tightly and securing them with like colored thread. (Be sure to check the right side as you do this because that side shouldn't show any of the repairs.)

It's not Master Knitting perfect but it'll do.

(Note: If you are going to make sleeves:
1. Be sure to leave a very, very long tail of yarn when you pick up stitches in the underarm. You can use that tail to "make" stitches to fill in gaps. And since you may have gaps on both sides of the underarm, you'll need a good amount of yarn to work from one side to the other.
2. Don't be afraid to pick up more stitches than you need to fill in gaps. You can always decrease them on the next row.)

OK, I just took a picture of the finished top. Well, truth be told, the top is not finished because I also just had one last try-on (always try on your garment so you see both front and back) before cutting the yarn and....... about 4" back I have two mistakes in one row!!!

Next week: Some tips on fixing mistakes but know I think I will just scream loudly.

Happy knitting.