Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings 
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 Knitting Friday (edited Mon., 1/28)

Finally! After an hour, I remembered the correct password to get in here! What a jerk!

About two weeks ago, I was winding down to no WIP on my needles; now I'm inundated with stuff including two time sensitives projects: a gift scarf and a winter scarf, (which really has to be done before spring).

But I promised a mini-lesson on the wrap and turn procedure, for sure, this week. I've taken all new, and I hope correct, pictures, so here goes. 

What is wrap and turn (W & T) and is there more than one type:

Wrap and turn is an intermediate knitting procedure and it's used to create short rows. Short rows are a way to get more fullness in your garment, say in the bodice area. You can W & T in knitting or purling but today I'm only going to talk about it in stockinette stitch. That is, the W & T occurs on the knit side of your work.

Expanded directions for w & t might look like this (I'm expanding them because most of them use a short hand you may not understand yet.): CO 20 stitches and work in st st for 6 rows. Row 1: knit 10 stitches, wrap the 11th stitch. Row 2: Turn your work and purl back to the beginning of the row. Row 3: Knit to the wrapped stitch and K it and its wrap together, then K to the end of the row. With these directions, you have completed a wrap and turn and created a short row.

#1 W & T swatch, w/fullness

 In #1, you see the w & t swatch from last week. You can see the fullness at the middle top and you can't see any holes in the swatch (you eliminate the holes with Row 3 of the W & T procedure.) That's because I knitted my wraps and the stitches they were wrapping together. If this were a bodice area, you may want to get fullness there with w & t. Note: W & T also help shawls stay on your shoulders, etc., etc.

I mentioned types of W & T. There are three:

1) The simplest is where the directions just say "K 10 stitches, T and work back." You are just making short rows here, no wrapping. This would work on boucle yarns where holes would be hidden naturally.

2) Wrapping your stitch and turning but on Row 3 you would just knit past the wrapped stitch and not bother to knit it together with its wrapping. This is often done with garter stitch W & T.

3) Wrapping your stitch, turning and on Row 3, knitting the wrap and the wrapped stitch together.

Today, I'm going to explain the 3rd type above on the knit side of the stockinette stitch. Although #3 is the most complicated method, it is so, so easy with just a little practice.

 (Note: There are many videos and written instructions for W & T on the internet. I found tips in all of them but finally had to tweak them and finalize my own plan which is below.)

Wrap/Turn/K together How-To
Definitions:
Wrapping the stitch means you "circle" the designated stitch (the wrapped stitch) in yarn. Just wrapping this stitch in yarn is only part one of this procedure.
Turning means you turn your work and work in the opposite direction (if you are knitting, you turn and purl back and vica versa) You never work your wrapped stitch on this row (Row 2).

K together: Knit the wrapped stitch and the wrap at its base together.

Abbreviations/Symbols/Terms:
W & T = wrap and turn,
CO = Cast on,
K = knit and P = purl and Y = yarn
b = back and f = front
LN/RN = left needle & right needle (On circs, this refers to the tips)
sl = slip and st = stitch
T = turn
\ = to

WT st = stitch you will be wrapping

W = wrap at base of WT st
You read all this as it appears so:
sl st LN \ RN means Slip stitch left needle to right needle.
 

Extra: Cut a long piece of contrasting color yarn and lay it across your work just before the wrapped stitch. This will help you find this stitch on Row 3.

#2 1st st on LN will be wrapped

What do you do  in W & T:
1.You usually work a few or many rows in your pattern and then you'll come to a section where you will work W & Ts. In #2, you can see that I knitted about 6 stitches. The first stitch on the LN, to the left of the dark strand, will be wrapped.

2. First, I'll slide the 1st st on the LN to the RN as P, still keeping the strand in place. (#3)

#3 St to be wrapped now on RN

#4 working yarn to the front

 3. With the WT stitch on the RN now, I'll bring my working yarn to the front of my work. (#4) This is part one of the wrapping. Notice I'm marking the WT st with an attached marker because I didn't want to confuse you will both the working yarn and it. I'm put this strand back later.

#5 WT st back on LN

4. Bring the WT st back to the LN. OK, now I'm using the marker and the strand. The yarn is still in the front of my work but the WT st is now back on the LN. (#5)

#6 wrap complete, Y in back

5. Bring the yarn to the back. In #6, you can see that the yarn is now at the back of my work and the wrapped stitch is officially wrapped.

#7 WT st now on the R of the strand

6. Turn your work and purl back to the beginning of the row. Look at #7 and you will see that the yarn is on the correct side for purling and that now the WT st is to the right of the strand and the 1st stitch on the RN. Do not purl the WT st on this row.

#8 back at WT st

7. Once you reach the beginning of your row, turn your work and knit back to the WT st. (#8)

8. Look at #8 and you can clearly see the stitch you wrapped. It's the 1st stitch to the left of the strand and the 1st one on the LN. The wrap is the "circle" around its base. This stitch is obviously different from the others.

9. You are going to knit the wrap and the wrapped stitch together now. (This is the hole prevention stage.) You are going to move this stitch back to the RN (you can remove the strand.) Then, with the tip of the LN you will go through the wrap first and then the WT stitch and put them both back on the LN. In this position, you will knitting them regularly together with the RN. (#13 & #14)

#10 still on RN

 10. In # 10, you see the WT st back on the RN.  You can see the wrap at its base which you will pick up first with your LN, followed by WT stitch. (#11 & #12)

 11. These two stitches may look/feel awkward as they sit on your LN ready to be knitted together but just do it, it works.

#11 LN picking up the wrap

#12  LN holding wrap & WT st

 12. You can see in #11 and #12, the LN picking up first the wrap and then the WT stitch. (Note: knitting a wrap and its WT st together is really very easy and not tricky at all.)

#13 Wrap & WT st on LN

#14 RN ready to K them together

 #13 In #13 and #14, you can see the final step almost completed. (OK, I forgot to take a picture of them knitted together.) Once you knit those two stitches together in #14, your WT st will be done and you'll be ready to finish the row by knitting across to the end.

#15 no holes

14. #15 shows a done WT st with a marker and you can see that there are no holes.

15 In my swatch in #1, I made two WT stitches on each row but you can practice this procedure any way you like.

Or, you can use this practice swatch:

1. CO 10 stitches and work 6 rows in stockinette. (You can add some garter border stitches to keep the swatch flat.

2. End ready to work a K row.
3. Knit 4 stitches.

4. Wrap the 5st stitch and turn to purl back. Turn

5. Knit back to the wrapped stitch and knit it and its wrap together.
6. Continue knitting to stitch 8.

6. Wrap the 9th stitch and turn. (Rep. #5)
7. Knit to the end of the row. Turn and purl back. Turn.

7. Continue wrapping and turning the 5th stitch and the 9th stitch for practice.  

I'm going to leave you will a Cheat Sheet for wrapping stitches on the knit side of stockinette.

Quick Cheat Sheet
Abbreviations/Symbols: 

K = knit, P = purl, Y = yarn

b = back, f = front

LN/RN = left needle & right needle (On circs, this refers to the tips)

sl = slip, st = stitch

\ = to, tog = together, T = turn

W = wrap at base of WT st

WT st = stitch you are wrapping.
Read the symbols as they appear so: sl st LN \ RN reads: Slip stitch left needle to right needle.

W &T on K side starting at the stitch to be wrapped: 
1. Sl st P LN \ RN

2.. Y \ F

3. Sl st RN \ LN

4. Y \ B

5. T

6. PB

7. T & K to WT st

8. K WT st & its W tog

OK, that's it for today. I hope my directions are clear and that wrap and turn becomes your new BFF in knitting procedures also.

Next week: W & T on garter; very easy. Plus some projects in the works.

Miss L, we'll miss you.

6 more days and Miss L starts her second phase of Seeing Eye training.