Sewing Button Tips with thick knit

Since we are working with Double Knit, sewing on buttons may require  a little different techinique from sewing onto thin  knit or material.   The button hole with bulky knits can be very thick when placed onto the button.  

When sewing the button onto a thick piece of knitting, you want to use the yarn whevever possible and leave some space between the knitting and the button.   That way, when you button up, the knitted buttonhole will lay nice and flat and not ‘bunched’.

Lace the yarn thru the button, pull the ends of the yarn thru the knitting.   Leave enough space between the button and knitting for the thickness of the buttonhole piece.   Bring one strand back up to the button and wrap the yarn around the  sewing yarn  that secures the button, so that the button ‘stands up’ and retains the spacing.   Pull the yarn tail back into the knitting and knot the 2 ends of yarn to secure.  

Now, no bunching-it lays nice and smooth.

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Rib Stitch–when increasing we shift our starting position?

When doing the Rib Stitch, we create  each rib with 2 stitches that form a pair.   To maintain the pairs or ribs, we need to start on same  needles with each row, and that is the first to the third needles.   But, what happens when we decrease a stitch at beginning of row; we alter the formation of the pairs, or, we leave only one stitch for the first rib.

So, we must start the knitting by skipping that lonely single stitch, and start with the next rib.   So, the first stitch stands alone, and we start the row on needles 2 and 4.   This will keep the pairs and the ribs continuing without shifting.   The first stitch will be picked up in the return of the circular.

Then, when we do another decrease, we will eliminate the lonely first stitch.   So the next pair of stitches becomes the needles 1 and 3.   So we will continue the knitting by going back to the original sequence.

What if we increase now.   Well, we just added the lonely first stitch back and we would shift back to the 2 and 4 starting for each row.

The important thing here is to compensate for the loss of a part of a rib and maintain all the others in their sequence.

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How to Increase and add new stitches….

When your knitting starts with a smaller amount of stitches, and then widens with many additional stitches, you will use this type of increase.   For instance, if you want to go from say 10 stitches to 30 stitches in the next row, how do you do this? Actually it is quite simple to do.   This addition of stitches can be all on one end of the existing knitting or added to both ends.

Example:   In the Men’s Cabin slippers, this type of increase is needed.   Another example is the Bold Stripe Sweater.

Let’s say that you have been knitting with 10 needles and you  have one loop on each needle and you want to go to 30 stitches in the next row.  You are increasing 10 stitches on each side to have a total of 30 stitches.   You will Cast On 10 new stitches at front of knitting and 10 new stitches at back of knitting.

• First,  cut the yarn of your 10 stitches of the current knitting.
• Make a loop knot in yarn supply, and place loop on the needle 10  to the  left of your knitting, on board farthest from knitter. (This is like starting from the beginning)

• Weave the yarn around the bare needles in pattern.    When you get to the cut end of yarn at beginning of current knitting, tie the new yarn to the cut tail of yarn.    Weave across the existing knitting and  continue for 10 additional more needles.

• Weave back, to finish your circular over all 30 stitches.
• Hook over the 10 stitches in the middle (they have 2 loops on each needle.)  Place   an anchor yarn  over the 2 areas where you just started new stitches.   These are new Cast On stitches.   They have only 1 loop at this time.

• Weave another circular over all 30 stitches and hook over all.    You now have 30 stitches on your board.   You will want to Bind Off the new stitches for a finished edge once piece is completed.
• This process is used on sweaters where the sleeves are knit into the front and back of the sweater.   The entire piece is one continous piece of knitting.   If you’re doing stripes, you can always do the increase in  different color for next stripe.

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CrissCross Stitch vs Box Stitch?

There seems to be some confusion on these two stitches-Are they really pretty much the same?   Well, the simple answer is yes.   However, there was enough of a difference that made us decide to give the new weaving process a new name.   We didn’t want to go into any pattern done in Crisscross and change it suddenly, so we called the new procedure by a different name.

CrissCross Stitch   -2 weave patterns.   The first is starting on needle #4 and down to #3.

  Then the next row was starting on needle #3 and down to #2.

What this does is shift the yarn over to the next needles with the same angles.   We received a lot of questions about how to keep track of which weave you completed and which weave was to be done next.  

So, we played with it and asked some other knitters how they accomplished the same type of stitch.   The Box Stitch was the answer:

Box Stitch - First row starts with needle #1 to #4 and weave every other needle.

The next row starts with needle #1 to #3, then weave consecutive  #2 down to  #5 and then every other.

This is easier to keep track of because both rows start out on needle #1.

Both shift only 1 needle on both rows, but the Box stitch is a larger stretch from #1 to #4 compared to the crisscross which stretches from #4 to #3.   The difference is a more bold box effect from the box stitch than in the crisscross.

So, not a lot of difference other than more definition in the depth of the look of the stitch and its a little easier to keep track of where you are.   They are both great stitches and may not look too different.   so, we figure everyone will pick the one that they enjoy doing the most and stick with it.   They are certainly interchangeable in any pattern.

PHOTO OF BOX STITCH (blue)   CRISS CROSS (gray)

5 Comments

• Faith February 2, 2007 at 7:58 pm

  Thanks–I had heard of this stitch, but wasn’t quite sure how to do it.
• Hien February 4, 2007 at 11:25 pm

  I like them both.
  Thank you for the extra explanation.
  Dorine
• Hien February 6, 2007 at 10:04 pm

  Trying the boxstich,I thought what will happen when I do the first row (the 1-4 row)three times and after that the second row (the 1-3 row) three times and go on like that.
  There appears a complete new stich,I think it is usable for a scarf when you use not so heavy yarn.
  Dorine
• Julie January 19, 2009 at 4:00 am

  I’m confused about what to do at end when I have to turn and go back. Where do you start – the yarn is at the last bottom needle and top needle is the second from the end and then you turn the board. Where do I start to wrap the needles? This is my first time with a knitting board and I’m trying a sample afghan with all the different stitches. Having fun. Thanks for your help, Julie
• Cat April 26, 2010 at 5:22 am

  According to the DVD I got with my boards – it instructs to do the criss-cross starting at needle 1 down to 3, then next time needle 4 – it comes out nice – but not looking like the criss-cross – now I know it is the box stitch. I made a tote bag with it – turned out really nice – did not need to be lined. This stitch will be perfect for making placemats – nice and thick.

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Putting a design in your knitwear

I am going to   explain how to graph your design and put in your knitwear. A great benefit of double knit is  the ability to create a design and have no backside. The design is actually on both sides.

I am going to explain how to incorporate a “CIRCLE DESIGN” in your knit. it is best if you use a   bulkier yarn so that you don’t see your in-between row.

First of all you want to get graph paper like the paper below. Draw your design and then put “X” in the spots that are contained in the shape you are creating. I put in the X’s to make my circle.

• 1st row – knit  with 4 stitches of the circle
• 2nd row- knit with 8 stitches of the circle
• 3rd row – 8 stitches
• 4th row – 10 stitches………

Then you continue each row until you finish with 4 stitches on the 12th row.

This is the 9th row – 8 stitches of circle, looping every pin back and forth.

 The you take the opposite color yarn (brown) and weave every other in the same pattern skipping the needles already wrapped.

1st weave…

 Return weave…

Now every needle is covered and you just loop over. And then you start your 10th row ( another 8 stitches).

I hope this helps with graphing your design.

8 Comments

• Faith January 17, 2007 at 2:59 pm

  Oh, thank you, I’ve been wondering exactly how to do this!!! One question, when you want to add the new color for the design, do you just tie it in a stitch or 2 before you want it? And, do you tie it off once you get to the end of the pattern and then tie it on again when you come to the design again, or just carry it along until you come to the design again. If you do carry it along, where do you carry it, along the edge, or buried inside? Okay, I guess that was way more than one question!!! Thanks!!
• Pat January 17, 2007 at 3:33 pm

  That’s actually a great question. I forgot to talk about that. Yes you can just tie on a new color right before you need it. You can tie it off when you are done with the weave if you are not going to use it again for a few rows.

  But if you plan on using it in the next row you can just lay it aside and use your other color and then come back to it. You can see in these photos that you just bring the brown yarn right across the orange design and then
  continue your weaving.

  One thing to remember, the area between your pins is the inside layer that no one will see so you can lay yarn across and tie on other colors and it stays hidden. Also this works best with thicker yarn.
• Pat January 18, 2007 at 2:37 am

  Hi, one other thought about doing the yarn carried across the design– Be aware that this limits the stretch in the design area. If you are doing a design in a blanket or shawl etc., you may want the entire knitted piece to be very stretchy. If so, you would want to tie on and knot all your sections. You would tie on at beginning of each color change, and knot and cut. then tie on the main color again. Just do the knots in between the rows of needles and they won’t show. When we do the fleur de lis, for example, we drag the main color. so this would be limited in stretch.
  Pat
• Faith January 18, 2007 at 3:35 am

  Thanks so much for the help.
• Dulce January 29, 2007 at 1:32 pm

  Parabens…..seu blog esta lindo…..os trabalhos estao maravilhosos
  bjs
  Dulce
• Lenice July 21, 2007 at 2:25 am

  Hi,
  I loved yr workies.
  I’ll try make hat and baby booties.
  Congratulations.
  bjs (kisses)
  Lenice
• Lubbly Jubbly October 22, 2008 at 9:17 am

  Dear Madam,
  I found your site utterly superlative. I have already one of your small knitting boards and have made some amazing things with it- and I’m a straight man!

  Having “man-hands” better suited to gripping hammers and chisels- I always found those normal needles too hard- and being clumsy with stubby fingers.
  For those who travel- knitting needles are now prohibited on most airplanes.
  Explaining knitting needles to Customs and Police is not exactly the most embarrassment-free task for a man.

  Something slightly different- since “real” men are now permitted to knit- I’ve knitted chisel pouches, some tool pouches, a hunting knife belt (all out of leather-strips), a handy-man belt (much stronger than the usual store-bought rubbish), welding and cast forging mitts (using both wool and a ceramic fibre) and high-strength sawchip bag for my industrial wood saw- made out of stainless-steel wire.
  And the wife gets me out of her sights too!

  I hope more men may take up the fun- it offers such huge possibilities for us traditional handy-type “blokes”.

  Thank you for such a wonderful product.
• Jeanine April 16, 2012 at 4:21 am

  Thanks for the great instruction. Very handy.

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“NEW LOOPY STITCH”  

“CRISS CROSS”    ”OPEN RIB”                            

SO much has been going on lately here at the Knitting Board Company.   Ok, where to start……  

First of all our new yarn has had another small delay, but I assure  you it is going to be awesome. I just had to see another sample adding  a little new fiber which took several days. So I guess it is my fault but I want it to the perfect combination.  

We are still looking at all the names so if you still have more name ideas please leave them in the “COMMENTS“. We will keep it secret until yarn  is  presented.    

We now have NEW STITCH instructions. Hopefully these will be helpful. The instructions have a lot of photos to make learning the stitches very easy. We have included the LOOPY RIB which is a brand new stitch from Brazil. It is a  cool one for ponchos or shawls where you want a nice “loose look”.  

4 Comments

• Faith October 25, 2006 at 3:12 pm

  Wow, the new instructions and stitches look GREAT!! Thanks for all the hard work!!!
• Faith October 25, 2006 at 5:01 pm

  My daughter suggested this name for the rug yarn:

  Home Sweet Home
• Dora Renee' Wilkerson October 26, 2006 at 6:13 am

  I am going to have to try these new stitches out!

  Thanks for sharing them,

  Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
• Faith October 26, 2006 at 11:42 am

  Another idea for the rug yarn name:

  Simply Home

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