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Knitting Techniques

Anju Shandilya
Knitting can be a great pastime for not only the elderly, but anyone who has time on their hands. Once proficient at it, you can even knit beautiful clothes, especially scarves and sweaters. Here are few techniques to learn this art.
One of the most soothing sights while growing up was to see our grandma knit. She would knit and knit all day long, and make beautiful sweaters for each and every member of the family. She could make a fabulous baby sweater complete with a cap and socks in less than two days.
The concepts of knitting were just out of our grasp  when she attempted to teach us the same, and now, sadly, it is too late. But if you are keen on knitting and learning new techniques then this information is just right for you.

Duplicate Stitch Columns

The best way to work with duplicate stitch columns is use a crochet hook. While keeping the yarn on the underside of the work, the crochet hook has to be inserted from the right side down into the stitch, from where the yarn is to be caught and drawn into the loop above to the topside.
This is to be followed by hooking into the stitch above and again wrapping the yarn over the hook and drawing it up. This process will produce vertical stripes that look lovely.
This works better on stockinette, that is, if you work a column of purl stitches where the stripes will go. The purl columns drops back and the contrast color will lie flat with the top of the knit stitches.

Techniques for Good Buttonholes

For good buttonholes, sew on the buttons loosely and then wrap the thread around the button 4 to 5 times.
To complete, run the needle through the wrap and cut without placing any knots. For even better stitches, you can start without a knot by taking a small stitch in the fabric and another at right angles to it. This helps provide an anchor for the thread for sewing on the button.
It is important to leave the button loose enough for the fabric that will go under it. Thicker fabrics will require more space. There are a few gadgets available to put between the button and the fabric to keep the button loose, for example, a yarn needle can be used which can be pulled out before wrapping.
Eyelet buttonholes are more practical as it naturally scales the button to the yarn and gage. This should also be followed by a tuck stitch into the eyelet on the following row to reinforce it.

Wrapping Short Rows

Short rowing is the term used to describe where to turn your work in the course of knitting a row and work back. If the next straight is not wrapped properly, a very visible hole is inevitable.
For the garter straight, knit to the point where your pattern instructs you to turn but you do not want to turn. Bring the yarn to the front of the work. Slip the next straight purlways from the next straight from the left needle taking the yarn to the back of your work. Next, slip the next straight purlways the straight back to the left hand needle.
Turn the work, and if your hole is still visible, you will have to wrap the same as for the stocking straight. For a stocking straight, wrap the straight following the directions of the garter stitch.
The next time you knit the wrapped straight, knit the wrapped yarn along with the stitch that it is wrapped around. Lastly, put the needle up through the wrap on the right side of the work, putting the needle through the straight and knit the two together.
Unless you are an expert in knitting, the techniques described will not make too much of sense. If you are a beginner then there are plenty of animated sites available on the Internet that will tell you how to move the needle and make patterns.
Books are also available both on the Internet and in bookstores, which can help beginners as well as experts. But if you can get an expert to teach you, then there is nothing better. If you get to learn a difficult pattern or even the basics of knitting from somebody else, you will learn much faster, there will be a lot less frustration. All the best!