Friday, September 14, 2007

three-needle bind off for shoulders?

So, I am nearing the end of the back (old photo - just added for interest). I am wondering if anyone can tell me a good reason why I shouldn't keep the shoulder stitches live and then do a three-needle bind-off with the corresponding fronts instead of seaming? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. :)

Hey Amanda - would you mind sharing about short rows on the shoulders? I am struggling wrapping my mind around it? Not numbers or anything, just general idea. Thanks!

3 comments:

Amanda said...

I did short rows and a three-needle bind-off for my sweater and am happy with how it looks. I started the moss stitch portion of my fronts on row 3 of the pattern, so the moss stitch pattern would be continuous along the shoulder seam (if that makes sense).

Happy knitting!

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't. I wondered that myself.

Amanda said...

I'm not always great at explaining how I do things in a clear way, but I'll try my best! I'm just going to detail it out with stitch numbers, since I think I can it explain it better that way...I apologize for the length of this post in advance!

I'll use the back as an example. The instructions for my size for the shoulders have you binding off 5 stitches at each end 3 times (15 stitches total), and then binding off the neck stitches. I did the following:

Starting on a RS row:
Knitting in pattern, knit to last 5st, wrap and turn.
(WS) Knit to last 5st, wrap and turn.
(RS) Knit to last 10st, wrap and turn.
(WS) Knit to last 10st, wrap and turn.
(RS) Knit to last 15st, wrap and turn.
(WS) Knit to last 15st, wrap and turn.
(RS) Knit to end, picking up and hiding short row wraps (note here that I continue working in pattern based on what side I am on and what the stitch I'm working into is, so there will be places at the wraps where you'd have two purls or two knits next to one another - that may bother you, but it looks fine to me).
(WS) Knit 15 st in pattern (again, you'll have two knits or two purls next to each other in a couple spots), Bind off neck stitches as directed in pattern, Knit 15 shoulder st, picking up and hiding wraps (For purls on RS or knits on WS, I just finagle things so that the bit of yarn from the wrap always winds up on the WS).

Cut yarn (leave a tail!). Put live shoulder stitches on holders or waste yarn.

I did something similar for the fronts (since the stockinette collar extends past the shoulder). After knitting through the short rows and hiding the wraps, I did the three-needle bind-off while continuing to knit the rest of the front (on one side, I could not use the working yarn for this, but I had a yarn tail from the back in the right spot).

I hope that makes sense! It makes knitting those last few inches of stockinette on the fronts a bit of a pain, since they're seamed to the back at that point, but I think it was worth it and I like the look of the shoulders.

My sweater is finished and currently drying (I stayed up late last night), so I'll try to get a good picture of the shoulders once it's dry (no promises, since my camera is the iSight on my MacBook).

That's probably way, way more information than anyone would ever want, but I hope it helps!
Amanda