While I was knitting on the second tier, I had a few problems getting the yarn colour to start in the right place (sometimes the green would finish nicely at the point, and other times, the green would continue on the the pickup row and even onto the next row.
To counteract that, I would sometimes knit an extra row to eat up the extra colour. (Let the yarn colours dictate when you do this.) Because the squares are puffy, and the stitches are on the diagonal, there's only about 1/8 inch difference between the squares which have an extra row and those which don't. The only problem when you knit the extra row is that you might have to figure out how to do the slipped stitch maneuver on the purl side of the row. (Learning how to knit and purl backwards really helps with this, so that you can do the maneuver on the knit side.)
And one final note. As you'll see in the photo of the completed row 2 above, on my second tiers, the mitered squares point in the opposite direction. Follow this part 2 tutorial to get the second tier squares to point in the opposite direction. If you want all of your squares to point in the same direction, just keep following the instructions in tutorial 1.And here's where the Part 2 tutorial begins!
I left you here, with one stitch hanging off the first tier.
Pick up and knit 5 stitches to the left of your existing stitch. Your 5th stitch should be a centre stitch.
Cast on 5 stitches to the left of those 6 stitches -- I use an "e" caston.
Slip 1, then purl back.
Slip 1, knit 3 stitches, slip 2 stitches together, knit 1, pass 2 slipped stitches over the first stitch.
Knit 4.
Slip 1, then purl back.
Continue until you've got 1 mitered square on your second tier.
(Throwing in this photo so you can see two squares together. How-to-do this is next, but I liked this photo. This is also the last photo of my first set -- coming up are the shots I took yesterday.)
Here's what your first square looks like from the back.
Once you have your first square knit on the second tier, turn it around so that the purl side is facing you.
Pick up and purl 6 stitches down the side of that square. (The 6th stitch should be from the corner.)
And then pick up 5 more stitches along the top of the next square.
This is what it will look like from the front.
Knit as with the first tier squares:
1. Slip 1, then knit one row.
2. Slip 1, then purl back. (This can be considered an extra row if you end up using up too much yarn in your miters, but then you'll need to do the following Sk2P maneuver on a purl row)
3. Slip 1, knit 3, slip 2 stitches together, knit 1, pass 2 slipped stitches over knit stitch.
4. Knit 3.
5. Slip 1, then purl back.
Continue making your mitered square until you're down to 1 final stitch, then
Here's a half of the mitered square. You'll see that the raised middle line is now going in the opposite direction of the first tier of squares.
And here's the completed square.
For the final square on the second tier, you'll pick up and purl 6 stitches along the side as before.
Then pick up and purl 4 stitches along the top of the first tier. Pick up the 5th stitch from the bottom tier, and one from the bottom corner. Purl those final two stitches together.
Knit one row. Purl back. When you purl back, pick up an extra stitch from the side of the left square and purl it together with the final stitch.
Continue making this final mitered square.
And you'll end up with this. Here's the finished second tier. (Man, I feel like Martha Stewart or something.)
Use the "e" cast-on to cast on 5 additional stitches.
Knit those stitches.
Pick up and knit another 5 stitches along the top of the square you've just finished.
Keep on making another mitered square.
And then you can go back to the first tutorial and do the first row again.
Pick up and knit 5 stitches down the side of the square. Make the 5th stitch from the corner.
Pick up and knit 5 more stitches along the next square. And keep on going.
My socks have the squares going in alternate directions. Someone at my knit night last night had made hers with the squares going in random directions, and it also looked great.
You'll want to do as many tiers of squares as you'd like length of sock cuff. I did 6 tiers on my first pair (11-stitch mitered squares), and 4 tiers on my second pair (13-stitch mitered squares), and I'll probably do 5 tiers on these socks.
The next part of the tutorial will be a heel flap. I like the eye of partridge heel, but it's your choice of favourite heel flap. I pick up about 32 stitches along the bottom of the squares, and do the flap from there. See you in a few days for that part!
Feedback on this photo tutorial would be totally welcome!
No comments:
Post a Comment