Short-Row Knitting

February 23, 2004 3:39 PM

knittingfilter: I'm trying to do short-row knitting and running into some challenges. (more inside)

So I'm doing my first short-row project (a lovely hat) and am stumped by what seems like a fairly basic question.

The pattern calls for knitting a row (51 sts) then purling 46, doing the wrap & turn, then a knit row, purling 44, w & t, etc. That all makes sense. The wrap & turn was easier than expected, even.

What confuses me is this: after I purled, wrapped and turned the work around to the "wrong" side, it is incredibly difficult to then knit that row, since the stitches are by default twisted since I'm working on the wrong side. Should I be purling (post w&t) back to the end and *then* doing the knit row? None of my various reference books are clear on what happens after the wrap & turn.

Advice greatly appreciated...

posted by judith to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

I've been knitting for 30 yrs. and it sounds like you are not short rowing correctly (your stitches shouldn't be twisted).

Here's how to work a short row with wrap.
posted by lola at 4:33 PM on February 23, 2004

yeah, i've pretty much exhausted everything google has to offer on short-rows, including that. i just can't figure out how one works on the wrong side without the stitches being backwards.
posted by judith at 4:51 PM on February 23, 2004

i just can't figure out how one works on the wrong side without the stitches being backwards.

Ok, let's try again. I'm assuming that you are short rowing correctly. I've also visualized the pattern, a hat in a stockinette pattern (basically knit 1 row, purl 1 row) and see no problem with the pattern.

Are you knitting and purling correctly? If you wrap the yarn around the needle the wroing way, the subsequent row will be twisted.
posted by lola at 5:08 PM on February 23, 2004

yeah, i don't have the work in front of me, but i'm guessing that i'm probably wrapping clockwise instead of counter-clockwise on the purls. silly me. if that's not it, i think i'll take it down to the local knitting store & see if they can help. it's hard to get virtual advice without showing the work. but thanks for trying!
posted by judith at 5:25 PM on February 23, 2004

The thing to remember is that when you turn the work around your wrapped stitch, it's exactly the same as if you had gone all the way to the end of the row, and then turned around and purled back. No difference at all in how the stitches should be shaped. The whole short-row thing might be forcing you to make this more complicated than it actually is.

Keep in mind that you're getting this advice from someone who purls "backwards" on purpose.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:30 PM on February 23, 2004

The current Interweave Knits has an article on the different types of ways (they say six) that you can form knit and purl stitches. It might be useful in figuring out if and how you are twisting your stitches.

It might help to "purl from the right side". This article gives an explanation, although it's not that clear. Basically, don't turn and form knit stitches going the other way instead of turning. It's not that hard once you understand it, but I'm terrible at explaining things. I'm working on an entrelac blanket at the moment, and it's much better to not have to turn every 12 stitches.
posted by Shoeburyness at 2:05 AM on February 24, 2004