When I first started knitting a year ago, my biggest fear was dropping a stitch.
Wise knitters at our knitting group would say not to worry, you can pick it up when you come around to it again. I backtracked more than once to get back to my dropped stitch instead of going on around to pick it up. What I have learned over the year is that you CAN pick up a dropped stitch even a few rows down...but not a whole bunch of rows down. When knitting my shawl I found a stitch that I had dropped...quite a few rounds down and was downcast....but I persevered and picked them up, albeit....quite a tight fit.
I said all that to say this:
My current project called for a dropped stitch on PURPOSE. Can you imagine? It had to be dropped all the way down the side of the sweater and then picked back up in a certain way with a crochet hook to create a 'phoney seam'. I was a little apprehensive to say the least but what I wasn't taking into account was that the stitches
had been knitted and I was going to pick out ONE vertical row of ONE stitch and pick it out all the way down. It left a gaping strip. The cool part was that each stitch had left its wool right there to be picked back up again, where when you unknowingly drop a stitch and just keep knitting you are NOT making a yarn allowance because you didn't knit it. So when you go to pick it up, the yarn just isn't there to help make the stitch.
Clear as mud right?
I know some one out there knows what I am talking about. :)
Anyway, in Elizabeth Zimmermann's book
Knitting Without Tears (love this book by the way), she says this about phoney seams:
Opponents of circular sweaters - and there are unfortunately some - take as one argument the theory that being without seams, circular sweaters don't hang together properly. A fallacious argument if ever I heard one, but let us refute it by putting in imitation seams, which are rather good things anyway, and a neat and mysterious feat of skill to boot. They may be made by slipping the seam stitch every second round, but this is a rather tiresome thing to remember while you are peacefully working your way up your lovely circular sweater, with no interruptions, and thinking great thoughts. Phoney seams are great fun to make later, and the technique will, I think, prove to you that you are the absolute boss of your knitting.I like the phrase "absolute boss of your knitting". When I finished putting in the phoney seams...I DID feel like I was the boss.
I am sure my future holds sweaters that will be stitched up the side by hand, but for now my first sweater EVER has been great fun knitting in the round.
Above and below show the picked out stitch all the way down the side of the sweater.
A year ago this would have caused SHEER PANIC.
To pick the seam back up, put your crochet hook through the first stitch (at the bottom) and hook the next two stitches through it together.
Then one stitch, then two together again, then one stitch, etc.
Repeat until you get to the top.
You may have to click on this picture to see it better.
It has the finished phoney seam on it.
:)
This is not a true version of the color of this wool.
It is more like the picture above.
It is
Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, Currant.
Knitpicks is a FUN place for affordable yarn.
Knit on my friend, knit on.
