I’ll do just about anything I can do lessen the amount of finishing on a sweater. So I knew I’d be doing the hem a bit differently. The pattern instructs you to sew the hem to the inside of the sweater when you’re done.
Instead, I cast on provisionally…
knit the hem, the purl turning row, and enough rows to match up with the hem.
To make it easier to knit the hem, I pin it together so I’m not fighting the curl of the stockinette, and thread a smaller needle through the yarn holding the provisional stitches.
Then, I knit together one stitch from the front with one stitch from the bottom of the hem, as if I was doing a k2tog*.
A pic of the front and back…
It doesn’t look any different, but I’ve skipped a couple hours of finishing. That sure feels different.
*edited – originally i wrote ssk but that’s not what I do…I was writing this post a little too late at night!
You are very wise! Hmmm…going to have to remember that tip!
That’s similar to what I did with the Hourglass! Altho, I think I just did a longtail and picked it up. In a class I took last spring, Anna Zilboorg reported that her new provisional cast on is to do the longtail and simply pick up. Very freeing!
It looks so clean; I love that. And that yarn…drool.
This is a great tip! I’ll be keeping this in mind for the future!
LOL… that is exactely what I do as I don’t do finishing
Still waiting for my yarn to get here. Hope it comes this week.
Cheers Eva
Quite clever! Have to remember that one.
Very useful! I am copying you with my next project!
I’ll echo Chris and say that when I do the picot edge socks, I do a long tail cast on and then just pick up each stitch and k2tog on the seam row.
Good tip either way!
interesting.. you knit them together like an SSK. most of them i’ve seen it done with k2tog. do you like the way the knitting looks better with SSK?
I also do a longtail and pick up the stitches as I do and k2tog… but that might be because the provisional cast on hates me, and also because I love the rhythm of it.
Your hem looks so tidy. I love your choice of yarn.
chris, christy, and heather g – i wish i could do that, but i always struggle with starting in the exactly correct place, or picking up an extra stitch or something. so the provisional is better for me because i have the exact right number of stitches and i don’t have to think about it.
truthfully i wish i could do the longtail pickup better, but it’s just not working for me!
That is how I do my hems also – much easier then trying to sew it up!
That’s so funny, I thought of doing that too!!
I decided not to though because I want to seam the fronts to the back and then do the hem as one piece all around so the hem will look smooth at the seam area. I go through the same debates with sewing too. Sometimes I coverstitch hems down before sewing the side seams to save time, and sometimes depending on how I think the finished garment will look, I do it the old fashioned way and do the hems last.
Oh damn. That IS clever.
AND it avoids that whole ‘just-how-tight-should-i-yank-this-yarn’ issue when sewing the hem. fantastic.
That’s one of my alltime favorite techniques. I posted a similar tutorial back in early 2005
http://marniemaclean.com/words/2005/01/no-sew-hem.html
And the really funny thing is that NonaKnits posted about it recently too
http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/
It’s epidemic! 😉
I love using this technique and it looks great!
I love it too! So clever
I sometimes cast on provisionally for big projects anyway…I can always bind off later and sometimes I need to see the whole piece before I decide on the finishing treatments!
you are a clever, clever dame. i’m with you – anything to lessen finishing time!
Very smart hem plan!! Who wants to sew if it’s not necessary? I love your yarn choice – much nicer than what the pattern called for. I’m not crazy about the sleeve either, and am planning a raglan or set-in b/c it’s more flattering. I also like the idea of some waist shaping. I’m doing a long, collared (love the reversible cable) version in Manos rust…