Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Don't Fear the Needle


Yes, the humble darning needle. That, and its friend Kitchener Stitch (a.k.a. darning), strikes fear into the heart of many a knitter.

I'm trying to remove a bit of that fear by developing a class about the many ways this wonderful tool can enhance your knitting. I talk about it a little bit in my Beyond Basic Sock Skills class, but I feel it really needs its own class.

The topics are, in no particular order:

- Swiss darning (a.k.a. duplicate stitch)
- Kitchener stitch (a.k.a. darning or Why People Hate Finishing Top-Down Socks)
- darning to repair stockinette stitch
- darning to repair other types of knitting

Am I leaving anything out? 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be great to include closing gaps at corners (sock heel to leg, underarm). Figuring out which stitches to use can be a challenge.

math4knitters said...

Good idea! Thanks!

Maomama05 said...

I recently completed a stranded hat where I had knit the lower portion approx. an 1" more than I should have. If I ripped back as far as I needed I'd be undoing the stranded portion. Instead I cut the hat in half, unraveled the rows I didn't want and Kitchenered the hat back together. Worked perfectly and shows that darning is not just for socks!

Also, I have a little rhyme that I use to remember the process. Beginning in the front I say -
knit slip (as in off the needle) purl stay (as in leave on the needle) ;
moving to the back - purl slip knit stay

That's it - knit slip, purl stay; purl slip knit stay.

This obviously doesn't include the first two "set up" stitches which I think of simply as the reverse of the norm, that being purl stay, knit stay.

Other knitters have found this helpful so I thought I'd share. Thanks for your fantabulous blog!