Monday, October 27, 2008

Episode 40: Graft

Download Episode 40.

Ok. Here is a quick run-down on my method of grafting. I used to follow written instructions that had me obsessed with knit-wise and purl-wise. I would face my work that looked like this:


I'm not going to lie. I would usually panic a little. Then, I become braver or more desperate and I took the work off the needles.



When I did this, the stitches turned to face me and it was all a lot easier.
















This is the back, when finished:


The trick, as always, is not to panic, and to remember that you can do it over, if you need it. It is very, very important not to pull the darning yarn too tight. If you have a lot of stitches to graft, remember that you can use more than on length of yarn - otherwise you can get tangled up. If you need a little more security, or are using s slippery yarn, you can always run a length of dental floss through your live stitches.

The sock book I mention on the show is here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lara.....I just tried your grafting technique and love it's quick and easy way.
May I also say that I have always enjoyed your math podcasts and was so excited when I saw this episode. Thanks for all of your hard work, and your unique expressions of math.
I have a 50 year old engineer son-in-law with two children in private schools who left a lucrative job in technology to go back to school to further study math so that he can teach young people. Now that is 'MATH' dedication. He is now working on his last computer class to enable him to teach. On the side he is tutoring and has successfully helped a few young people with their math studies.
Please keep up the informative math podcasts. We all need your math knowledge.
Sincerely,
Shirley

Anonymous said...

This episode, along with the previous two, is really freaking helpful. I'm going to try grafting for the first time tomorrow, and I'm a little less terrified, thanks to your insights (and pictures!) about the technique. I think as long as I pretend that it's duplicate stitch, with a row of stitches already there, I'll be okay...

Anyway, I gave you a little plug on my new knitting blog, because you're awesome, and your podcast is wonderfully informative. Thank you so much for doing this!