How to make increases

Depending on what you are making, you may need to increase the number of stitches on your needles. There is a number of ways to do this.

For a neat look, increases (like decreases) are best worked a couple of stitches from the selvedge.

Garter Stitch Increases

The following increases are common beginners’ increases. You may encounter them in all kinds of knits, but they are all very suitable for garter stitch. If, however, you are looking for increases to be used in a stocking stitch sweater, scroll down to the section Stocking Stitch Increases.

Yarn Over

The simplest kind of increase is probably the yarn over: simply bring the yarn over the right needle. In the next row, knit this loop as if it were a regular stitch.

Backward loop

But… a yarn over leaves a hole. This may be the effect you want if you are knitting lace, but if you do not want a hole, you can knit the yarn over through the back loop in the next row or you can twist it immediately: the backward loop increase.

The backward loop is my favourite increase for garter stitch.

This increase can also be used to cast on multiple stitches in the middle of your project at the end of a row.

Knitted Cast on

Another way of adding multiple stitches at the end (or rather the beginning) of a row is the knitted cast on (a.k.a. chain edge cast on). When you have completed a row, turn the work and add the required number of stitches.

Kfb

Another common increase is the kfb (knit front back, i.e. knit the stitch first through the front loop and then through the back loop). This increase is asymmetrical: it creates a horizontal bar at the base of the new stitch. It is often used in garter stitch, where the increases are hidden behind the ridges, or in cases where you do not need symmetrical increases.

Kfb

Until recently I never used kfb’s if I needed symmetrical increases. But indeed it is possible to make a mirrored kfb. Here’s how it’s done:

Increases in Stocking Stitch

Whereas increases in garter stitch may be hidden by the ridges in the fabric, increases in stocking stitch are much more visible. So here you need symmetrical increases that will blend in with the fabric.

Make One Increases

My go to increases in stocking stitch are the make one increases (M1, M1R – make one right and M1L – make one left).

M1R (Make One Right):

M1L (Make One Left):

M1R and M1L increases shown on the StripesNFlowers Fingerless Mittens and the StripesNButtons Cardigan

Lifted Increases

A neat and symmetrical alternative to the make one increases for stocking stitch are the lifted increases – RLI (right lifted increase) and LLI (left lifted increase). 

Lifted increases on a sock toe

For a right lifted increase: pick up the right leg of the stitch below the stitch on the left needle and knit it. 

For a left lifted increase (LLI) you need to pick up the left leg of the stitch two stitches below the one you have just knitted (since you have already knitted the stitch in question). Knit this leg through the back loop so as not to twist it.

Purl Increases

Shaping is usually done on right side rows, but occasionally you are going to need a purl increase.

This is how to work symmetrical increases on the purl side:

• Make one purl right (M1PR)

• Make one purl left (M1PL).

Multiple increases

Multiple increases can be done in different ways, depending on the effect you want to achieve: You can alternate:

• between a knit stitch and a yarn over (Kyok) or
• between knitting through the front and the back loop (Kfbfb) or
• between knit and purl stitches (Kpkp).

Multiple increases are typically used in bobbles.

Kyok

Kyok

Kfbfb

KpKp

…

… and then, of course, it’s possible to make any number of combinations of the above. The following video e.g. shows how to make a multiple purl increase: pfbfb.

Have I forgotten something? Do you know any other technique for increases? Let me know in the comments below 👇

Oops! I made a mistake 😥

To frog or not to frog: that is the question

If you are just learning to knit, I would advise you not to be too perfectionist. In the very beginning, it’s more important to find the right rhythm and tension. Be proud of your first project even if it contains mistakes!

Remember that flawless handicraft is considered hubris or believed to trap your soul in certain cultures. Deliberate mistakes are made to avoid such a great sin or calamity! 😎

On the other hand, you might as well get used to the idea that discarding and undoing are an essential part of the creative process. Believe me, I hate having to undo several hours’ or days’ work, but these seemingly wasted hours are not really wasted: they are part of the process, and they will soon be forgotten, while you will hopefully cherish and enjoy your finished projects for many years to come.

Deciding if and when to correct mistakes can be a difficult dilemma.

How to correct mistakes

If you have made a mistake in the row you are in, you can unpick the stitches one by one, till you get to the mistake and correct it. This is called tinking (K-N-I-T, T-I-N-K, get it? 😉)

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Tinking is done the same way, no matter whether you are unpicking knit or purl stitches: Insert the left hand needle into the stitch below the stitch on the right hand needle and drop the stitch off the right hand needle. The following video shows how to knit and un-knit purl stitches.

If you have dropped a stitch, you can pick it up again with a crochet hook, preferably one that is a bit thinner than what you would normally use for your yarn. In stocking stitch, this is quite easy:

It can even be done without a crochet hook:

In garter stitch, things are slightly more complicated:

If you have made a mistake several rows further down, you can knit or un-knit, till you get to the corresponding stitch in your row, and then undo the stitch, correct the mistake, and pick up the stitch again as shown in the videos above.

Lifelines

If it is not possible to correct your mistake this way, you might need to unravel part of your knitting. To do this, you can make a lifeline: Pass a circular or double-pointed needle through each stitch in a row below the point where the problem lies, and unravel down to this line.

Use a thinner needle than the one you have knitted with. Pick up the right leg of every stitch (no matter which side you are on).

In plain stocking stitch, there is the risk of inadvertently jumping to a row above or below. It is therefore better to pick up the stitches from the wrong side, where you can use the ridges as a guide.

When knitting especially intricate patterns, you can make a lifeline in advance at certain points. Use a darning needle to pass a piece of yarn, preferably in a contrasting colour, through each stitch on the needle.

Use unwaxed dental floss or some other kind of strong, thin and slippery yarn. Make sure it lies at the base of the stitches and that you do not split the knitting yarn.

Knit on, as you would normally. If the need arises you can frog up to that point, put the stitches back on a needle, and continue knitting.

Advanced surgery

It is also possible to only frog a group of stitches and reknit them. This is useful if you have crossed a cable the wrong way or if you have knitted a section of an intricate pattern wrong.

In this case, I crossed the wrong cable in brioche 4 double rows down 😱  My latest lifeline was much further down and I definitely did not want to frog that far. Also, the pattern was far too complicated for an ex post lifeline, but I could save the situation with local surgery 👩🏻‍⚕️ i.e. only unravel as much as absolutely necessary.

So, I dropped all the stitches that were or should have been involved in the crossed cables, down to a point below where the mistake happened. I picked up the stitches with a thin knitting needle (it’s harder to do if the needle is too thick) and I reknitted the section row by row.

The challenge here is to pick up the right strand to knit each row. Especially in brioche (but not only) it’s easy to pick up the yarn from another row by mistake.

Also you need to get the tension right, otherwise you will either have long loops hanging or you’ll run out of yarn before you finish reknitting the row.

This kind of intervention does require quite some experience, but if you have a lifeline further down, you have nothing to lose. (You did make a lifeline, right?? 😳) Give it a try and if, for whatever reason things go wrong, you can frog down to your lifeline.

Is there no hope?

If the situation is hopeless, or if you are still at the beginning, it will probably be easier to start anew. 

Ripping out your work is tedious, so rather than frog, I start anew with the other end of the skein. The knitting will unravel itself when I have used up the rest of the yarn.

If you do choose to unravel the whole piece and make a ball of the yarn, make sure not to wind it too tightly: the yarn will lose its elasticity and sheen. I often wind the yarn around the ball and my thumb. When I pull out my thumb, the yarn is loose enough.

Thought of the day: Love your knits (and yourself) with all their flaws 😎

… or at least the ones that cannot be corrected 🤓

Everything you need to know about weaving in ends

Most people I know, hate weaving in ends. I used to hate it too, partly because I was young and impatient (that issue has been resolved: I am a lot older now 🤪) and partly because I was always in doubt regarding what the best way to weave in ends would be.

When I learned to knit as a child, I was just told to kind of sew in the ends up and down a couple of times. This is a) not a clear instruction and also b) not the best method.

The end result should be invisible, secure and not compromise the elasticity of the fabric. To achieve this:

• Weave the ends in on the wrong side of the fabric (if there is a wrong side).
• Weave in approx. 5 cm of yarn. This means, you should leave an end of at least 10 cm, so that you have enough length to thread the needle and sew easily. If the yarn is slippery, you need to weave in a longer strand, if it felts easily (like non-superwash wool) you can probably do with less.
• Follow the direction of the stitches or weave in the ends diagonally.

Weaving in ends in advance

When you knit a piece, you will have at least two ends to weave in: One at the beginning and one at the end. You will have more ends if you use more than one colour or skein. I don’t totally *hate* weaving in ends anymore, but I still try to reduce the number of tails to be woven in.

So, I like to get the first end out of the way immediately after casting on.

I do more or less the same when joining a new colour.

Joining skeins is also in essence a way of weaving in ends in advance. This method works really well with wool (especially non-superwash). 

For an optimal result, the yarn ends should be tapered. This is best achieved either by breaking the yarn (as opposed to cutting it) or by fraying the ends with a scissor blade.

I do not weave in the yarn in advance if I know that I’ll subsequently need to close a gap or even out a jog. When joining new yarn for the fingers on mittens, for example, I use the ends to close the gaps that are inevitably formed when picking up stitches.

Weaving in ends in stocking stitch

Weave in the ends on the wrong side of the work following the direction of the stitches. If you have to move up or down the rows, move diagonally.

Weaving in ends in garter stitch

Garter stitch is very stretchy in all directions. Weaving in the ends diagonally, will have minimal impact on the stretchiness of the fabric.

Sometimes you have to weave in an end in a single garter stitch ridge. As always, do it on the wrong side.

Weaving in ends in ribbing

This is one exception to the rule that you should weave in ends diagonally: Ribbing is stretchiest horizontally, so the easiest way to weave in ends without compromising its stretchiness is perpendicularly.

Weaving in ends after casting off in the round

When casting off in the round, you get a gap between the first and last stitch of the round. Close the gap, when weaving in the end.

Weaving in ends in stranded knitting

In dense stranded knitting, i.e. if there are frequent colour changes and short floats, it’s sufficient to weave in the ends behind the strands, especially if you are knitting with non-superwash wool.

Weaving in ends in brioche

In brioche knitting you can weave in the ends along the side of a knit stitch column in the channel that is formed between the two layers of yarn.

Cotton Ends

Cotton ends are harder to hide. They tend to peep through the knitting, as cotton doesn’t felt.

Therefore, when weaving in ends, I cut each fiber of the yarn at a different length.

To taper the yarn when joining skeins or weaving in ends in advance, I also cut the fibers at different lengths.

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End too short to weave in?

Let me know in the comments below 👇 if you’ve found a better way of weaving in the ends 🧶🧶🧶

The Elizabeth Woodville Jacket

One of the simpler knits in the Tudor Roses book by Alice Starmore is the Elizabeth Woodville jacket: A beautiful border, elegant waist shaping and lots of stocking stitch. 

I had a couple of skeins of blue yarn in my stash, which were the exact shade of a skirt I have. I was looking for a pattern to accent this colour without requiring a large amount of it.

So I used the blue (Einband Lopi 250m/50g) for the borders and beige Ice Yarns Baby Alpaca Superfine 400m/50g for the main body. Both yarns are held double. The jacket weighs 286 g in total. (Size medium).

The two yarns are completely different in texture: The Einband Lopi is rough and hard, while the Alpaca is very soft. I love this contrast and it works well on this jacket.

The sleeves

I started knitting with the sleeves. I do this often instead of (or even in addition to) swatching 🙂  Swatching is not an exact science: By starting with the sleeves, if there is something I don’t like, I will know sooner and will have to frog less than if I start with the body. 

I worked the sleeves in the round on DPNs. I know from experience that my tension on DPNs is tighter than on other needles, so I went up half a size compared to the body: The rest of the jacket is worked on 3mm needles, for the sleeves I used 3.5 mm DPNs.

Much as I like the sleeve flare, I feel most comfortable wearing tight-fitting sleeves. So I started with the number of stitches after the decrease rounds (51 sts for size M), i.e. I made 25 picots. After having picked up the sts on the picots, I joined in the round.

Picot chain edging: Step 1 Make the chain

Picot chain edging: Step 2 Pick up stitches

After the 5 border rows, there is a series of short rows. I used German short rows, which is, in my opinion, the easiest and neatest short row technique.

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For the increases, I used M1R and M1L for symmetry.

I used my own stitch counts for the sleeve cap and armhole. I have quite a large bust, so I make steeper decreases for the armhole to avoid too much fabric at the sleeve join. 

I love the neat tailored look of inset sleeves, but attaching them can be a bit of a challenge. This is how to do it: Turn the bodice inside out. Place the sleeve right side out in the armhole. Pin or clip together at shoulder seam and side seam. Then pin or clip together the rest distributing any slack evenly.

I make my sleeve cap and armhole decreases two stitches in from the edge, as follows:

RS dec rows: K2, ssk, k to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2.

WS dec rows: P2, purl 2 tog, p to last 4 sts, ssp, p2.  

I join the sleeves to the body using crochet slip stitches through the second stitch from the edge. I find crocheting easier than sewing and I like the result better. It gives a neat join with the right amount of stretch.

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The bodice

I made the bodice in one piece to avoid the extra bulk and extra work of side seams.

I added up the total number of sts of back and front pieces (211 sts for size M), subtracted 1 and divided by 2 to find the total number of picots I would need. 

I did not break the yarn, as stated in the pattern, but knitted to the point where I was supposed to re-attach the yarn on the right front, completed the short row section and then knitted on to the point where I was supposed to reattach the yarn for the back and so on. This meant, however, that I had to switch right and wrong side row turns.

After completing the short rows I continued knitting the bodice in one piece. Here, too, I used German short rows and symmetrical increases. I also used my own decreases to match the modified sleeve cap.

For the shoulders I used German short rows and I joined them together using the 3-needle bind-off.

Finishing

I used my usual method of attaching the button bands, i.e. knitting them up on separate needles and attaching them to the bodice using the 3-needle method (without binding off). I then continue knitting to make a flap that I later stitch in place. This method is useful to cover up the raw edges of a steek, but it also provides support for the button band as a kind of light boning. So I use it even when there are no raw edges to cover up. You can find a detailed description in my blogpost on the Jane Seymour jacket.

I added a couple of extra buttons, i.e. I have 9 in all. I hate gaping button-bands, so I try not to space buttons too far away from each other…

When knitting the neckline, I also knitted a couple of garter rows in the contrast colour on top of the buttonbands, to get a neat top edge.

On my first attempt the neckline was quite loose letting the shoulders sag somewhat. I redid the bind-off row using a 2.5 mm needle to pull the neckline in somewhat. If I knit this jacket again, I will decrease some stitches at the neckline before binding off.

The Damselfly Cardigan

I find the Damselfly in the Northern Blue colourway one of the most beautiful Alice Starmore designs.

That being said, I am quite curvy and have short arms, so I chose to make some adaptations to the pattern. The challenge was to keep the general frame while changing the dimensions of the different parts. I am quite pleased with the result, though I did have to sacrifice the uppermost blue (Mara) stripe in the bodice. 

I also chose to leave out the top centre back chevron to let the beehive pattern stand out more.

I knitted the medium size with the following adjustments:

The bodice and yoke

I made all stripes on the sleeves and bodice 18 rows wide. Since I have rather short arms, I figured I did not need to make a wider stripe at the wrist.

However, for the stripes on the sleeve and the bodice to line up, I only had room for 4 stripes on the bodice.

I have quite a bit of a bust and I wanted the yoke border to really sit below my bust. Furthermore, I was concerned that the yoke band might flare. So, I increased the distance from the yoke to the armhole slightly and I knitted the yoke band one size smaller.

I made all the decreases on the bodice as in the pattern, but then continued up to the yoke band without increasing. I made the yoke band in size small. After attaching the yoke band, I increased to 241 stitches and continued in size medium. This way I got a slightly more pronounced empire line.

Much as I love that the original pattern only has buttons on the yoke, I am not comfortable wearing a half open cardigan, so I added buttons all the way down.

The sleeves

As usual, I made my own sleeve decreases, decreasing more steeply for the sleeve cap. I have found a set of decreases that work well with my shape and I am very reluctant to change them. 

The button and neck bands

I want the neck band to sit on top of the button bands, i.e. I first make the button bands and then the neck band, placing the uppermost button and buttonhole on the neck band. 

I always knit button bands separately. Subsequently, I pick up stitches down the front or around the neck respectively, and join the bands to the bodice using the three-needle method – without binding off. I knit another 4-5 rows in stocking stitch, and sew down the flap to cover up the raw edges of the steek.

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I cast on 138 stitches for the button band, i.e. fewer than in the pattern. My garter stitch tension is looser than my stocking stitch tension and I did not want the button band to flare.

I made a shaped neck band, casting on 101 stitches, increasing to 123 after the first 3 garter stitch ridges. I attached it as described above for the button bands.

…and a couple of technical notes

I used 2.5 mm needles for the striped sections and a 3 mm circular needle for the fair isle section to get the right tension using 2-ply Hebridean from Virtual Yarns.

Since I had to make a steek anyway for the yoke, I knitted the whole bodice in the round. I am a continental knitter and knitting is considerably faster than purling for me.

I also knitted the sleeves in the round on double-pointed needles up to the armhole. The sleeve cap is knitted flat.

Whenever I had 5 stitches (or more) between stitches of the same colour, I would catch the float, making sure not to catch it onto the same stitch in consecutive rows. (If you do this, the floats may be visible on the right side, an effect also known as “grinning”.) Here is how I catch the upper and lower yarn respectively:

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I always secure steeks on the sewing machine before cutting. The purist side of me does not like the idea of a polyester thread in such a lovely garment, but secured steeks a) are a necessity if you pick up the stitches the way I do and b) allow for much thinner steeks, i.e. less bulk.

I made the sleeve, armhole and neck decreases after the first two and before the last two stitches respectively. These stitches including the decreases I worked in stocking stitch even on the machair bands. 

When joining the sleeves to the bodice, I do this by crocheting slip stitches through the middle of the second stitch of the row. (I always slip the first stitch, so the second stitch is the first “full” stitch and the one before the decreases.)

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The Margaret Beaufort Jacket

While waiting for my Virtual Yarns Kit for the Damselfly to arrive I knitted Alice Starmore’s Margaret Beaufort from Tudor Roses using dark grey (mix 0519) Drops Lima from my stash.

Like the Strathspey, given that it is one colour only and that large parts of it are in stocking stitch, it is a relatively easy and quick knit, compared to other Alice Starmore designs.

As always I made a couple of adjustments to the pattern:

Alice Starmore’s patterns mostly have a very tight gauge. I had to go down to 3 mm needles to get it right. I did not make a swatch, but started with the sleeves to make sure I had the right gauge. 😉

I knitted the bodice in one piece and the sleeves in the round so as to avoid having side and sleeve seams. (Less work and less bulk!)

I used German short rows instead of the wrap-and-turn method throughout. I find these much easier and I like the result better.

I wanted a more fitted garment but have rather wide hips, so I used the medium size for the peplum and the small size for the edging and the rest of the bodice, and I decreased both at the side seams and at the “darts” on every decrease row, i.e. 8 decreases x 4 rows = 32 stitches decreased for the waist.

Even though I love the buttons at the back, I knew I would never wear it that way, so I made a higher neckline at what was going to be the back for me.

I wanted the collar to go right up to the middle of the button band, so that the left and right collar meet at the front without a gap over the button band. This meant that after having knitted the neckband, I had to attach the button band so that I could pick up the stitches to knit the collar. 

I cast on 109 stitches for the button band and then attached it to the bodice with the 3-needle method, as I have described in my blogpost on the Jane Seymour jacket. Button bands tend to stretch, so I often find that fewer stitches give a better result.

For the sleeves, I started with 49 sts increasing up to 79 sts, i.e. small size at the wrist and medium size at armhole height, increasing every 7th row. I have rather short arms and like to have rather tight sleeves at the wrists.

I used the following sleeve cap, which is more or less the one I used on the Strathspey and which I have found to work well for me. The decreases are steeper at the beginning resulting in less fabric at the armpits.

Sleeve cap:

Cast off 5 sts at beginning of next 2 rows, 3 sts at beginning of next 2 rows, 1 st at each end of following 3 rows. Work 1 WS row without shaping. Cast off 1 st at each end of next and every following alternate row 10 times. Cast off 1 st at each end of next and every following row 5 times. Cast off 3 sts at beginning of next 2 rows. Cast off remaining 21 sts, knitting 2 together at beginning and end of middle panel. 

The Strathspey Sweater

Alice Starmore is my favourite knitting designer and I have just finished my third Starmore project, the Strathspey sweater. I used the original yarn from Virtual Yarns: Hebridean 3-ply, Colour: Storm Petrel.

• I used a 3 mm circular needle to get the right gauge.
• I did not use a cable needle to cross the stitches. I find that too fussy, especially when crossing a single stitch, as in this design.

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• I knitted the bodice on a circular needle. (No reason to have side seams. These add bulk to a garment. I am a curvy girl and will do anything to have a more sleek garment.)
• I purled a round around the hem and the bottom of the sleeve and collar.

I made a couple of modifications to the design to adapt it to my body type. I have quite a large bust and “strong” upper arms (a euphemism!) but rather narrow shoulders and short arms.

For the sleeves, I wanted less fabric around the wrist.

For the upper bodice, I wanted narrower shoulders, a tighter neckline and less fabric around the armpits than in the original design. 

The sleeves

I started with the amount of stitches the sleeve has after all the decreases, i.e. 53 stitches.

I knitted 10 rows before starting with the knot pattern. This gives a small flare at the edge.

I increased every 6th row of the sleeve (I have quite short arms).

The sleeves are knitted in the round up to the armpit and then knitted flat for the sleeve cap.

The sleeve cap

To have less fullness around the armhole, I made a narrower sleeve cap, i.e. I decreased more steeply in the beginning.

(I decreased as follows: 5 sts at the beginning of the first 2 rows, 3 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows, 1 stitch at each end of the next 5 rows, 1 stitch at each end of every following alternate row 9 times, 1 stitch at each end of the next 5 rows, 3 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows, cast off the remaining stitches.)

Shoulders and neckline

When decreasing for the neckline, I kept decreasing until I had 23 sts on each shoulder (instead of 26).

I used German short rows and the 3-needle bind off for the shoulders.

I decreased 4 stitches in each centre panel and then made sure to pick up more stitches on the sides to arrive at 90 sts to make the collar. This means that my stitches were distributed differently around the neckline and I had to check to make sure that I get a knot centre front.

I knitted the 6 rows of ribbing on a 2,5 mm needle to make it nice and tight.

The finishing touch

I do not really block my knits. I wash them on the “hand wash” programme in the washing machine and lay them out to dry flat. I press the stocking stitch parts lightly with a steam iron.

Do not judge the fit of this sweater when it is fresh off the needles. You need to block or wash it to see how much ease there is in the pattern.

…and finally thank you…

…to the kind soul from the Alice Starmore Knitting Group on Facebook who pointed out that the middle stitch in the stocking stitch panels changes from purl to garter stitch after the first repeat of the chart. I would have missed that fine detail!

I can warmly recommend joining the group: lots of lovely people and useful and encouraging comments!

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The Jane Seymour Jacket

Alice Starmore’s designs were a revelation to me as a knitter. I love the way she creates different textures and combines different techniques. I also adore the luxurious garments, the shaped waistlines the historical references and the rich decorations.

The two most complicated and challenging projects I have ever completed are the Jane Seymour and the Anne Boleyn jackets from the book Tudor Roses.

A major drawback of these designs is that I cannot knit them while watching TV 🙄. You really need to look all the time. This meant that it took me a long time to complete both jackets, as I could not knit them during my usual TV-series-and-knitting evening slot…

I hardly ever follow a knitting pattern to the letter, though. Below are a couple of modifications I did to the pattern.

I knitted the second size (medium) in Drops Fabel sock yarn and I used scrap yarn for the embroidery. I was not familiar with Virtual Yarns back then. I am now converted and have just ordered my second yarn pack 🧶🙂

Here are three things I did to streamline the pattern:

1. No side seams
2. The rose leaf edging
3. The button band

1. No side seams

I always knit without side seams. Side seams add bulk and extra work. So, I added the amount of stitches needed for the back and the two front pieces, placed a marker at each side “seam” and knitted it all in one piece.

I subtracted one stitch on every side, so as to have a central stitch (in the contrast colour) marking the side seam. Added stitches were gradually worked into the pattern.

I knitted flat (back and forth, not in the round) on a circular needle. At the armhole I divided the work and finished each part separately.

The sleeves are knitted in the round on double-pointed needles up to the armhole. The sleeve cap is then knitted back and forth.

2. The rose leaf edging

The pattern starts with the rose leaf edging. Each leaf has to be knitted separately. This makes for a lot of ends to be woven in. Furthermore, in my size it asks for half a leaf on each side of the button band at the front. I did not like this.

Instead, I added up the total number of leaves I would need for the back and two front pieces (26 in total) and multiplied this by the number of stitches I would need for each leaf (21). So, I cast on 546 stitches. Since I would be knitting it all in one piece, I could distribute the leaves evenly across the whole of the bodice.

I then completed the first leaf (having changed colour) over the first 21 stitches, and then moved on to the next 21 stitches for the next leaf without breaking the yarn. The yarn is carried to the next leaf, much like the strands in fair isle knitting, as seen in the photo below.

3. The button band

I like to cover up the button band seam, even if I have not steeked the garment, for two reasons: it gives a very neat finish and it gives support to the button band.

To do this, I cast on for the front band on two needles and knit the button band. I then pick up stitches along the front, place the button band in front of the front panel, right sides facing, and knit them together with the 3-needle technique.

There is some math to do here. I invariably pick up more stitches than I need, so every now and then I have to knit one button band stitch together with two stitches from the front panel.

Knit together, but do not bind off! Knit 4 or 5 rows more, bind off, cut the yarn leaving a long tail, which you will use to sew the flap down, thus covering the join.

Even though I made my jacket longer than in the pattern, I used the given amount of stitches for the front bands. Garter stitch always comes out a lot stretchier and with a larger gauge than stocking stitch, so I make sure not to cast on too many stitches.

A couple of other comments:

• I made it longer than the original. Back length is 49 cm.

• I added a couple of stitches to the upper sleeve. Normal sleeves are often too tight for me.

• I crocheted the shoulder seams and the armhole seams together with slip stitches. I prefer this to sewing with backstitches, as it gives some elasticity that matches the texture of the rest of the garment.

• I did not use a cable needle. When you only need to cross one stitch at a time, using a chain needle is a lot of fuss.

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• Here is a small video showing how I hold the yarn for the garter stitch patterns on the button bands. Only recently have I gone over to holding two colours in one hand when doing stranded knitting. Makes things a lot easier!

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