The red and brown jacket needed it's cuffs hemmed, and lo and behold, there were provisional cast-ons to be taken out, while doing the hem! I used the long-tail cast on method with a contrasting color for the 'tail' portion of the cast on. In this case, blue. (In the case of the Blue Shimmer, which started this round of questions, it was pink. Color doesn't really matter, but anything contrasting makes seeing what you're doing easier. Plus of course smooth yarn is easier to pull out. Only a maniac would do this with eyelash.)
So here's what we had to start with: The turned-back but not hemmed cuff is on the right, and the finished body hem is on the left. Sort of a before and after.
Get some thread handy to do the stitch-down (I usually use embroidery floss), and start removing the blue yarn (or the pink yarn, or whateverthehell contrasting yarn you used). I suggest snipping off the long tail first, and then using the sewing needle to tug loose the extra yarn from the stitches:
Stitch down the stitches as you free them up. This is one of the advantages of the long-tail method for provisional cast-on. You have to pick it out when you're removing it, it doesn't just unravel on the spot leaving you with ten million loose stitches to chase down. Here's the operation in progress, with some stitches sewn down and some more blue yarn to be picked out:
That's about it for excitement and challenge. Work your way around the sleeve, knot the ends of your sewing thread together, darn in all the ends, and turn it right side out.
And you have a hemmed sleeve.
Would anyone be interested in some directions on how to knit the brown and red jacket? I wouldn't be writing up stitch-by-stitch directions, but I can give you the color chart and general idea of the shoulder shaping and you OUGHT to be able to turn out something similar.
Takers?
3 comments:
(note: my head is hanging in shame throughout this confession) I have avoided several patterns due to a fear of the provisional cast-on. I sounds simple enough...and that's where I generally make my most grievous errors. Between that and the "Susan Bates" incident, I probably should just be banned from knitting altogether.
...but did all the oil spots come out? Your 'husbeast' (ha! - kills me every time!) is still alive so I assume they did, but we wanted to be sure!
Yes please!
(The color chart and stuff, that is)
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