The Knitting Fiend

This time, I doubled wrapped the short row heels and toes. I’ll explain how. It’s a bit peskier than single wrapping, but some people like this method better. (And someone in comments asked me to show it. So, there you go!)

To double wrap, you begin by wrapping when you work the decreasing short rows. I illustrated that in my first article on wrapping, which you can read here. For convenience, I’ll repeat the text directions here. When working a knit row:

• Knit up to the stitch you plan to wrap. Bring yarn forward as to purl; slip stitch², take yarn back as to knit. Turn row so purlside faces. Slip stitch. You are now ready to begin the purl row. Don’t turn again.

When working a purl row, you have two options:

• Purl up to the stitch you plan to wrap. Slip the stitch, bring the yarn back as to knit, turn so knit side is facing. Slip the stitch, bring the yarn back as to knit. You are ready to knit the next stitch.
• Purl up to the stitch you plan to wrap. Bring the back as to knit, slip the stitch, bring the yarn back as to purl. Turn so knit side is facing, slip the next stitch. You are ready to knit the next stitch

What’s the difference between the two options? Later, when you lift the wraps when working increasing short rows, it will “sit” differently on the needle. This means when you work a stitch together with its wrap, the back side will look slightly different depending on the direction of the wrap.

In all cases, the stitch you slipped is the wrapped stitch. I call this a “wrap and turn”; some simply say wrap.¹ When you finish, wrapping a stitch, you’ll see yarn wrapped around each stitch. To the right, you can see the point of my needle underneath a wrap.

When you work whole bunch of short rows for a heel, the work will look as illustrated at the top of this article. Notice, the two sides slant, and the top is flat; if the lower foot weren’t there, this would be a little trapezoid. On a heel, notice I hold the instep stitches are on reserve on a circular needle; you can also use a string. When following my directiosn, don’t use a normal stitch holder. (I think you’ll see why in a moment.)

Remember I said I used this method for a toe too? When you work short row toes, they look except you’d only see that trapezoid at the top. The sock foot would be missing, and the wide bottom cast on edge would be stitches on a provisional cast on.

Now, you’ll be ready to begin knitting wraps together and double wrapping. Here’s how:

When working a knit row you:

• Knit up to the first wrapped stitch on the left needle. (The first time, it will be single wrapped; all other times it will be double wrapped.)
• Slip the knit stitch. Insert your left needle tip into the wraps and lift them over the stitch; see above right.
• Slip the stitches back to the left tip. Insert needle knitwise into the stitch, then let it pass under the wraps; see above right. Knit all together. This resembles a “k2tog”; the stitch will slant and hide the wraps.
• Wrap and turn the next stitch, following the directions above. The stitch is now double wrapped.
• Purl the next row

When working a purl row:

• Purl until you reach the first wrapped purl stitch on the left needle.
• Slip the purl stitch knitwise, that is, by inserting the right needle tip as if you were going to knit. (The purpose is to change how it sits. This is similar to what you do when you p2tbl.)
• Use your left needle tip to lift the wrap or wraps (above left), slide stitch and wraps back to left tip. Insert needle through the back loop of the stitch, then on through the wraps (above right). Purl together. This is similar to a p2tbl; from the front, the stitch will cover the purls.
• Wrap and turn then next stitch. (Don’t forget, wrapping and turning includes slipping the wrapped stitch before working the next row. Slip it purlwise.

Repeat this procedure for a while. You’ll notice the work folds over creating either a toe or a heel cup (see right).

Eventually, you’ll knit the final stitch with it’s wraps. Your left needle is finally empty and it would appear you have nothing left to wrap. If it’s a toe, there isn’t; so turn, work the last row, work that stitch with it’s wrap, turn, and your toe is done. Whooo hooo!

If you are working a heel, guess what? You can wrap another stitch — and it’s useful to do so since it prevents a hole.

Remember the stitches on the “stitch holder”? The one that looks like a circular needle with silver tips in my photo above? (You could also use a string.)

Slip a stitch from the the holder onto the dpn in your right hand, pick up the needle you just emptied and slide it onto the empty one. Now wrap that stitch! Turn, work to the end of the needle, working the final stitch with it’s wraps.

Now, once again, slip a stitch from the holder, wrap it, and knit across the needle, when you reach the wrapped stitch, work it with it’s wrap in the normal way.

You will now begin to work circular. Your directions will instruct you to pick up the instep stitches from the stitch holder and specify how to distribute stitches on needles. But regardless of how you distributed your stitches, you will start knitting right where you left off– but don’t turn. Work across the instep stitches.

When you reach the next wrapped stitch, you will want to knit it together with its wrap. But, this time, you are approaching it from the opposite side, so you need to do things differently. Previously, you worked stitches with their wraps using a procedure “sort of like” k2tog; now you will do it sort of like an ssk³.

When you reach the wrapped stitch, insert the right tip and lift the wrap over, then slip the stitch knitwise to change its seat; see above left. Slip the stitch back to the left tip so it’s seated the other way (or, if you’ve figured this out, just shove the left tip through the slipped stitch.) Now, work the wrap and stitch together the way you’d work an ssk.

Now, work across the heel stitches. You have finished working double wraps and prevented pesky holes on the sides of your sock. Pretty cool, huh?

Ok, does this look any better than single wraps? I don’t really think so, but some people do. It does look better than some single wrap directions I’ve tried. My single wrap directions tell you to work a stitch and wrap together, turn, then slip the first stitch in the next row. Some people don’t tell you to slip that stitch. I think that slip is required to make single wraps look nice; as with all things in knitting, there are differences of opinion about what looks best.

Since there are differences of opinion, and you might think prefer one method of working short rows to another, it’s worth trying a variety of ways. Remember: The right way to knit is the way you like to knit!

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1. Believe it or not, from time to time, debates about the “correct term” to use to describe this when writing knitting patterns has come up on the knitlist. Should one include or omit the word “turn”? (Heck, some ask whether or not you should bother to include instructions to wrap!)

Those in the “anti-turn” camp insists it is “obvious” that knitters always turn after completing a row, and point out that we don’t remind knitters to turn when working full rows. They think saying the obvious is confusing, because beginning knitters may think they need to turn twice.

The “pro-turn” camp admit that it is “obvious” that you turn when you empty the left needle. what else would you do? However, they point out the most common mistake beginners make when learning short rows not turning when the left needle is still full of stitches!

I am in the “pro-turn” camp; beginners have emailed me hilariously funny photos of things they knit from directions that didn’t say “turn”. Nope, turning isn’t “obvious”. How about the opposite mistake? Well, I’ve read posts by new knitters at the knit lists asking if they are supposed to turn twice. So, clearly, there is no way of wording this that makes it “obvious”. That’s the reason for this longwinded footnote! Turn once a total of once per row.

2. By convention, when directions don’t tell you how to slip, you insert the right needle tip as to purl, and slid the stitch over. This is also called “slipping purlwise” and every now and then, I might remind you to slip purlwise. (The alternative is to “slip knitwise”; directions will always be specific when you need to slip knitwise.) Slipping purlwise is the standard way because it maintains the “seat” of the stitch.

3. Handy illustrations for true beginners: how to work an ssk; how to work a ptbl, that is “purl through back loops.” Amazingly enough, I don’t show k2tog in an individual lesson!