Last weekend was Black Sheep Gathering. As usual, it was a blast and a half. I missed out on the Sheep to Shawl competition, but I got to watch Judith MacKenzie McCuin at work in the fleece judging – wow, what an education! (Judith, how do you hold so much fiber info in your head??) Wandering the market wasn’t a shopping experience so much as a social experience, a welcome chance to catch up with people that I see only once every few months.
And I taught classes: Hook Hocus-Pocus, Cast-on Cornucopia, and Bind-off Bonanza. All three went well enough, though as luck would have it, I realized on the drive home that I neglected to answer a student’s question.
See, I like to start each class by asking if anyone has anything specific they came to learn: something mentioned in the class description, something related to the class topic, whatever. It helps me figure out where to focus our time. Sometimes I’m smart, and I write these requests on the classroom’s whiteboard so I can cross them off as we progress through the class material. Sometimes I’m not, and a topic falls through the cracks.
The topic that fell through the cracks this Saturday was choosing cast-ons and bind-offs that match each other. Here’s my belated answer:
- Match a standard pass-stitch-over BO perfectly with a crocheted CO. Bonus: pso BOs and crocheted COs also match chain selvedges created by slipping the first stitch of every row.
- Cast on provisionally, leaving a long tail. Knit the project, and BO the ending edge using your choice of BO method. Then release the provisional CO, and BO the starting edge using the same BO method.
- Use tubular CO and tubular BO, if you have ribbing at both the starting and ending edges of your project.
- Use a sewn BO to match a long-tail CO.
Tagged: classes.
I can only think of 2 others.
I-cord: Knit the i-cord, pick up along it's edge as your cast on and then i-cord bind off.
Hemmed edges work well too. The cast on/bind off don't need to match. Or do like I do and use provisional cast on and knit it together after the first hem is finished and sew down the live stitches at the end instead of binding off.
» Jayme
True! You can use any border worked sideways (I-cord, garter st, lace edgings) to get CO and BO edges to match.
Hems and rolled edges work too... though I’m trying to picture what kind of garment would have a hem at both ends? Wristlets, maybe? Or leg warmers.
» JC
JC, one other question regarding matching CO and BOs; is there a decent matching BO to a cabled CO? I have this beautiful roped edge on one side and would love to figure out a way to make the BO edge look similarly. Have I just missed something?
» Sheryl
Sheryl, I don’t know of a BO that precisely matches a cabled CO.
If the cabled CO were a variant of the long-tail CO or some other two-strand CO, I’d suggest working a swatch with a contrast color for the CO tail, flipping the swatch upside-down, and studying the path taken by the contrast-color tail. This lets you “unvent” a matching sewn BO: leave a tail at least 4 time the width of the piece when you cut the yarn, thread the tail on a tapestry needle, and have the tapestry needle mimic the path taken by the CO tail.
Would this work for a cabled CO? I don’t think so. But you still might want to try a sewn BO that matches a long-tail CO: it might create something similar to the look you’re trying to achieve. Or use a standard BO, and work a row of reverse single crochet: it would be bulkier than a cabled CO, but it would give a very nice “roped” appearance to the BO edge.
» JC