In Stitches: Part 2

I took a class with Susanna Hansson on Japanese short rows and Japanese bind off, and I learned to much! Her instructions were very clear, and just look at the result:

I haven't blocked this or anything, but these are the best-looking short rows I think I've ever done. I did not get the holes I get from the YO technique,


and on the back, I didn't get the large "bars" that I get from the standard wrap-and-turn technique.


After class, I looked up some additional resources, and it was only then that I realized I had actually read about this method before on NonaKnits. When it was originally posted in April of 2005, though, I had only been knitting for a few months, and I did not yet have the mental framework for understanding the value of this technique. It might as well have been written in Japanese! There was a slight difference between the way Susanna taught us to mark the gap and what Nona demonstrates, but the gist is the same.

I did come up with a slight innovation during class. I realized that when you are closing the gap on a purl side, you are basically doing a left-leaning purl decrease (termed because it leans left when seen from the knit side). Rather than manipulating the stitches according to the tutorial, I twisted the stitch to the left of the gap, picked up the required strand of yarn so that it sat backwards on the needle, and did a p2tog tbl. After class, I looked it up and saw that Techknitter had already written about that same method. Okay, so my way is not new; still, I was pleased at having independently rediscovered something that TechKnitter does!

At the end of class, we did a Japanese 3 needle bind off to join our swatches.


As an aside, Susanna showed us these Lapland mittens from a different class she was teaching. Look at that yarn management technique! Wow! I'd like to take that class at some point!