Knitting Board Stitches

Several times lately I have had emails from people who state that they have been doing stitches wrong on the knitting boards, the double rakes. I want to answer some of that here so that those who read will know that those things they consider mistakes really are not.

The most common thing people state is that they started their base row with a figure eight cast on, then made the mistake of continuing to wrap in that figure eight. Now no one has stated why they think this is a mistake and I haven't asked, so I am not sure where that idea is coming from, but I am writing to dispell that idea of it being a mistake.

The figure eight is not just a base wrap. It is a stitch that can be used for the entire project. It forms a look in stitches like the e-wrapped stitche on the round looms, that twisted stitch which gives that neat slanted look to the stitches. You can use this stitch throughout your entire project or mix it with others. I did one little afghan (a baby one), where I wanted a firm weave but not as stiff as you get from the stockinette stitch, using one row of stockinette and one row of figure eight. They worked quite nicely together.

As a base wrap it is ok but you are still going to get some of that loopy bottom from it. Now I have not tried this but someone might experiment with the double stitch cast on that some are using for the round looms. The double stitch cast on is simply to wrap a peg twice and knit off the bottom, then move to the next peg and do the same thing. If anyone does experiment with this I would love to know how well it works. Right now I just don't have the time to play with it and my long tail cast on works quite fine for me, but I have just used this double stitch cast on for a round loom project. The bottom is not as loopy and the hat I am making still has a little curl at the bottom of the piece, which I did want.

So there you have it. Play and you shall see that you can do many combinations of things on the looms just as people combine different stitches on needles, so can you on the looms. Just because it isn't exactly what someone else is doing doesn't make it wrong. Just different. If it works how can it be wrong. Play have fun and don't worry so much about what others might have done. Make this fun for you.