I had hoped to finish the Phildar shell before the weekend, so I could start a new project for Bard Music. This is not likely to happen.
It took me a long time to knit the neckband. Actually, that is not exactly true. I picked up and knit the neck band one evening and then it took me several hours out of the next evening to cast it off. Chain bind-off, in all three variations that I know, left the ribbing floppy around the neck edge and was definitely NOT attractive. Rip, Rip. Two-Row bind-off was better but still not flexible enough and not attractive. It just did not lie properly around the collarbone. Finally, balancing both The Principles of Knitting and Knitters Handbook by Montse Stanley on my lap with my knitting, I determine to learn something new. I decided that since I started with a tubular cast-on, I might as well go whole-hog as it were, and end with a tubular cast-off for double rib.
Man, did that take time, but I absolutely love it. Who knows there may even be more ribbing in my future.
Both authors claimed that invisible cast-off for double-rib was only for those who had mastered basic invisible cast-off (not me in other words) but that did not deter me. It's only knitting after all and had I not already casted off this edge 3 times? Good thing I have extra yarn as the cotton tends to unply with the unknitting.
In the first book, June Hiatt, wrote that the technique for double-rib was awfully complicated on the needles and she recommended doing this cast-off off the needles on a table using a darning needle. I was game, so I dutifully went to the table and pulled the needle out of my edge. I felt very daring, actually only partly daring as I only pulled the needle part way out. Even with the instructions and the diagrams, I found this technique impossibly complicated and the results were not enchanting. After about 5 inches the process was not getting any easier, when I pulled the yarn through I would drop the next stitches and lose my place and if I waited too long to pull the yarn, horrible tangles and mess would ensue.
Hiatt was shoved aside, the edge was unbound and all the stitches were put back on the needle. I thought there was no hope. However Montse Stanley, also discussed the Tubular bind-off for double-rib (called invisible) and gave directions for doing it on the needle (hurray!). Why was this technique too difficult for Hiatt but not for Stanley? Stanley had clear written directions and, to me at least, less clear pictures, so Hyatt was right it would not have worked easily from pictures alone.
Following Stanley's technique I was able to finish the neckline edge, after a few repetitions I got the hang of the technique and I really like it. I can't do it without looking at the directions yet, and it may be a very long time before I ever reach that stage, but that's OK. The neckline lies flat, it is actually kind of stretchy, the way a nice ribbed neckline should be (think of the possibilities) although it does kind of slant to the left. Well a left-ward slanting view of the world is probably not so bad either.
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