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Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming

2879 views 13 replies Latest reply: January 8, 2010 at 2:59:17 PM

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Stitchboard Admin message #1
Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 3:43:12 PM

I have a question...I'm making this hooded teddy bear coat...and I despise seaming...I'll do anything to avoid it! I'm thinking of knitting the back and two fronts side-by-side (have already figured out piece which would be which by taking a strip of paper and marking the wrong side and then the right side, so I know where the left and right front pieces would fall). So far, so good.

My question is whether or not it would be advisable to try and avoid seaming by "joining" the three pieces together as I knit by... ?

Somehow picking up an extra stitch?
Twisting the back and front yarns together (e.g., they're from two different skeins)?
Something else I haven't thought of?

Actually, kind of like joining two pieces of machine knitting (thank you, thank you, thank you, Charlene, for the Bond video link!), but I don't know how to do this with hand knitting. IIRC, in machine knitting, you take the one knitted piece and put the needle through the edge stitch, and then you nicely knit both together. (Would I then first pull a hand knitting stitch for the "current" piece through the edge stitch of the previous piece?)

Is there any answer to this dilemma?

(And would it be possible to somehow join the three cast-on pieces together in a similar fashion?)

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Melanie (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=
~~~~~
I'm a beading, knitting and crochet addict. If that means I'm admitting I have a problem, then I admit to nothing. Please refrain from helping me.

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wizdmzchyld message #2
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 5:48:31 PM

I've just been making the button placards for the infamous pink sweater. What I do is cast on the stitches for the part to be knit and pick up a stitch on the piece already knit at the end of the row. I knit the last stitch and the stitch from the finished part together and then pickup a stitch from the finished piece and knit it with the stitch on the part I'm working on. Make any sense? If not I'll do pictures. Any way that's how I do it and it does save doing the seam.

Essentially, I just said what you said, so you're good as far as I'm concerned. Tongue

Charlene

Quote:

I have a question...I'm making this hooded teddy bear coat...and I despise seaming...I'll do anything to avoid it! I'm thinking of knitting the back and two fronts side-by-side (have already figured out piece which would be which by taking a strip of paper and marking the wrong side and then the right side, so I know where the left and right front pieces would fall). So far, so good.

My question is whether or not it would be advisable to try and avoid seaming by "joining" the three pieces together as I knit by... ?

Somehow picking up an extra stitch?
Twisting the back and front yarns together (e.g., they're from two different skeins)?
Something else I haven't thought of?

Actually, kind of like joining two pieces of machine knitting (thank you, thank you, thank you, Charlene, for the Bond video link!), but I don't know how to do this with hand knitting. IIRC, in machine knitting, you take the one knitted piece and put the needle through the edge stitch, and then you nicely knit both together. (Would I then first pull a hand knitting stitch for the "current" piece through the edge stitch of the previous piece?)

Is there any answer to this dilemma?

(And would it be possible to somehow join the three cast-on pieces together in a similar fashion?)

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Wheat

Member since:
Dec 22, 2009
Posts: 27

Wheat message #3
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 6:06:27 PM

Why not lay it out "on paper" and knit all three at one time

Then you will only to join the sleeves and the shoulders

Wheat
the lazy person who actuslly likes doing Kitchener just not very much at one time

P.S. LYS often have info about folks who LIKE the job of finishing, so that is another possibility (of course they do charge a fee depending on complexity)

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Stitchboard Admin message #4
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 6:58:29 PM

Charlene,

Quote:

I've just been making the button placards for the infamous pink sweater. What I do is cast on the stitches for the part to be knit and pick up a stitch on the piece already knit at the end of the row. I knit the last stitch and the stitch from the finished part together and then pickup a stitch from the finished piece and knit it with the stitch on the part I'm working on. Make any sense? If not I'll do pictures. Any way that's how I do it and it does save doing the seam.

Essentially, I just said what you said, so you're good as far as I'm concerned. Tongue

Thank you...it makes plenty of sense, and your explanation is very clear! Though if it's definitely not too much trouble, I'd greatly appreciate pictures!

(LOL, although I'd have to do this while knitting all of the pieces at the same time...because of my anal retentive nature, which insists that everything must be somewhat "equal," e.g., the same number of rows and a similar tension, so that's why I knit three at once! If it wasn't for the seaming being my personal hangup, I'd probably knit all three side by side without trying to seam them at all. And I had started to do that, when it occurred to me, "Oh, maybe it can be done without seaming!")

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

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Member since:
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Posts: 4610

Stitchboard Admin message #5
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 7:09:24 PM

Wheat,

Quote:

Why not lay it out "on paper" and knit all three at one time

Then you will only to join the sleeves and the shoulders

Wheat
the lazy person who actuslly likes doing Kitchener just not very much at one time

P.S. LYS often have info about folks who LIKE the job of finishing, so that is another possibility (of course they do charge a fee depending on complexity)

LOL, what are you doing in my head?! I did that...I was thinking of knitting it as one piece up to the armhole shaping. What makes me hesitant is this: I have two skeins and, ugh, two different dye lots of "no dye lot." I figured that since this is for a teddy bear, he's not going to complain that the front of his little coat is a slightly different color than the back. That's my concession to both the dye lot issue and the "evenness." That will also hopefully use the skeins pretty evenly, because I plan to use them together (double strand) on a Bond knitting machine at some point, to make that stupid mattress pad thingie that's become the BANE of my existence. (Lazy? Why, guilty as charged! Grin

)

I did plot out the whole pattern, though, and got to the shoulder shaping and wondered if there would be enough yarn left over from the one skein to do the mattress pad thingie. Sad

LOL, sorry, this looks about as clear as mud! Sad

Thanks...that's a good point about the LYS...one I hadn't thought of!

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Member since:
Nov 24, 2009
Posts: 270

wizdmzchyld message #6
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 7, 2010 at 10:57:49 PM

Ya got me there. Now it's me who wants pictures. I didn't realize you were going to attempt knitting all three pieces at the same time. I'm going to have to ponder that a while. I haven't yet wrapped my mind around knitting several pieces and joining them at the same time. Hmmm. Do you have any idea how you're going to do that? The knitting I'm doing is knitting and attaching a piece to a piece that is already completed.

Charlene

Thank you...it makes plenty of sense, and your explanation is very clear! Though if it's definitely not too much trouble, I'd greatly appreciate pictures!

(LOL, although I'd have to do this while knitting all of the pieces at the same time...because of my anal retentive nature, which insists that everything must be somewhat "equal," e.g., the same number of rows and a similar tension, so that's why I knit three at once! If it wasn't for the seaming being my personal hangup, I'd probably knit all three side by side without trying to seam them at all. And I had started to do that, when it occurred to me, "Oh, maybe it can be done without seaming!")

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Miss Freckles

Member since:
Nov 9, 2009
Posts: 62

knitnknanny message #7
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 12:30:59 AM

Melanie,
Have you ever done any intarsia knitting? Or any knitting with 2 colors? Ya know how you bring one color around the other when you change colors so you don't get a hole? I can't see why doing that wouldn't work for where your pieces join. They would be joined and you shouldn't get a hole. ...Or that's the way it's looking in my wee little brain. :-)

Marilyn

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Stitchboard Admin message #8
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 12:38:34 AM

Charlene,

Quote:

Ya got me there. Now it's me who wants pictures. I didn't realize you were going to attempt knitting all three pieces at the same time. I'm going to have to ponder that a while. I haven't yet wrapped my mind around knitting several pieces and joining them at the same time. Hmmm. Do you have any idea how you're going to do that? The knitting I'm doing is knitting and attaching a piece to a piece that is already completed.

All I can think of doing is perhaps pulling one stitch through the piece next to it...I don't know if it can be done...LOL, I'm just as perplexed as you!

I'll try to take pics. So far, the back piece is cast on, but would have to remove that from the needle anyway, to get the other two cast on. Thinking of putting it on a stitch holder or temporarily on another needle.

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

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Member since:
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Posts: 4610

Stitchboard Admin message #9
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 12:41:04 AM

Marilyn,

Quote:

Have you ever done any intarsia knitting? Or any knitting with 2 colors? Ya know how you bring one color around the other when you change colors so you don't get a hole? I can't see why doing that wouldn't work for where your pieces join. They would be joined and you shouldn't get a hole. ...Or that's the way it's looking in my wee little brain. :-)

Thanks, that is one of my thoughts! (I was thinking of knitting with two colors, and that's why twisting the two sounded like it might work.) Do you think it would be as sturdy as a seam join?

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Miss Freckles

Member since:
Nov 9, 2009
Posts: 62

knitnknanny message #10
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 12:55:57 AM

Melanie,
Didn't you say this garment was for a teddy bear?? Just how hard on his clothes is he going to be?? Shocked

Marilyn

Quote:

Do you think it would be as sturdy as a seam join?

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Member since:
Nov 24, 2009
Posts: 270

wizdmzchyld message #11
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 9:22:37 AM

That comment was good for a giggle. Cheesy

Charlene

Quote:

Melanie,
Didn't you say this garment was for a teddy bear?? Just how hard on his clothes is he going to be?? Shocked

Marilyn

Wheat

Member since:
Dec 22, 2009
Posts: 27

Wheat message #12
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 10:30:23 AM

Quote:

You could just tell people that one side is lighter because of how he likes to lay in the sun (stomach or back, depending on which lighter.

Its All Just String:
http://www.ItsAllJustString.com

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Stitchboard Admin message #13
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 2:54:47 PM

Marilyn,

Quote:

Didn't you say this garment was for a teddy bear?? Just how hard on his clothes is he going to be?? Shocked

ROFL!

Kind of funny story, semi-related to that:
I went to a garage sale one summer, and found some nice fabrics (some were smaller pieces), which looked like they'd be perfect for doll clothes. One, a gorgeous blue fabric priced at 50 cents, had a note on it that said it faded in the wash. So I didn't buy it.

Hours later, I realized my mistake: Was Barbie going to do the laundry? Grin

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

Look at that smile! (Photo guaranteed unretouched)

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 4610

Stitchboard Admin message #14
Re: Knitting three pieces side-by-side without seaming
January 8, 2010 at 2:59:17 PM

Wheat,

Quote:

You could just tell people that one side is lighter because of how he likes to lay in the sun (stomach or back, depending on which lighter.

LOL...I like your thinking! Grin

Melanie (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

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