One of my favorite design details in knitwear is a simple, clean knit-in hem. On a basic stockinette stitch piece, hemmed edges give a really polished, tailored finish, so that the yarn and shape can take center stage. Traditionally, knit-in hems involve a provisional cast-on, then exposing live stitches and knitting the two fabric layers together. I sometimes go this route, but I’ve found that pretty often, you can get away with a method that’s a little less fussy, skipping the provisional cast on.
Here’s the traditional method from the front:
And from the back:
And this is the “cheater” method from the front and back:
(Excuse the fuzzies, this is a much-loved sweater*)
You’ll need two sets of circulars for this, one in the larger size for the majority of your knitting, and one set one to two sizes smaller for your hem facing.
To begin, cast on your desired number of stitches onto your smaller hem needle, using a simple backward loop cast on. Keep the tension “just right”, not too tight, but not loose and loopy. Normally these knit-in hems are done on knit-in-the-round pieces, but for illustration I’m doing a flat swatch.
The backward loop cast on is not my normal go-to method for casting on, but we’ll want a nice open bottom edge to this, so here it’s the winner.
Next, knit into your cast on through the front loop. This will give the stitches of the cast on edge a slight twist, which will make it easier to knit into the bottom edge later. Work in stockinette stitch to desired hem depth.
Now switch to your larger needles (whatever size you’ll be knitting the piece with), and purl one row to create the turning row for the hem. Then work in stockinette stitch until you’ve reached the same depth as the 1st section of the hem. Depending on your yarn and needles, this may not be the same number of rows. I often have one or two less rows on the 2nd section worked on larger needles than the 1st worked on smaller ones.
Now it’s time to join the layers together. Fold up your work at the purl row, so that the cast on edge is directly behind your left hand needle. Insert the tip of the left hand needle into the first cast on edge loop.
Insert your right hand needle, then knit these two loops together as one.
Continue knitting together pairs of stitches and cast on loops all the way to the end of your round/row.
The front of your work should look like this:
And the back like this:
Continue working in stockinette on larger needles as directed by your pattern.
Now you’ll have a nice smooth finish on the front:
And a nice flat finish on the inside of your piece:
Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear them.
*Refined Raglan, one of my patterns published in Interweave Knits in Winter 2006. Pattern available HERE.
This post is part of the Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!
