Friday 25 May 2007

Best Cast-Off?

I am basically finished with my Rusted Root, and was casting off the bottom today....but afterwards realized that I don't think my cast-off is stretchy enough. I haven't tried it on (I finished knitting in the middle of a staff meeting, so it didn't seem appropriate to do a fashion show then and there!), but I'm afraid it's not going to stretch enough to go on....

Suggestions for the best cast-off for this? I'm up for learning something new if I need to!

6 comments:

Virtuous said...

I want to know too!! B/c I CO for my Ms. Marigold and it is really tight! I should have a least went up a needle sized and really made sure I CO loosely

ContinentalCat said...

Would casting off with a crochet hook help? According to All Stitched Up by Jane Crowfoot that should give an 'even and slightly elastic bind-off that is especially good for yarns with little give, such as cotton and silk'.

Don't know if it really works, would have to try that..

Lindsey said...

Hmm, didn't try crochet....I only have 2 sizes of hooks, and I don't think either one would have been right for this, though.

After unpicking it TWICE, I finally settled on going up 2 needle sizes (from US 4 to US 6...4 mm, right?) and doing k2tog, slip the stitch back to the left needle, k2tog again. It's not my favourite look, but it is stretchy.

Kate said...

I've heard that the sewn cast off is great for giving items a bit more stretch at the end...

http://www.socknitters.com/toe-up/lessonsix.htm

ContinentalCat said...

In the end, I've used an ordinairy cast off for my Green Gable, but very loose - and I've did some increase in the hip region, so it was a bit wider than the pattern.

Lindsey said...

Purlygirly....I did try a sewn cast-off, which was definitely better, but still too tight. I liked the look, though, and if next time I remember to do some increases/work looser near the end, this could help!