Hem Tutorial

So you've decided to work a hem instead of ribbing.  Excellent choice for many things.  The easiest way I've found of doing it goes like this:

I started with a provisional cast on (still thanking the wonderful Judy for hers),

and knit up half the distance on one needle, then switched up a size to knit up the other half. 

Now I'm working the live stitches together with the provisional edge.  It looks pretty funny in the middle of the row...

But the process is very much like a three needle bind off (only since I'm not binding off, I have to do it in purl, since the time is right on the wrong side.). 

All that's missing is the passing the first stitch over the second one part.

Step One, insert needle through the first stitch on the needle for both needles...

The view from the top...

Then

 

Step 2: wrap the yarn around the needle, and pull through BOTH stitches.

And voila... pretty hem!

When you're doing this on 166 stitches, you start to wonder, about half way through, if you're sure you wanted to do this.  Trust me, as tedious as it may be, it's better than trying to pick up a purl bump, or sewing the hem in by hand later.  And There's no way at all to get confused about which stitches get picked up.

There is a sort of two-needle variation of the process.  To be sure, it still needs three needles for a while, but working it is much easier -- First you slip stitches from the two relevant needles to a third (one from the front, one from the back, repeat), and then you work k2tog, k2tog across (or p2tog depending on whether you're working a right side or wrong side row) instead of slipping a needle through two stitches, each of which is on a different needle. Here's what it looks like just prior to doing a two-needle variant on a three needle bind off.