How to Knit a Hem

There are lots of different ways to finish the edges of knitting. Using ribbing is popular on a lot of projects, because it gives you a nice stretchy edge that makes wearing garments easier, and it prevents stockinette stitch from curling.

Another option is to knit a hem into your project, either as you knit the project or after the fact.

I had to do this not too long ago when I was working on a commissioned project. I was knitting a lining piece for a bonnet style hat, and it was knit in stockinette stitch. Blocking helped calm down the curling a little bit, but not enough to make it totally flat. (I wanted the client to have the option of not wearing the lining so it was knit separately and not sewn to the main hat.)

So I decided to knit a hem after the main knitting was done by picking up stitches and knitting a big more stockinette that was then sewn to the inside of the hat.

This weighs down the edge a bit and keeps it from curing, and gives the piece a finished look.

You can also plan to knit a hem at the bottom of a hat, sweater or other project. This is typically done by knitting what will be the back/inside of the hem first, then working a turning row (purling on the right side or doing a yarn over, knit 2 together row to make a picot edge) knitting a bit more and joining the edge stitches to the working stitches when the front piece is the right length.

You can also sew the hem by hand if you like, but I enjoy doing it as sort of a knit 2 together to secure the hem.

If you want to see these methods in action, check out my post over at Our Daily Craft all about how to knit hems. If you’ve got another method you like I’d love to hear it!

Next Pattern:

I don’t share patterns for kids clothes nearly often enough (probably because my teen long ago aged out of kid sizes) but I’m going to try to make more of an effort for those of you who are knitting for kids, grandkids, charity projects, etc.

If you fall in those categories, let me know what kind of projects you might be looking for and I’ll do my best to find some and share them for you!

In the meantime, there’s this. The Log Cabin Style knit pullover from Lion Brand yarn is exactly what it sounds like. The back of the sweater is plain and a single color, but the front uses blocks like a log cabin design, and the sleeves are striped.

The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which comes in tons of colors so you can use school colors, your child’s favorite colors or just what you have in the house. In all it uses five colors.

The pattern comes in three sizes, meant to be for ages 6-8, 8-10 and 10-12. The finished chest measurement ranges from 28 to 32 inches, or 71 to 81.5 cm.

The pattern is available for free on the Lion Brand website, but you will need to sign up for a free account to download it if you don’t already have one.

You can of course buy a full kit of yarn direct from Lion Brand if you like.

If you’ve never stitched a log cabin project before, I think you’ll find this to be a lot of fun and you will start thinking of all sorts of ways to use this technique in different projects. (And if you want a quick overview of what log cabin knitting is and how it works, I have a post on my website all about log cabin knitting where I show it being used to make a pillow.)

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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