CSM Hints and Tips – Round, no-wrap, no dog-ear toes
hello I’m Steve Ashton I’m the guy who’s
known on Ravelry and elsewhere on the
web as the wizard BC and welcome to
circular sock machine hints and tips
what we’re going to talk about in this
episode of hints and tips are toes this
is a fairly standard toe done by the
antique manuals you can see that the
sides are fairly straight and it forms a
pretty flat end at the top there’s a
little bitty peak here in here and there
sometimes dull gears at the corners
where you finish off your kidster well
this is not a very professional looking
toe so what we’re trying to do is come
up with a toe that looks more like this
one this is a round tote you can see
that the sides are quite round the tip
is round and there are no dog ears at
the two sides so that’s what we’re going
to talk about today now I can do this
exact same thing for a heel the heel
also comes out very nice and round it’s
completely finished and it’s done
exactly the same way so how we do this
we’re what we’re going to do is combine
three separate techniques together the
first is to achieve the roundness the
second is a method of doing a very nice
clean edge at the edge of the heel and
the edge of the toe and not creating any
dog ears at the corners so this is where
we’re trying to go
all right let’s begin a tote so you can
see I have my machine set up this by the
way is a narrow Bakr Gerhardt speedster
model with an 18 needle cylinder and
it’s paired with an 80 needle Ripper
dial this is called a nickel slot this
allows me to do a lot of different
ribbing options I don’t know if you can
see but on the side of the toe I’m doing
six by two ribs and this continues down
the front of the foot and then I’ve done
my five rows of preeto all plain and
I’ve got everything set up I’ve raised
the back half of my needles my heel
spring is engaged and I’m ready to begin
the toe so we begin the first portion is
doing the rounding and that is done
almost exactly like you would do a
normal toe it from the manual
so here’s how we begin this and do the
rounding raise one come around now
you’re gonna watch me and I’m gonna do a
lot of this work with my fingers instead
of putting in heel weights immediately I
like using my fingers and all I’m doing
is keeping a little bit of tension on
these first couple stitches right at the
corners each time I’m going to be
watching right across the back of the
cylinder and I’m gonna watch to see if
the stitches start to rise up above the
cylinder as soon as they start to rise
up that’s what I’m going to put heel
forks in so I’ve now got one and two and
here comes two there’s two complete
here’s three three is complete
for number four needle complete here’s
five
and you can see my needles are my
stitches are just barely starting to
rise up above this top of the cylinder
so at the end of five I’m going to put
in some heal forks so there is five
complete now I’m going to put in a yo
for
here goes 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 needle
loop is correct so we’re starting number
6 6 is complete now here comes the trick
of around 8 now I’m gonna make a
disclaimer here for just a minute I did
not invent any of these techniques this
is all pretty well known it’s just I
think I’m the first to put all three of
them together and do a video of it the
round heel-and-toe is available as a
free pattern on the arrow Bakr Gerhardt
site the way of doing the increase
without wrapping called
magic no wrap or sometimes called a
suicide heal that’s fairly well known
it’s actually named after sue doneski
and then we’re also going to be showing
you how to do it with no dog years so
that’s the three parts of this and we’ve
just completed we’re getting ready on
the first part how to do the rounding
now this particular customer has a
fairly wide heel and it’s not a very
prominent heel if you have a very deep
heel you can actually start your heels
one or two needles beyond your halfway
act marks if you have a wide foot wide
toes or a wide heel you can decrease or
increase the number of needles that you
work for your increase in decrease this
particular customer I’m only going to do
ten needles down ten needles down
leaving twenty in the center and then
I’m going to increase ten on each side
so to do the rounding we’ve done six
needles individually one at a time we’re
now going to raise seven and eight
together
knit around on the other side seven and
eight up together and then we’re also
going to do nine and ten up now if
you’re doing a 12 needle reduction you
might do 6 7 8 9 earth excuse me 7 8 9
10 11 12 in pairs for this one it’s only
going to be 7 8 9 and 10 so there’s nine
and 10 up and on the other side 9 and 10
up and that basically completes the
rounding of the heel and the toe now I’m
going to do the exact same thing when I
do my increases I’m going to lower 10
and 9 10 and 9 lower 8 seven together
eight seven together but here comes the
second part of how to do this type of
toe
up to do a magic rap
or a magic nowrap increase now this is
not doing manually wrapping of needles
it’s not doing two down one up or
whatever method you do and there’s a
little trick to it when you put the
needles down if you push them all the
way down the latches will have a
tendency to close and so we’re only
going to push the needles down partway
just so the latch is on the outside of
the yarn right here
now I’m watch as I come around the
latches are going to try to come up but
they’re caught underneath the yarn
carrier and that holds that mopin until
the new yarn can come in be laid into
the hook and then the needle is pulled
down and the latches closed
automatically doesn’t require any manual
or manipulation of any kind here’s on
the other side and you’ll see
so here are seven and eight together
seven and eight complete on the other
side now the big advantage of this type
of increase is the speed and the ease
and the simplicity that it works I’m
going to push down now
one needle at a time for the next six
five four three two one
watch how easy and fast
this type of increases
it’s just that easy now I’ve had some
needles start to rise up I’m going to
put some more heel Forks in
I don’t burn my heel Forks way up near
the top of my cylinder I want the
tension of the pulling down of the forks
to be spread by the knitting itself it
kind of spreads out like this so the
further down the forks are the further
apart the spread of the tension is and
that’s actually a good thing so we now
have one two three four up there’s five
six seven all the way to ten and we’re
now going to continue with the magic no
rep so here’s four four is complete
here’s three three complete now notice
when I took these needles down I do not
push them all the way down then right
there the yarn is or the latch is
sitting just on the outside of the arm
so that when the yarn carrier comes
around the latch is held right down here
by the bottom of the arm carrier and
then the new yarn can go into the hook
and then the latch closes well there’s
two complete
and then we come to the last needle that
we’re going to drop I’m going to drop it
but I’m going to manually wrap this last
needle and the next standing needle now
the reason for doing this on a heel and
toe is to close up that little hole that
will sometimes form right at the edges
but as I come around you notice I
lowered and I wrapped two needles the
last of my increase and the first of the
standing needles now I’m going to come
around to the other side and that’s
where I’m going to stop on a toe
normally you would then lower this one
that last one and you would wrap the
last needle and the first standing
needle and you would continue around
here to the right
well you’re creating another row of
knitting and then you’re gonna put a
Kitchener in that’s an additional row of
knitting and that’s what causes the dog
ears that extra added a row so what I’m
going to do but on this way is I’m
simply going to eliminate one whirl with
knitting then I’m gonna replace it with
the Kitchener so I’ve knitted around my
last needle is dropped on this side it’s
wrapped it comes around to this side I
dropped that needle I’m gonna bring my
working yarn to the inside just as if I
were doing that graft and that is where
I am going to stop so there’s the yarn
on the inside now I’m going to cut my
working yarn and this is so that I can
for my Kitchener bring my yarn carrier
around and I’m going to simply put my
working yarn down inside then I’m going
to bring in my cast off yarn and I want
you to notice when I put in my cast off
yarn I’m going to use a highly
contrasting color yarn I want to be able
to see that’s cast off really easily so
I find where my my project yarn would
have gone the path that it would have
followed and that path is just beyond
that first raised needle I’m going to
hold that and now I’m going to continue
with my knitting and I’m going to knit
this last row in cast on yarn
there we go now you’ll notice here’s my
working yarn and here’s my test off yarn
and that is where it would have normally
done the working yarn would have
normally done where you see the white
cast off yarn so I’m gonna leave those
where they are I’m about to hear some
now I’m going to lower my needles on the
top half of my toe make sure all my
latches are open there we go double
check lashes got one open got one closed
right there
it’s another than the closed right there
and then I’m going to do my cast off
just like you would normally do it so
I’m gonna pull these nice and snug hold
on to them there we go
now I need my cast off I like doing
three or five rows and that gives me a
really nice finish to be able to finish
my cast off go cut my yarn and now I’m
just gonna bring the sock right off okay
remove my heel forks and I’ll see you a
minute and I’m going to show you the
extra added bonus to hip which I’m going
to add absolutely for free
one of the things that I have found a
hardest for most people is figuring out
where to start the Kitchener and where
to end their Kitchener stitch most
people can do the middle portion fairly
easily but it’s always the start and
finish which are difficult so what I’m
going to do is I’m going to show you a
little trick if you remember here’s our
working yarn it’s going to go behind and
wrap behind this stitch and then wrap
behind and then it’s going to come out
right where you see the white cast off
so I’m going to use little knitting
stitch markers to hold those stitches
for me so this is going to be stitch
marker number three then I’m going to go
over and I’m going to find the next
stitch over this is number two please
notice that there are two stitches at
needle number two the next one over this
becomes number one and on the other side
the next one becomes number four so
there you have it one two three and four
stitches now these cannot drop inside
and I can always find them so I’m going
to go ahead and I’m going to thread up a
needle and we’re going to begin all
right I’ve got my needle threaded and
you here’s my cast off yarn and here’s
the sequence I’m going to go in this way
and around stitch number three and I’m
going to come down in number two so here
are my conventions that I use stitch one
two three four if I say in I’m starting
from outside the sock going in and if I
say out I’m going in from here out from
the sock so let’s begin by going in
following the wit the cast-off yarn and
go around number three and in number two
there is those two stitches right there
now if you remember when we did the
other side we pulled just a bit of slack
out of the yarn well here we’re going to
do exactly that same thing I’m going to
go ahead and take the stitch markers out
because they’ve done their work I’m
going to hold on number three
notice now that there are two stitches
at both two and at three and here is
where I’m going to pull that little bit
of slack and you’re going to watch this
little hole right here is just going to
close right up watch okay there it goes
I didn’t quite get it tight so I’m gonna
pull in there it goes there’s my slack
so you can see I’m able to pull the
slack out of the stitch and now I can
pull on the yarn and that will come
right out there we go
it tight and the hole completely
disappears so I went around three in two
out three in four
I’m just following the path of the
cast-off yarn at this point and now I’m
going to cross over to the other side
and I’m going to go out one but I
dropped my yarn so I’m gonna have to
rethread my needle okay
so I’ve come in for I’m now going to go
out one no excuse me a round three in
two out three in four out two and in one
I’m going to put this up on the screen
so you can write it down if you want the
sequence of how you do this and I’m also
kind of I’m working a kind of a
disadvantage I’m trying to show
everybody and I’m doing this very close
it’s kind of awkward for me okay there
we go
so this stitch marker can now come out
this stitch marker can come out and I
can start by snugging this up and you’re
going to see this start to close so yeah
there we go so now we cross over to the
other side and we come out four and we
are done
that’s the beginning of the Kitchener
now I normally do my kitcheners from the
purl side so I’m going to go ahead and
turn this sock inside out
the reason I started on the knit side is
because that’s the same way that you see
the sock on the machine but here I am
purl side and you can see that my end
has already started to close up so I’ve
come out for I follow the path of the
yarn go in the next one come across come
out the next one right there
follow the path of the yarn in and out
and we’re just going to continue this
all the way to the other side now when I
Kitchener notice the reason that I use
the high contrasting yarn you can almost
see it begin to form to wait railroad
tracks and if I do this and I’m very
careful to keep those railroad tracks
parallel my stitches are always the
correct tension so there we go
follow the yarn in the new there we go
in the new across out the old follow the
yarn in the new out the old cross and
I’m going to continue Kitchener II this
toe and then I’ll stop and I’ll come
back and show you how to finish
you
okay we’re back so I’ve got the
Kitchener done almost all the way see my
railroad tracks and I’m right down to my
end I put stitch markers exactly the
same way I did on the other side one two
three four split
that’s my halfway hash mark and you can
see the stitches can’t fall inside and I
can always find them so let’s go ahead
and finish up the Kitchener by the way
doing it this way total elapsed time so
far is right at three and a half minutes
when I’m demoing it takes a little bit
longer but doing it on my own and put it
in my lap and do it in about three and a
half minutes
all right just about to the end trying
to find one stage of trying to drop
inside that’s why we use the stitch
markers come around out that one there
we go
now I’m to this one so I’m just going to
put it through where that stitch marker
is that stitch marker can come out go to
the other side in that stitch marker
that stitch marker can now come out
out there
in this stitch marker this one can can
now come out and getting ready for the
last one there in there’s my double
that’s formed by that wrap that we did
at the first unraised needle now I am
going to do one little extra thing there
we go
closed and I’m gonna come out that one
stitch all I’m really trying to do is
get my yarn to this side so that I can
start to bury it in my knitting and
finish so but before I do that I’m gonna
reverse this and we’ll go ahead and pull
the cast off yarn off and see if the
Kitchener came out well
okay here’s where it starts to go in I
mean this side
grab and pull and it all comes right on
out there we go
and no dog gear at this end no hole no
dog gear at this end and no hole and a
really nice-looking Kitchener on a round
magic no rap no dog gear toe there you
go thanks a lot
