How do you separate sts in knitting?

Question

it says in my pattern to separate sts. for font (40 sts) and back (48 sts).[I have 88 on my needle at the moment] How do you separate the sts? any help would be greatly appreciated and if anyone knows of a video clip that would be even better
Thanks

Answer 1

The instruction is asking you to mark the front from the back of the work. The simplest way to do this to use a stitch marker. If you don't have a stitch marker, make a loop from yarn with a contrasting color and slip this loop into your needle after 40 stitches and slip another loop after 48 stitches. As you knit along to the loop, DO NOT knit into this loop. Just slip the loop over to the other needle.

Answer 2

Yes, you are right, most instructions say to cast-on, divide and join. And we all are supposed to know what that means. For each of us, there are different ways to do this. They are all correct -- if they work. One method works for me, and another for you. I will cast-on all stitches on one needle -- a long straight, or a circular (holds more stitches). I then transfer them to the double points. If knitting a circle, I prefer to put it on 4 needles; 3 is too awkward for me, but you do what you like best. I will lay them down on the table as I move them to the double points (just to keep them in order). I make sure all the stitches have the edge facing downwards. The yarn from the ball is attached on the right; the needle on the far right will have 4 fewer stitches, and the needle on the far left will have 4 more (explained later). Then I simply move the two points of the very outside needles downwards (I call this "making a frown"). Bring these points together forming the circle. Now pick up these two needles (not too high, keeping the others still supported on the table), and knit 4 stitches from the left needle to the right. Be sure that the first two stitches are fairly snug so there is no gap between the stitches where you joined them. And then you just continue on the next needle and around and around. Place a marker at the join (you can see where the tail from the cast-on is), which will be in the middle of a needle. I prefer the start of a round in the middle so I don't get a gap. You may have a different method of working -- that is up to you. That first round is sometimes quite awkward, but if I work on a flat surface, there is no danger of anything falling off, and nothing gets away from me. I find that the "frown" works better -- some will do a "smile" and that means your work will be inside out, and can create problems later on. You always are working on the side of the circle nearest you, not on the opposite side. If you find the join too hard to do, you can knit the first 3-4 rows flat, making a small band. Then I find joining much easier. If you are doing ribbing, do all the ribbing band back and forth, and then join. There is a short seam to do, but use the tail for that, and it will be undetectable. You can use this method with circular needles as well. There are a couple other ways to do this, but this might be the simplest for you. Once you have done this twice, you will have no problem at all. It will be automatic. Honest!

Answer 3

The question is, "what comes next?" If you are going to be working just the front or just the back for a while, you might be best off transferring the unneeded stitches onto a stitch holder or onto a piece of waste thread (tie the ends together so the thread doesn't slide out.



You can keep the resting stitches on the needle as the others suggest, but as the section you are working gets longer, this may become awkward.



A common reason for dividing like that is to insert arm holes, in which case you'd work the front by itself for a while, and the back by itself for a while, then join front to back again when you reach the other side or else just bind off for the shoulder.

Answer 4

put the first 40sts onto one needle then put the other 48sts onto another needle.

Now you can work on whichever set of sts you need to and not get so confused