While I was working on my latest sock design, I began to pay particular attention to my color change where NA(needle A) and NB (needle B) meet as I start a new round. Normally, I make this back seam design lie in the center of NA, but this time I decided to put it at the beginning of the round. Why? Since these few stitches involve changing colors more often, it forms a firmer, less stretchy surface; therefore it is a great place to hide and secure any loose floats that happen to be hanging around. By working your extra yarn across to this area, from either side, you can tuck them under and stitch them down, with no one the wiser.
Below is a photo of the area in question.
You will notice that there are 5 red stitches between 2 black ones, this is the center back pattern of my Nordic Rose knee high. These stitches are riding on NA. NB is laying on the counter to the right, with its cord pulled across the surface of the knitting to the left. You can see how this move frees up the stitches to lie closely together, just as if you would be working on a straight needle. However, there is another move that is just as important, freeing the stitches at the other end of needle A to ride on the needle tip. See photo below.
You can see that I have pushed the stitches onto the needle tip so that they might ride smoothly on the needle itself and NOT on the cord. With these two moves completed, I can make a smooth transition when starting my next round, eliminating any loose stitch at the beginning.
I use the same procedure when I make the transition from NA to NB in the middle of the chart.
Give it a try!
Happy knitting!
KT
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