There are times when you would like to add an interesting edge to some knitting. Often this is a lace edge to a shawl or garment. The edging is usually worked at right angles to the main body and attached as you go. As you are working at right angles, this is sometimes referred to as working sideways. There are many different variations dealing with how to attach the sideways edging, here I describe the one I use when I want to hide the seam.
I use this technique in the Dino Boom! hat. If you prefer, you can watch this video, where I walk through attaching the sideways edging to create the hat’s garter stitch brim.
Step 1: Setting up
If you are planning to work the edging on smaller needles than those used for the main part of the knitting, you will need to do some organisation before you start. It is easiest to work this technique when the body stitches and the edge stitches are held on needles of the same size. If you work with interchangeable needles, now is the time to swap them out. If not, transfer the body stitches onto the correct size needle.
Step 2: Know what you are trying to achieve.
You are going to be working the edging at right angles to the main body of knitting. As the edging grows, you will connect it to the main body a stitch at a time. These stitches are connected by knitting the next main body stitch together with the last edging stitch. To hide the seam, this will be done on a wrong side row.Step 3: Wrong side row
Work as pattern specifies to the last stitch. Knit this together this with next main body stitch. If this is the first row you are working, you may want to transfer the last edge stitch to the same needle as the main body stitches to make the k2tog easier to work.
