- [Kristen] Have you tried to make a loom knit miter
but maybe yours didn't come out perfect?
Maybe it looked something like this
where it's too long on two ends and totally fine over here.
What happened?
Well, it's your ratio.
So, whether you wanna make a solid or a striped,
we actually have a calculator for you today.
And we're gonna walk through how to make this.
It determines what your ratio needs to be for your loom
and your yarn that you use,
and it shows you which of three patterns
that you need to work with.
So we'll show you how to use the calculator.
I'll go over the patterns just for a moment.
And another video will show you exactly what to do
on making yours.
Welcome to GoodKnit Kisses.
We're all about helping you stitch your love
and love your stitches.
The traditional needle knit miter square
involves casting on two sides of your square
and gradually working decreases to the center
to shorten each side to create a perfect square.
On the loom, the size of the knit and purl stitches
isn't always the same,
so it can be tricky to get a perfect square until now.
Using our loom knit mitered square calculator
and the pattern that is down in the links below,
you can be confident your square will turn out perfectly.
This pattern includes multiple set of instructions
to help make that perfect square,
depending upon your loom choice and gauge.
So here is our pattern here,
and we've got that down in the links below.
But our calculator, when you click on here,
it will go to a website.
Let's go to that right now.
Okay, so here is our website.
You're going to use some measurements by making a swatch.
Yes, you're going to have to make a swatch.
Yes, I had to do it too. (laughs)
Now you may have an item
that you have already made a swatch for.
You already know what yarn it is and what loom you used.
Maybe you took really good notes.
Not everybody does that.
So, I recommend going ahead and making a swatch.
You are going to need to measure the entire size of it
and count all the stitches in it
and how many rows are in it.
So, if it's a nice square piece,
even it's a big, giant rectangle,
you can just go ahead and take measurements
from something existing,
or you can go ahead and knit up another one.
So, I've knit this little piece here,
and then I'm also going to plug in notes from this one,
as well as two other ones,
depending upon your yarn and gauge,
because it will make a difference
in having to do a different pattern.
So we'll get into that in just a moment.
So for now, just kind of follow along with me
and then test this out on your own by making a swatch.
This one right here, I used Red Heart Chic Sheep yarn,
and I cast it on 24 stitches onto my all-in-one loom.
It's a 3/8 small gauge loom, okay?
And then I knit until it was a little over,
about four and 1/2 inches.
And I worked it until it was 60 rows, okay?
So let's go down here
and we're just gonna look at our calculator.
It says, using some measurements for your swatch,
this calculator will recommend the number of stitches
to cast on, how often to work your decreases,
in order to ensure your finished project is actually square.
The swatch information uses your gauge swatch,
this one right here, to calculate in this information.
So below you can enter inch measurements
to the nearest eighth
or centimeters to the nearest millimeter,
and note the width and length measurements of the swatch
are the entire swatch, okay,
not including cast-on and bind-off.
So here I used a double e-wrap method.
So I measured right above where that e-wrap method is,
all the way to here for my rows.
And I measured the width to
the biggest width that I got here, okay.
And then I knew how many I cast it on,
and then I counted how many rows I did.
So those are the main numbers that you need.
So you can use this chart right here
for calculating and converting your inches into decimals.
Okay, that's if you're working with inches, again,
if your millimeters just go to the nearest millimeter.
And you type in either one of the width
into this little cell right here.
So, let's say I'm going to type in the one for my swatch.
I got four and 7/8.
Okay, so I say 4.875, 4.875, all right?
And then my length, okay, I got four and 1/2, so I say 4.5.
Then I'm going to enter the number of stitches
across the whole swatch, type in 24.
And then the number of rows that I did, I got 60, okay?
And then we're gonna scroll
and it automatically puts in this number here,
the stitches per inch and the rows per inch.
That's just for your information.
You can screenshot this if you need to for your records
or just write it down in your notes.
And it tells you that your ratio is two to seven,
okay, 2:7, okay?
And then down here it says mitered square information.
This is where you're gonna put in
what you want for your width
in order to get the cast-on numbers.
So you can't get the cast-on until you put that in.
So let's say I wanted to make an eight-inch swatch,
like the one behind me here.
So I'm just gonna put in eight,
or you put in your millimeters, and then scroll.
And we crunch all the data and it says cast-on 77 stitches
and the mitered square pattern,
you're going to use the mitered square pattern number two.
Okay, so we'll get to what numbers those are in a moment.
So let's say I wanted to change it.
Maybe I don't want to make my squares four inches.
All I have to do is come back to this eight and delete that,
and put in four and it automatically changes it
to 39 stitches to cast-on.
Now it's still the same pattern
because of the gauge of the loom you're using
and the gauge of the yarn you're using
with your own tension for when you're making your stitches.
All right?
Let's do another one.
Now you don't have to clear out all of these cells.
You can just change them as you need to.
So I'm gonna go up here to width of whole swatch,
and I'm gonna put in, let's delete this one.
And we're gonna put in one that was made with a Kiss Loom.
It's a small gauge 3/8 loom with Vanna's Choice yarn.
And this was 5.5 or five and 1/2 stitches
or five and 1/2 inches wide.
And then the length of the whole swatch was four inches.
So I need to delete that and put in just four, okay.
So there's four.
And then number of stitches across, they did 22.
So, just put in 22.
Number of rows, it is 21 rows, all right.
And then it tells me my stitches per inch and rows per inch.
And my ratio is one-to-three, okay?
And then come down to mitered square information.
And let's say, I want to do an eight inch.
I'm just gonna put in eight.
And then it says that I need a cast-on 63 stitches.
It's always going to be an odd number.
You'll see that when you get into the patterns.
But notice this now says
we need to use the mitered square pattern number one.
Okay, so you'll wanna make note of those changes.
Let's do one that comes out to
mitered square number three, there's only three of them.
This one was using a CinDWood 1/2 inch gauge loom
with the same Vanna's Choice yarn, okay?
So you'll just see a different gauge here.
And the width of this swatch was six inches,
and the length was four and 1/2.
So I've already got the four in there,
let's just add the .5,
and the number of stitches, she also, she or he,
I don't remember who it was,
did 22 stitches wide and then made 49 rows, okay.
So we're plugging in all those things.
Here's our stitches per inch, our rows per inch.
And our ratio is 3.0, okay.
Then we scroll down to mitered square information.
If I left this number eight in here,
it tells me that I need a cast-on 57 stitches.
Let's see if I did it at four inches.
Now it made it 29 cast-on.
Either way, this is all gonna be using
a mitered square pattern number three.
So, whatever ratio you put in all of your numbers,
it will crunch to one of those three options.
If it's option number one,
it's going to be a one-to-one traditional miter,
just like the needle pattern.
So, let's jump over, I just wanna briefly go over
these three patterns and why there's a difference.
And here on the pattern, if we jump over to the notes here,
are saying that your loom choice,
you can make a mitered square on any loom.
There is a non-adjustable loom,
like this is called a fixed loom
where you can't change where the pegs are.
And then there is an adjustable loom
where you can put in a one-peg slider.
If you use the one-peg slider,
whether it's on the knitting board loom
or the CinDWood that has the little wedge or slider,
or the Kiss that has the one peg,
any one of those, or ones that allow you to do that,
are going to let you do this traditional type of piece
with a central double decrease.
If you use the fixed loom,
we have an alternate to that pattern using SSK and K2Tog
to help you move those stitches around.
So we actually have them written both ways.
So just wanna jump over and show you.
So, this page here,
it shows we have the traditional mitered squares,
we have square one.
And that is going to be a one-to-one ratio
where you're decreasing on every knit row.
Okay, so that's the decreases.
It's going to be the same,
whether you're on adjustable loom,
or you're going to be on a non-adjustable loom.
It's just that on the adjustable one,
the center double decrease is going to be in.
Let me jump over to the alternate one.
Okay, so that alternate mitered square
has you doing the same decreases on row two,
where you're actually decreasing on a knit row,
but it's written as a K2Tog, that's knit two together,
and then knit one, which is the center, and then SSK,
which is your Slip Slip Knit.
Okay, so you make a left and right leaning decrease
or right and left leaning decrease, and then continue on.
So it's all one-to-one.
It's just written different for that one,
so that you can move stitches over.
And that's the basic difference.
All right, let's discuss the number two
and the number three squares.
Okay, so the difference in the two,
the reason why you're not making it every other row
is because your ratio is different.
So this one actually has to decrease,
it makes an odd size,
so you decrease on four out of the 10 rows.
Okay, so you have a decrease on row two and four,
and then you work a few rows,
and then you decrease on rows seven and nine, okay.
And then you repeat that process
after you've worked 10 rows.
And you just continue on
until you have three stitches at the end.
If you go to the miter number, square number three,
that one is odd, and that one decrease every third row.
Okay, so decrease on every third row
and on the number three and on the number two.
Because of those, you'll have decreases
that are purling a decrease or knitting a decrease, okay.
But the traditional miter never decreases on a purled row.
So that's the basic difference in those patterns.
Whether you're doing a solid or a stripe,
you're gonna do all of them the same way.
Just a quick tip on the stripes, if you're changing colors,
the only difference is
you're just going to be changing colors on knit rows.
Whether you're decreasing them or not,
never change a color on a purl row.
All right, so one last thing, I do wanna show you
how I measure the swatch
in case you are not familiar with it.
So here is my swatch.
I'm using a hard ruler.
I recommend that versus a fabric ruler,
which can get stretched out.
But you can go ahead and use this.
But if you have a hard ruler, I suggest it.
I'm just gonna measure across.
This is kind of just hand-blocked out.
This is in garter stitch pattern, if you're wondering,
where it's all knit in purls.
Put my stitches all the way up, or my ruler all the way up
against the last stitch here, okay,
'cause that line counts on that edge.
And go all the way across,
and then we're going all the way to the largest part here,
which is right here.
If you're not used to counting it, these longer lines here,
not the smallest ones, but the longer lines here
are all eighths.
So we're gonna say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
This is 7/8, so that's how I got my 4.75,
or 4.875, I should say.
And then when I want to measure my rows,
I go down here and I go right above where my cast-on row is,
and then I measure all the way up to the top.
And then this green yarn up here,
this is just a provisional bind-off
where you just put scrap yarn through
all those top stitches.
You don't actually have to bind off; it's faster.
And then I'm just gonna measure here and I get four and 1/2.
So that's where I got my 4.5.
And then I know I had 22 stitches or 24 stitches wide
and 60 rows long.
Well, I hope that's helped you today
and understand the basics
of getting those three patterns on your knitting.
And if you need further help in actually making them,
we will have another video how to make the solid
and how to negotiate all those different stitches
on working with our looms.
And then the next video will be on stripes
the following week.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Happy looming.
Thanks for joining us today,
where we help you stitch your love and love your stitches.
See you again soon.
(jazzy piano music outro)