Smocking Tutorial

Smocking! It's one of the design features of my upcoming pattern for the chunky billed cap I designed for Tanya, and as it's not a super common technique, and my husband took such lovely close ups of my knitting hands, I'd like to share a tutorial here, just for you.

Smocking is a method of gathering two or more columns of stitches into a slightly pinched bunch, and looks like this --> 

It can be achieved a couple different basic ways. One is to create an elongated extra stitch to lay across the front of your smocked stitches. This stitch is then worked together with the first stitch in the smocked group to keep your stitch count the same. It also results in a slightly slanted smock, since the elongated stitch gets pulled upwards to be put on the needle.

Another method, the one I'll be detailing here and the one used in the Tanya cap at right, uses the working yarn to wrap around your smocked stitches before continuing on with the rest of your row. Because this doesn't create an extra stitch, there's no need to work any decreases before you continue, and the smock is perfectly straight.

In this example, I'm smocking 3 stitches together. First I'll show this using an extra cable needle to separate out my stitches to be smocked, and then I'll show you how to move the stitches back and forth to achieve the same end result if you don't have a cable needle, or just don't feel like digging one out.

Smocking With a Cable Needle

 1. Knit the stitches to be smocked. In this case, there are three. Transfer those stitches from the right needle to a cable needle. Your working yarn should be to the left of your stitches, since they have already been worked for this row.

 2. Bring your yarn to the front and wrap it left-to-right across the front of your stitches. Continue wrapping around the back until you've made a full circle.

3. Wrap the yarn once more so that you have two loops of yarn wrapped around your stitches. Transfer the stitches on the cable needle back onto the right needle and continue on with the rest of your row!

Don't pull too hard on the yarn - you only want the smocked stitches to look a little pinched, not strangled.

Smocking Without a Cable Needle - or, the Back and Forth method

 1. Knit the stitches to be smocked just like in the above method. Then, keeping the working yarn in front, transfer them back to the left needle.

2. Wrap the yarn left-to-right across the front of your stitches and move the yarn to the back.

3. Transfer the stitches back to the right hand needle and bring the yarn to the front. (Sorry, no picture of this, will try to get one.)

 4. Repeat steps 2 for your second loop.

5. And finally, move the stitches back to your right needle again so that you can continue on with the rest of your row.

Again, try to avoid strangling your stitches!