I’ve preached a lot about the merits of the vertical button band over the years, even though I’ve only actually done it myself a couple of times. But when I was writing the Anna Vest pattern (and knitting its predecessor), I knew with absolute certainty it needed to have a vertical band. The opposite of this would be a picked-up button band, where you pick up stitches along the front edge(s) of your cardigan and then work those stitches in garter stitch or 2×2 ribbing or whatever the pattern might call for. That’s simpler and faster to do, but it also creates a less firm band and contributes to the problem of the band gaping when it’s buttoned. Vertical bands, by contrast, are knitted on small needles in 1×1 ribbing, which is very dense and thus creates a nice firm band. There are a couple of downsides. The first is you have to knit it, and if you think 50-ish inches of 1×1 ribbing doesn’t sound that bad — I mean, it’s only 11 stitches wide, in this case — let me point out to you that’s a full 50g skein of yarn. It’s a lot of knitting, I’m being honest here. Second is you have to seam it on, and again, that’s a long stretch of seam. But as I believe anyone who’s completed their Anna will tell you, it is 100% worth it.

STEP ONE is to get the sweater ready for its band. You need to have knitted the fronts and back, blocked all of the pieces to the pattern dimensions, and seamed them together, so you’ve got a finished neckline. (If you’re doing a crewneck cardigan with two separate, straight fronts, you could feasibly do those without having seamed the shoulders together. Arms or armhole edging can be done either before or after the band — they’re not relevant to this process.) You want to make sure to block the pieces first because you want the length of the pieces to have been finalized so you’re matching your band to the finished dimensions. Also, while blocking, pay extra attention to the neckline edge stitches — the flatter you can get them to lay, the easier this will be.

STEP TWO is to knit the band(s). In the case of a V-neck sweater like this, you’ve got one continuous band that runs up one side, around the back of the neck, and down the other side. A vertical band like this is a lot like a bias strip in sewing — it’s stretchy and can be manipulated to match the length of the fabric you’re attaching it to. So my recommendation is not to knit to a finished length, but rather to knit to within range of the end and keep those stitches live for the moment. You can finish it up once the rest of the band is seamed on so you can knit it to the precise length your knitting and seaming calls for.

STEP THREE is to line them up, ready to seam. Because we’re leaving the exact length of the band TBD, it’s necessary to start with the lower right front edge of the band, so you can knit the button holes for that side of the garment, then carry on with plain 1×1 for as long as it takes to fit the edge. I’ve also written Anna so that the first stitch on each RS row is slipped with yarn in front, then knitted on the wrong side. This creates a really nice, attractive, smooth edge for the side of the band that remains visible (see top left photo above). The opposite edge of the band is in stockinette (as is the body edge it’s joined to), for the sake of easy seaming. So the band has a definite right and wrong side, and you want to make sure you’ve got it lined up that way.

Note, too, how the buttonholes line up with the right front piece, above. I’ve left a removable marker in each front piece where the shaping began, and you can see the top buttonhole sits just below that spot.

STEP FOUR is to start seaming! When you go to pick up that first bar in the bottom of the band, make sure you’re between the edge stitch and the adjacent knit stitch. You should be able to count five full knit stitches (five V’s) to the right of your tapestry needle, plus the slipped edge stitch. Try not to use black yarn your first time! And do this sober and in good light.

Now here’s the trick. This is plain old mattress stitch. (There are good tutorials at Kelbourne Woolens, Purl Soho and Knitting Help, if you need it.) However, typically with mattress stitch you’re joining two pieces of identical fabric, as you  are in Anna’s case at the side seams. Normally, you have an identical number of rows of knitting, and they’re of the same gauge, blocked to the same dimension — so it’s a direct 1-to-1 equation. With a button band, that’s not true. You’ve specifically knitted the band on smaller needles, which means tighter row gauge — more rows per inch than what you have on the body pieces you’re seaming to — so it’s no longer 1-to-1. What that means is you have to lay them flat next to each other, use your judgment, and work back and forth picking up whichever bar is directly across from the one you just picked up, which most likely will mean skipping one every few rows along the straight parts of the front, and easing them together as makes sense along the slopes. (The outer lane of a racetrack is longer than the inner one. So you’ll need to allow more band fabric along the front curves.)

Getting started is the hardest part, and you should expect it to take several tries before you find your rhythm with it. The beauty of mattress stitch — especially at the start of the seam — is that to pull it out, all you have to do is yank on one end. As long as you haven’t split the yarn anywhere along the way, it slides right out!

If your ratio is off, and you are in effect joining too much band fabric to the corresponding body fabric, it’ll shove out of alignment like you see in the top photo above. Try again, picking up fewer rows and keeping them adjacent rather than sequential, and you’ll wind up with the bottom version.

It definitely requires some patience and persistence, so just be mentally prepared for that and not in a hurry. Once you get past those first few rows or inches, you’ll pick up speed and see your joinery improving. When you get to the back of the neck, where you’re joining the band horizontally to vertical stitches, you want to run your needle under both legs of each stitch (the whole V). And when you reach the lower left front, where you left off knitting your band, you’ll have a much better idea of how close you are to the right length. Knit a little bit, seam it on; knit a little more; until you’ve got exactly the length you need.

You may get so much better as you go that you decide to start again and really nail it. Because, after all, you’ve put this much effort into knitting this garment and this band. You’ll never regret taking the time to get it right!

p.s. There’s no schedule for the Anna Vest Knitalong, so join in anytime! Just use hashtag #annavestkal wherever you might post!

p.p.s. This yarn is Terra from The Fibre Company/Kelbourne Woolens

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PREVIOUSLY in the Anna Vest Knitalong: A sampling of Annas

Hi, all — happy Anna Vest Knitalong kickoff day! As promised, today’s post is a tutorial on how to knit inset pockets, but just a few things before we get to that:

Please review the introduction before getting started on the knitalong, as there is some pattern errata and other important details. And please also read through the Techniques section at the beginning of the pattern, which contains all sorts of useful tips. Several people have mentioned this will be their first time knitting a garment, and I think it’s a great place to start. It is not a lot of knitting, not very complicated, but will teach you some very valuable skills, especially with regard to finishing. And you get to knit inset pockets! I also think it’s helpful that this vest is knitted in Andalusian Stitch, which is a really simple knits-and-purls stitch pattern, very easily memorized, that also makes it super easy to see where you are in the pattern and ensure you’re doing things on the right row, and so on. And if you post in the comments here and/or use the hashtag #annavestkal on Instagram, you’ll have me and the rest of the group to help you if you run into any trouble!

Ok, now about this tutorial. We’re working here with the Anna Vest pattern. Pictured above are the two front pieces. On the left of the photo is the right front of the vest, which already has its pocket. And on the right of the photo is the left front of the vest, which is ready for the pocket to be created, along with the pocket lining hanging out on a DPN. So those are the two pieces we’re working with below. Note that the pattern calls for the pocket to be knitted in stockinette stitch, which gives a very subtle contrast between the body and the pocket lining. For my black Anna (yarn is Fibre Co. Terra from my stash) and for this tutorial, I’ve opted to knit the pocket lining in Andalusian Stitch, same as the body. Hopefully that will make it even easier for you to see when we’re working with the front or back of the fabric as we go through these simple steps. You can knit your pocket in either stitch, your preference, or even knit the lining in a contrasting color if you like! So here we go—

STEP ONE: CREATE THE POCKET EDGING

This pocket has a ribbed top edge, so basically we just knit the front piece of the sweater until we get to where we want to create that ribbing. In the Anna pattern, on row 23 (a RS row) I have you place markers as you work across the row, delineating the 21 pocket stitches (pictured above, top left). For the next few rows, you maintain the body stitch pattern as established, while knitting 1×1 ribbing between the markers (above, top right). Then it’s time to bind off the top edge of the pocket, i.e., the stitches between the markers (above), which is done on a RS row. Drop the markers as you encounter them, and when you’re done, double check that you’ve bound off the correct number of pocket stitches by confirming that you still have the right stitch counts on either side. (I’m knitting the second size, so I have 12 sts on one side and 14 on the other.) Note that they’re all resting on the needle, with the bound-off gap in the middle.

The next row, the join row, is a WS row, so go ahead and turn your work — and that means both the body and the pocket lining. For the next step you should be looking at the back side of both pieces.

STEP TWO: ATTACH THE POCKET LINING

Here’s where it’s handy if you’ve knitted the pocket lining on a DPN and just left it there, ready to be worked with. At this point, all you do is purl across the first set of stitches on the working needle, then across the pocket lining stitches, then across the second set of stitches on the working needle. (Take care to pull those stitches tight when you’re jumping from the main needle to the DPN, and back.) And voilà, your pocket lining it attached! From this point forward, you just carry on with the body in the established stitch pattern. Here’s how it looks from the front after knitting the next couple of rows:

Easy, right?

Note that the pocket lining doesn’t become a pocket until you sew it down. Until then it’s just a flap, flapping around on the back of your knitting. To keep it secure and prevent any strain at the join, I like to take a few removable stitch markers and just pin it to the body (pictured above).

You can go ahead and attach it if you like or, to take the more cautious approach, wait until the pieces have been blocked, and then do the seaming. To attach it, you simply whipstitch one stitch at the edge of the pocket to the adjacent purl bump on the body, and do that on every other row. Then work across the bottom of the pocket in similar fashion. As noted in the Anna pattern, the Andalusian Stitch pattern makes it easy to identify a straight column of stitches to work with, but you might still find it helpful to slide a small-gauge DPN down through the purl bumps on every other row of the body, making it easy to see which stitches you’re whipstitching into. (Or Cocoknits has a good tutorial on this using waste yarn instead of a DPN.)

Ok, let’s get knitting! If you’re doing the knitalong, be sure to use hashtag #annavestkal wherever you post, so everyone can see!

(Stitch markers and pouch from Fringe Supply Co., of course.)