This month, we’re celebrating the folded hem, the first technique from Confident Knitting, shown off in all its tidy glory in Martina Behm’s versatile Flux Hand Warmers.

And while the folded hem is, of course, our “official” focus this month, we’ll never pass up an opportunity to help you wring every last drop of learning out of a project! So today, we have two bonus video tutorials to accompany Martina’s spring-y hand warmers!

The first is a guide for the pattern’s suggested gusset increases. Martina’s opted for mirrored lifted increases, worked purlwise to meld into the gusset’s reverse stocking stitch. In this short video, I show you how to work these right and left leaning increases purlwise: Purlwise Lifted Increases for the Flux Hand Warmers (YouTube link).

With your gusset sorted, only a bit of twisted rib stands between you and warmed up hands! Casting off in rib, though, can be a bit of a challenge. You don’t want to lose all the stretch you’ve created by choosing a too-firm cast-off edge. You can simply cast off loosely in pattern using a larger needle, or you can try out a deliberately stretchy cast off. In this video, I demonstrate Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off. It’s particularly nice as it’s easy to adjust for 1x1, 2x2 or any other rib permutation you might be working! This cast off works a treat for the hands and thumbs of the Flux Hand Warmers, but it’s also an excellent choice for toe-up socks, top-down hats, necks … any situation where you want to make sure your cast off edge stays stretchy! Check out the Stretchy Cast Off tutorial on YouTube.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these bonus tutorials and they’ve given you some options to add to your knitting tool kit. Options are great, but it’s important to remember they are just that: options! So perhaps you’ll give the lifted increases a go and love them, or maybe you’ll decide your trusty make one (or insert your favourite increase method here!) is actually what you’d like to use for the gusset. Maybe Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off will be a revelation for you, or maybe you’ll decide you prefer a sewn tubular cast off. We all knit a bit differently, so different techniques will suit us best. Part of becoming a more confident knitter is learning new techniques to add to our mental reference library. But just as important is having the confidence to decide whether we want to use them!

If you’d like to join the Confident Knitting fun, you can purchase the programme over in the online shop, where you’ll also find the yarn kits and plenty of Zauberball Crazies for the first project, the Flux Hand Warmers. When you purchase, you’ll immediately receive the Flux Hand Warmers pattern and the photo tutorial for the folded hem, as well as eleven more patterns and photo tutorials as they’re released. And we’ve got a lively knitalong celebrating the folded hem over in The Knitalong Hub! Any project featuring the technique is welcome, and no purchase is necessary to join!