Quality Control

We've all heard the news about the poor quality in products. Don't you just hate it when you get something and it's not what you expected because of poor quality control? (Read on because there is a little bit of quilt content.)

Quality control is going up around La Casa del Quilter. How? By starting with a lowly pair of socks. I have problems with gussets; there, I've said it. The stitches at the ends of the rows on the heel flaps were tightened up but the problems still persisted. After extensive research, here is how the problem is fixed:

• On the purl row of the flap, slip the first stitch purl-wise with the yarn behind the stitch instead of in front. This essentially wraps the slipped stitch.
• Knit the last stitch in the purl row instead of purling it. This produces a chain effect that is the same as the other side of the heel flap.
• Pick up the stitches in the gusset using a needle that is one-to-two sizes smaller than the rest of the knitting.
• Then after picking up the stitches, knit through the back loop (tbl) so that the stitches will twist and make a tighter join, which also reduces the chance for holes.

Detective work pays off and the gusset looks much neater. The next problem is on the other side of the gusset where the decrease stitches are found. There is a bit of a gap between the decrease stitches and the next knit stitch that a non-knitter probably would not notice, but a knitter would notice. Just remembering to snug the yarn a bit will take care of that problem.

A swap quilt recently came under the quality control scrutiny. The free motion quilting in the negative area between the bamboo and dragonfly was all wrong. By removing all the wrong color and weight thread and then re-quilting using a lighter weight thread in a matching color the design just sang.

Quality: it is something I can control.

*Image from MS Clipart