There was a question on how to knit a half milano stitch on the Facebook machine knitting community, so I'm posting a tutorial on it.
A half milano stitch is consisted of one row of full needle rib and another row of jersey. It can be done across entire rows, but a lot of times it is used to stabilize edges of panels knit in jersey. It is often used along the side edges of scarves or blankets, the center front edges of open front cardigans without plackets, or the opening edges of hoods. I've met a couple people from UK calling this stitch a "semi-double" stitch, but the term "half milano" is more commonly used in the US fashion industry.
OK, here's how you knit it on a machine.
I'm using my Brother standard gauge knitting machine (860 bed + 940 carriage) with a 850 ribber attachment.
**You can click pictures to open them bigger.
Step 1. Cast-on needles in full needle rib setting in half pitch;
Step 2. Knit selvage rows;
Step 3. Transfer needles from the ribber bed to the main bed for the jersey section. Leave needles that would create half milano edging on the ribber bed;
Step 4. Set the main carriage to knit plain jersey and the ribber carriage to skip when it's moving from left to right by lifting right cam lever. Also set the tension of the ribber bed slightly looser than that of the main bed. (I used fingering weight hand knitting yarn, and set tension to 6 on the main carriage and 8 on the ribber carriage). 
Step 5. Move carriage from right to left to knit a full needle rib row;
Step 6. Move carriage from left to right to knit a jersey row on the main bed and skip needles on the ribber bed;
That's it! Happy knitting!
14 comments:
Brillant, this will help with baby blankets.
i am a learner but my arm is sore from hand knitting ,as the blankets are for the Local Hospital.
Great tip, very achievable.
Buenísimo gracias
This is brilliant, can you tell me how you achieve it on the Passap please?
For Passap I'd do it backwards, with the main knitting on the front bed and the edge stitches on the back. Front lock set to N for normal knitting, and back lock set to BX with both arrow keys. When the lock is at the right, make sure the corresponding pushers are out of work. It should knit the back bed stitches from right to left, but then push the pushers down from left to right.
I think that'll work. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds right :P good luck!
Thanks Tyler for the tip for the Passap users! :)
Is it possible to use a punch card to pattern the center section? Say, to do tuck stitch with half milano edges?
Hi Elizabeth,
You can disregard my previous comment. I thought you were asking about jacquard type of punch card patterns.
I think you should be able to do the tuck stitch while doing this edge, since that you do on the ribber side determines the stitch.
You may need to use the cams to stop the patterns before hitting the edging stitches.
Mmmm.... I think that I will have to experiment a bit. I have a feeling that the cams for my machine (Silver Reed SK280) may only work for fair isle, despite what the manual seems to suggest.
Please keep me posted how it goes. If I have a chance to experiment before you do, I'll let you know:)
Great information and photos thankyou. Cheers, Shirley in Australia
Great information and photos thankyou. Cheers, Shirley in Australia
Hi
Thanks for shoving this Milan edges 😊 I am happy to finding this.
I just saw your pictures and I counted the stitch and found 7 14 7 stitches, is it always 7 edge stitch no matter of how many middle stitches or is it always divided by 4.
I hope you understands my question, I am a lady from Denmark and my English is rusty, many years went since I was at school.
Thanks from Sussi in Denmark
Hi Sussi,
The edge stitch can be any number of stitches you want, but if you want to add the half milano stitch to prevent the edge from rolling, it should be wide enough to make the edge stable enough. The actual width for that would be different depending on the stitch, tension and the size of the panel, so you may need to experiment with it. :)
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