=5. How to Cast Off Knitting from the Rake.=
1. Leave a length of yarn, when cutting off the ball, long enough to knit once across the rake.
Beginning at the opposite end of the rake, with a large knitting needle lift a stitch first from one row of nails and then from the other until all the stitches are on the needle.
Then cast off as in ordinary knitting. (See directions in any book on knitting.)
2. Another way is to take off the stitch from the first nail with a crochet hook, then the stitch from the first nail in the other row, and draw this one through the stitch already on the hook. Then take off the next and draw it through the stitch on the hook, and so on until all the stitches have been crocheted from the rake.[3]
It will be found that sometimes, with certain yarns, this makes a very tight edge. In this case it is better to use the length of yarn left hanging, and having lifted off two stitches, instead of drawing the second through the first, draw a loop of the yarn through both, leaving this loop on the hook. (This is called a slip stitch.) Take off the next stitch and repeat. Continue until all the stitches have been crocheted from the rake.
[3] Be sure always to take a stitch first from one row of nails and then from the other.
=6. How to Take Up the Loose Stitches at the Beginning of the Knitting.=
Examine a piece of knitting that has just been cast off the rake.
It will be observed that the last row is much tighter than the first.
To take up these loose stitches at the beginning, crochet once across, using the slip stitch described in paragraph 2 of section 5 of this chapter.
Use one strand of yarn and a short darning or tapestry needle. Match the stitches, take up one thread on each side, and do not draw the yarn too tightly.
Cast stitches off two to six nails, depending on the size of the buttonhole to be made, beginning at the sixth nail from the edge. Add these nails again in the very next row of knitting.
Crochet around the buttonholes with a single stitch or finish with a buttonhole stitch, using one strand of yarn.
Loops may be made instead of buttonholes by crocheting along the edge to be fastened, leaving loops of chain-stitch long enough to go over the button.