Knitted Hem Tutorial

I don't think that I'm a great knitter, but I do say that I'm a decent knitter. This is largely owing to the fact that I've been knitting long enough to make a lot of whoop-ups of epic proportions, giving me several handy tools for fixing-the-mistake-that-shouldn't-have-been-made-in-the-first-place.

One mistake that I seem to be constantly making is on the bottom hem of a sweater. Normally the lower hem, if more than an inch, should be knit with smaller needles (or fewer stitches) to keep the hem from ballooning out. I, however, am usually so excited to get to the fun part of the sweater that I totally forget this crucial point.

Thankfully this can be remedied. To do so, carefully cut off the bottom hem, trying to stay in the same row of stitches.
Remove any little bits of loose yarn that might remain and unravel one row to ensure a clean row to work with. Pick up the live loops with your needles (hopefully this time remembering to go down one or two needle sizes!), and work the ribbing or hem of your choice. Once the hem is finished, just cast off the stitches, being extra careful to keep the cast off very loose so it has enough stretch.
That's it! This trick is also handy to use when the sweater is not long enough and you need to add some length to a sweater that's worked bottom up.

(Note: I've added the link to this post to the sidebar under "Tutorials" in case you need to find it later, or, in my case, I forget yet again to use the right needle size and need a refresher course.)