A Closer Look at Knitting Charts

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here and there are already many great resources available for reading knitting charts. Two of my favorites for covering the basics and beyond are from Knotions and Tin Can Knits. Here are links to both: https://knotions.com/knoted/tutorial-read-knitting-chart/  and https://blog.tincanknits.com/2014/06/06/how-to-read-a-knitting-chart/

Or this video is a very clear look at beginning chart reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytbcX5R6G98

For a more in depth look at reading charts I also like this from Brooklyn Tweed: https://www.brooklyntweed.com/reading-charts/

Instead of hashing back over things that many others have already presented really well, in this post I want to offer some quick examples of charts from some of my designs. Basically a knitting chart gives you a visual or graphic representation of written instructions telling you how to work the stitches in your pattern.

Here below are examples of some of the cables used in my designs with each of the sample knits shown next to their charts. From this you can start to see how a chart mimics the fabric (or the knitting mimics the chart if you prefer it that way).

 

 

In each of the above samples, the chart is shown next to the cable or cables it “describes”. And if you pull back a bit and let your eyes fuzz, many knitters can almost see the way the knit fabric will look by imagining the knit stitches as the white squares of the chart and the the purl stitches as the dark squares (usually denoted by a dot or a dash and sometimes shaded grey depending on designer preferences or charting software).

And now below is a second look at the side-by-side of the cable shown next to the chart that represents it, this time with directional arrows added. The first two examples I’ve only added lines to the chart since they are basic cables. I added lines to the knitting of the the third example since it is a braid which makes it slightly harder to see.

 

 

 

I intentionally did not include lace charts in the above samples because reading lace charts (even while squinting to blur things a bit) is not as intuitive to me as reading cable charts. I work from lace charts instead of written directions almost exclusively because it is faster to translate the picture of a stitch to the motion of my fingers while knitting, but I’ll be honest that the first time or two through a lace chart I have to simply trust the magic instead of intuitively understanding how the fabric will look. I am absolutely certain there are knitters out there for whom the complete opposite is true so I’m including a couple of knit lace samples here below next to their charts just in case you are one of those people and these next two side-by-side samples give you the moment of clarity you need to see how it all pulls together.

 

 

For my designs the lace or cable is almost always written and charted so that knitters can pick to follow whichever directions are more intuitive for them. If space allows, I’ll even include the written directions next to the chart for added clarity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pattern Spotlight: Bolero Cowl

Published in late 2016 the Bolero Cowl combines basic stitches to evoke the lovely slides and twists of the dance.

 

Cables are written and charted. Bolero Cowl is perfect for a quick and easy gift as well as a good introduction to textured knitting.

The Bolero Cowl is available through Ravelry, Knit Picks and LoveKnitting!

Designing: Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible

 

I purchased this book in April of 2018. I under enough deadlines when it arrived that I placed it on my bookshelf without much more than a glance. Just recently I’ve had the time and mental space to pull it out again and really look through it.

Now that I’ve had a chance to really look, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book!! You know how the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes after he sees something he hadn’t even considered before? Well, I’m pretty sure my brain grew three sizes after looking through this book.

I spent hours pouring over this book after I opened it. I kept stopping my mathematically minded sons and husband as they walked past my desk to show them the charts and symbols. I tried explaining to them how the new way of visually representing the stitches with different notations and having no words at all on page after page felt so liberating and amazing. They were not properly impressed.

Many of the stitch patterns in the book are not completely new to me. I own at least 9 other stitch dictionaries and I pour over most of them every time I sit down to start building responses to submission calls. So I hold a lot of different stitch possibilities in my mind. But even the ones that feel somewhat familiar aren’t quite the same – the stitches are twisted to help them pop of the background better or the cables are smaller or the simply the “normal” way of representing the stitches is just different enough that it sparks my brain in a way that I haven’t felt for ages.

I’ve already got three designs on the needles and a line of others percolating in my mental queue inspired by ideas I saw in this book. Plus I can’t wait to try some of the things in there that caught my attention even if they’ll never end up as a design.

Also, turns out this is actually Hitomi Shida’s second stitch dictionary! Her first collection of 250 knitting stitches is being re-released later this year in English for the first time. So now I’m wondering, can I wait that long? Do I just want to try to pick up an older copy of the original in what they call “simplified Chinese”? Or do I need to study side by side? I haven’t decided yet. But I do know that I’ll be picking up one or both versions of it before the end of the year.

Knitting: August Projects

It was pointed out to me recently that for a knitting designer, I don’t actually talk about knitting all that much on the blog. So I’ve started a project round-up once a month to talk about everything I’ve got on the needles that month. Here is a quick look at what I’m working on in August.

I finished my test sample of the sweater made out of Valley Yarns Colrain (50% Merino/50% Tencel) in the Navajo Red color. I love this one and can’t wait to wear it when the weather cools down this fall into winter. After washing and laying flat to dry the drape from this yarn is even lovelier than it was while I was knitting with it. I’m working on final pattern edits now and plan to start a test knit of it in the next week or so.

The gift socks for my mother-in-law out of Knit Picks Felici Sock Yarn in Maple Leaves are finished and gifted. They were much appreciated. But we somehow missed getting a picture of her with the finished socks. So here’s another look at them in progress.

An undisclosed project for Cascade Yarns out of their Pacific Sport in the color Deep Lavender. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the feel of this yarn as I knit. It is so soft it feels like butter to knit. This one is due by September 1st.

A sample cowl worked in a solid color out of Knit Picks Stroll in the color Buckskin from my deep, deep stash. The cowl was designed with gradient yarn kits in mind and already has some lovely samples of finished cowls in both sizes made out of gradient yarns. I’m looking forward to knitting on this one along with my testers as the test knit progresses throughout the month.

And another Judy Hat out of Knit Picks Felici Worsted in the color Lost Lakes. I’m trying to save this project for movie knitting since simple, small projects like hats are perfect for movies. But we don’t make it to all that many movies and I really love self-striping yarn in worsted weight so I may finish the hat before we make it to our next movie. These simple ponytail hats were snatched out of last season’s Christmas basket as fast as I could knit them.

The top down cabled cloak in Valley Yarns Amherst Jungle Green that will be similar in construction to my Brianna Cabled Cloak is getting big. I’m really loving this one and I hope to have it finished and photographed in time to wear to the Renaissance Festival this year! It is a little hard to get scale from this picture – I had to put it on three needles to lay it out flat here where it is draping off both sides of my 4-foot-wide dining room table.

And finally at Knit Night the other day I realized that I almost never knit something that isn’t a pattern of mine. Thinking about it made all my knitting feel a little more like work (but really can you call doing something you love work?) than fun. So I decided to remedy that and cast on a Close To You shawl in another gift yarn from my deep, deep stash just for fun. The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehip colorway. I’v been saving this yarn for years and decided it is finally time to get it on the needles. The reds are just beautiful and I’m really enjoying knitting on this project! I’m also loving my Star Wars themed stitch markers my husband and boys gave me. Win, win and win – gift yarn, gift stitch markers and a lovely pattern.

Travel: Quick Trip to South Dakota

 

This summer our Boy Scout Troop went to South Dakota for their summer camp. I packed the car and made a super quick trip to the southeast corner of South Dakota to see the area around where the boys were camping with another Scout Mom! We stopped at the Omaha Zoo on the way up (the Lied Jungle, Desert Dome and aquarium are still my favorites), stayed in a cute campground cabin (the moms, not the Scouts), visited Gavin’s Point Dam (between Lewis and Clark Lake where the younger boys stayed at base camp and the Missouri River that the older boys canoed down for 53 miles), stopped at Spirit Mound Historic Prairie (I really enjoyed the hike up and all the historical bits along the trail, I even saw a glacial boulder nicely marked so I would know what it was. I’m glad we stopped but would have been less than happy with my guide if I’d have hiked the 9 miles from the river to see it like Lewis and Clark did in August of 1804) and then drove about an hour further north to poke around Falls Park (truly beautiful and situated near downtown Sioux Falls).

Our golden retriever, Kaylee, came along for this trip too. She’s a great traveler and the boys seem to like having her along. Something about this trip was too much for her though, so she spent a good chunk of our night in the cabin trying not to upchuck all over everything. Thankfully my travelling buddy had some chewable Pepto Bismol packed and after some google-fu we determined it was worth a try. She was pretty much back to normal the next day.