Phoenix: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

| Naomi Parkhurst

This month, the random number generator chose phoenix, suggested by Sara on Patreon.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. A random number generator helps me choose the word of the month, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.
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Wrong side cable crosses

| Naomi Parkhurst

I had a question from a friend about how I work cable crosses on the wrong side.

There’s two parts to my answer:

  1. If it’s a right cross on the front side, it’s a right cross on the wrong side. If it’s a left cross on the front, it’s a left cross behind.
  2. If I’m using a cable needle, which I prefer for anything other than a 1/1 cross, the way I move the stitches around is identical on both sides; I just purl them on the wrong side instead of knitting. Otherwise, see after the cut.

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1/1 Cable Crosses

| Naomi Parkhurst

I use 1/1 cable crosses fairly frequently in my lace design. Sometimes they help me continue a decrease line where there isn't a corresponding increase. Other times they make a nice closure at the top or bottom of a motif. In any case, here's a brief guide about how I work them without a cable needle. I'm pretty sure the 1/1 right cross method is pretty standard (I think I learned it from Barbara Walker's books); I don't know about the 1/1 left cross.

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Phoenix: a needlework chart for any craft

| Naomi Parkhurst

The word of the month is Phoenix, suggested by Sara on Patreon.

I usually develop a complicated knitting stitch pattern for each word, but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I also try to provide an image of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a chart, but I just want to give a sense of it.

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Six years and counting

| Naomi Parkhurst

The other day, WordPress reminded me that I’ve been using their blog service for six years now, and so I decided that I’d look back and take a rough inventory of what I’ve done here. While I’ve been doing casual yarn-and-art related blogging since then, I’ve really only been blogging on a regular basis for four and a half years, and most of that time has been spent on knit-blogging.

I have published sixteen patterns in those six years, most of which still make me happy. I’ve usually written at least one blog post in a week since 2013; more than fifty of those are about knitting and design techniques, some of which I’ve come up with on my own (though I’m sure other knitters have come up with at least some of them independently). I’ve talked a lot about my secret code methods, and I’ve posted more than 120 original stitch patterns. That’s… kind of a lot.

I started a Patreon three years ago, and it’s been growing slowly but surely—thank you! I’ve also added a tip jar, and am more grateful than I can say that people have used it. I didn’t know what to expect in that regard, really, but it seemed worth trying.

My blog readership has grown a lot. I never thought I’d see this many visitors in a year! I’m really gratified by how many people are interested in my work these days, and it encourages me to keep going.

There are some interesting things in the works around here, and I hope they’ll make you as happy as they do me.

Thank you for a good six years, and I hope to see you around here for many more!

Tinking a centered double decrease

| Naomi Parkhurst

If you haven’t heard the term, tinking is the process of undoing knitting, stitch by stitch (tink is knit spelled backwards). While I like the effect of various double decreases, I have to admit that they can be kind of a pain to tink, because of the way that the stitches are out of order. I recently noticed a trick for tinking my CDDs, and so I thought I’d share it just in case it’s useful.

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