The first word I’m encoding for this month is Staghorn, suggested by Valerie on Patreon. Staghorn can refer to at least five different things from nature! The obvious thing is the horns of a stag (a male deer), but the other four I found on a casual web search include a coral, several species of moss, a genus of epiphytic ferns, and a sumac. Not surprising really, given how many things have a branching shape. Since the encoding process I use doesn’t produce a stitch pattern that looks like the final result, I’m not surprised that the final result doesn’t look like a stag’s horns, but it does have an organic appearance. In the top part, I see moths. (Not the kinds that eat wool.)

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose this, 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.

The charts are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

The word I drew from my word hoard for this stitch pattern is Light, suggested by Nim on Patreon. It’s winter in my hemisphere, so more light is welcome. Light is something that happens in summer, so it applies to the southern hemisphere in a different way entirely.

I like the way that the bottom version of this design looks like rays of light radiating outward, and that the upper part looks like candle flames.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, 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.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.