administrivia

Behind the scenes stuff

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This blog is currently hosted on wordpress.com, though I’ve got my own URL on top of it so you don’t see that part. Sometime in the next few weeks I’ll be moving the whole thing to Dreamhost so I have more control over the backend (for good or ill).

If you have an email or RSS subscription, or if you use the WordPress reader, I don’t know what’s going to change; I need to look into that. I’ll post about how to get new blog post notifications when I know more, but before I move the blog.

If you visit this blog from links starting with gannetdesigns.com (for instance, if you follow my twitter account or come here from Stitch-Maps.com), nothing should change for you because I’ll be moving the URL to the new blog as well as the posts.

Either way, I’ve enjoyed the last dozen years of blogging, and am looking forward to what’s next!

blast from the past, needlework charts

Equinox: a needlework chart for any craft

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A long time ago, I encoded the word equinox as both lace and a needlework chart. I didn’t really have a good routine in place for the needlework charts at that time. I don’t know that I’ll do something like this for all of them, but here’s a new post for the Equinox needlework with a proper chart that has repeat borders in it, written instructions, and also an image showing how the pattern looks when it’s repeated.

I did make one small change in where the chart repeats because it was easy and I like it better.

While the chart is dark on light, I made the illustration light on dark because the word equinox evokes a night sky for me (even though that’s not really what the equinox is about). I’ve included a dark on light version at the end of the post in case that’s something that matters for you.

Follow link for charts and more information
needlework charts

Sheep: a needlework chart for any craft

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The random number generator picked Sheep from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Cathy D, one of my Patreon supporters.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Sheep, but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

Follow link for charts and more information
knitting

Étude no. 25: Tall Diamonds

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It’s been a while since I designated a blog post as an étude, which is a thing I like to do occasionally.

In music, an étude is a kind of musical exercise meant to increase skill in a single technique. I used to take classical violin lessons when I was young, so I was assigned my share of études to practice at home.

The études on my blog aren’t quite the same, but they’re not unlike. They’re exercises in design techniques that I’ve assigned myself to see what I can accomplish and what I can learn from them. I’ve probably posted some blog posts since my last étude that probably should have qualified. I might go back and tag them, I might not.

This particular étude is one I did without a write-up some years ago; I think I remember enough of what I did back then to be able to write up the results: it’s yet another in my series of stitch designs delving into chevrons and diamonds.

Continue reading Étude no. 25: Tall Diamonds →
needlework charts

Query: a needlework chart for any craft

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The random number generator picked Query from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Kate, one of my Patreon supporters. I enjoy the way this came out looking kind of like peacock feathers.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Query but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

Follow link for charts and more information
knitting

Coffee: a mosaic knitting chart

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A while back, I encoded the word Coffee and made it into a lace stitch pattern and a needlework chart. For this week’s post, I reworked a code grid I made while planning that post and turned it into a mosaic knitting stitch pattern. (I used the process described in this post.)

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.

Follow the link for charts and instructions
knitting

Brim: a mosaic knitting chart

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A while back, I encoded the word Brim and made it into a lace stitch pattern and a needlework chart. For this week’s post, I reworked a code grid I made while planning that post and turned it into a mosaic knitting stitch pattern. (I used the process described in this post.)

Note: this isn’t meant to be a brim; it’s using the word brim as the basis for the design.

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.

Follow the link for charts and instructions
needlework charts

Lichen: a needlework chart for any craft

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The random number generator picked lichen from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Andria and Bookwyrm, two Patreon supporters.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Lichen but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

Follow link for charts and more information
knitting

Lichen: a lace knitting stitch pattern

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The first word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon this month is Lichen, suggested by Andria and Bookwyrm, two Patreon supporters. I’m very pleased with the lyre motifs I see in this one, even though they have nothing to do with lichen.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first 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 made a Lichen needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

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

Follow link for charts and instructions
knitting

Burst: a mosaic knitting chart

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A while back, I encoded the word Burst and made it into a lace stitch pattern and a needlework chart. For this week’s post, I reworked a code grid I made while planning that post and turned it into a mosaic knitting stitch pattern. (I used the process described in this post.)

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.

Follow the link for charts and instructions

knitting, crochet, other string tricks, and forays into other creative endeavors

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