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.
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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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!
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.
I just wanted to let you know that my Post Index is up to date for the first time in a while. Huzzah!
This is part of my rewrite of my secret code instructions. It won’t make sense if you don’t read the rest of the series! It has to do with using one of my encoding methods in a non-geometric shape.
First, a useful link elsewhere:
Second, three links to some older posts of mine I think you might find useful:
I don’t know if you noticed on Saturday, but I’ve hit on a combination of selvedge stitches that I like for blocking my swatches. I might even like it for lace shawls and such. At any rate, it’s easy to knit, and it’s easy to block with blocking wires. And I like the way it looks.
The word of the month is Sunshine, suggested by Natasha 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.
