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Arrowleaf: a crescent shawl pattern
knitting
Sweetheart: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
The word I drew from my word hoard for this stitch pattern is Sweetheart, suggested by Rebecca on Patreon. Sometimes in the past when I’ve had a word with smaller words as part of it, I’ve encoded them as multiple stitch patterns that could be combined to make a bigger one. Because sweetheart is longer than my usual words, and since it would therefore take rather longer than usual, I decided not to do this. So I was amused when I picked this particular code layout to realize that the encoding splits in the perfect place to turn this into two more coordinating stitch patterns! I guess it was bound to happen. I haven’t yet swatched sweet and heart separately; I’ll be doing that for my regular blog posts over the next couple of weeks.
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.
Lozenges: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
Sometimes I start playing around with possible stitch patterns that aren’t based on my encoding methods. This is one of the results. I suspect this is the kind of stitch pattern that someone else might well have designed separately, but I haven’t seen it before. I called it lozenges because that’s another name for diamonds, and the paths made by the yarnovers make diamond shapes.
Mermaid: a free needlework chart for any craft
The random number generator picked Mermaid for my first encoded word post of this month. It was suggested by Ange, one of my Patreon supporters.
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 finished object for any particular craft, but I just want to give a sense of it.
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Mermaid: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
This month, the random number generator chose the word Mermaid, suggested by Ange on Patreon. This was a nice coincidence: a lot of artists who post on social media were making art about mermaids through the month of May. (The hashtag for this is #MerMay – it started on Instagram, but I have also seen it on Twitter and Mastodon. It’s probably elsewhere too!) Of course, it’s June now, but at least I did the designing in May!
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 a word every two weeks, 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.
Experiment conclusion: Russian grafting for joining motifs
Last week I shared the beginning of my experiment in joining motifs with Russian grafting. My conclusion? That after steam blocking, it looks a hundred times better than I was afraid it would, but that I’m still not entirely certain that I would actually use it for a finished object, at least as I’ve done it here.
Regardless, I consider the experiment a success, because now I know what things look like. I have learned something, and that’s to be desired.
More details below.
Using Russian grafting to join knitted squares
Christine Guest recently made an interesting post about joining knitted motifs, and it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to try using Russian grafting to join motifs together.
This is just a preliminary experiment; I’m not sure yet that what I’m doing would work particularly well. Someone else might have already worked out a better way to do it – if you know of such, please link in comments!
Myth: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
The word I drew from my word hoard for this stitch pattern is Myth, suggested by Nim on Patreon. I’ve made two coordinating versions of the stitch; the taller one is essentially the same as the shorter, just with the second repeat offset halfway horizontally.
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 thes, 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.
Book Review: Knit Mitts, by Kate Atherley
When Kate Atherley writes a knitting book, I always want to get a good look at it. She knows her stuff and is quite thorough about explaining it. So I was pleased to see Knit Mitts: Your Hand-y Guide to Knitting Mittens & Gloves at the library last week. (My book budget is tight, so I like to get a good look at a book before buying it.)
This book is written for everyone from beginning mitten or glove knitters to those who have knit many a pair; for people who want to knit custom mitts to those who just want a rote pattern; for knitters who want a basic design to those who want fancy cables, lace, or colorwork.
