new year

2020: two knitting charts to celebrate the new year

2020: two knitting stitch pattern charts for the new year
| Naomi Parkhurst

Happy New Year! (A couple of days early, but I’ll be posting a Patreon word on Wednesday.)

I turn the digits of the year into a knitting chart each year. This is one of those times that the design is such that turning a given set of numbers into a chart produces a traditional design.

This year’s chart was easily converted into a mosaic knitting chart so you get both this time! (I don’t think the mosaic design is a traditional pattern, though it could easily be.)

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2018: a free mosaic knitting stitch pattern

2018: a free mosaic knitting stitch pattern by Naomi Parkhurst
| Naomi Parkhurst

I have a tradition (four years is a tradition, right?) of using the four digits of the upcoming year as a basis for designing a stitch pattern to celebrate the New Year. May this year be a good one for all of us.

The first three years were all lace. This year, I realized that one of the possible code grids for 2018 was suitable for a mosaic knitting chart. This is the first time I’ve seen that possibility in my code grids, so of course I had to go with it.

The thing about mosaic knitting is that it just looks difficult. It’s really easy to do! Basically, you’re knitting two row stripes, and slipping stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern. If you can knit stripes, you can knit mosaic patterns.

Here’s an article from Twist Collective about how it works.

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2017: a free garter lace stitch pattern

2017: a free garter lace knitting stitch pattern
| Naomi Parkhurst

After two years of making a stitch pattern from the digits of the new year, I decided to keep going. This one is a bit different from my usual lace – because of the placement of the yarnovers, I decided not to add extra plain rows. This is reversible garter lace, but not terribly tricky.

As some of my stitches do, it reminds me of plant cells under a microscope. I like it as a serviceable, reversible, non-curly, basic stitch pattern; it’s nothing spectacular.

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Happy New Year! A free stitch pattern: 2015

| Naomi Parkhurst

Just on a whim, I decided to turn 2015 into charts for knitting and other needlework. The lace design is a ribbing pattern—I inserted the purl columns to simplify the design. It seems entirely likely that this is very similar to some other already designed lace; the simpler the encoding, the more likely the design is to exist, in my experience. Optional beads could be inserted in the central purl column on rows 1 and 5.

Enjoy, and have a happy new year!

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