Ply and Burl

Cruising Ravelry (as a girl is wont to do), I found this thought-provoking line from brella:

[I] quickly understood logic of pattern, no need to refer to chart or instructions

Now, I’m not going to wax poetic on this one, but I think it bears noting that some of us knitters do this: we don’t memorize the pattern, or follow the chart the whole time. Instead, we learn how the pattern thinks — how it moves, where its goes out to and returns, where it stops and starts again. I often don’t figure it out until a few repeats in (at least on a complicated pattern) and feel liberated when I finally do. Finally able to knit without keeping the creased pile of xeroxed pattern papers at my side!

So a thought for pattern writers: How about adding a section called “Pattern Logic” to hasten the learning process for those of us who don’t need to follow the directions line by line. It would be a huge help! It could be a simple pattern hueristic, such as “every five rows, cross the cable” or “every other row, inc 1 at start of repeat, dec 1 at end. Or, it could be something more explanatory for those of us looking to learn techiniques from the pattern: “each round increases by X sts to keep the piece circular” or ” alternating inc 2 and dec 2 several stitches apart gives the fabric a zig zag pattern.”

Just a thought…

Call me old fashioned, but there was no way I was going to touch the curse of the pre-marriage sweater. Not that we weren’t tight — the hubby and I are very dedicated to each other. But I’ve seen it in action, and you just never know!

But now that we’re married, Man Sweater, ho! I’m getting ready to cast on Jared Flood’s Cobblestone sweater over the Christmas holidays. In preparation, I’ve been trolling the web for tips on how to best execute it. I wanted to try it top down, and I wanted to avoid the jog line up the back of the garter stitch yolk. Thanks to the internet, I’ve now got a plan:

1. Top-down, bottom-up hybrid
I wanted to do this top-down, but The Thrifty Knitter argues for a hybrid approach. She thinks that decreases are less bulky than increases, so doing the yolk bottom-up would look nicer. She suggests doing it first, then casting on the sleeves and body to the bottom and knitting them top-down so you can measure as you go. My plan is to cast on using the Provisional Cast On so I can pick up live stitches to continue (video here).

2. Avoiding the jog
For some reason, I find the line up the back of the yolk supremely irritating. The yolk just cries out “knit in the round!” but the line makes it look like it has a seam. Icky. Thankfully, Kathryn Ivy explains the Jogless Garter Stitch which will fix the problem.

That’s the whole plan for now… will keep you posted or check in on the project on my Ravelry page!