27 January 2010

The Knitting Pattern Mystery

I can knit, not just flat, bobble, flat, bobble (ie plain, purl, plain, purl, some readers will understand that!). Cable, lace, moss stitch all these are easy for me and I can read a knitting pattern with very little recourse to the abbreviations, mostly. However, sometimes I will come up against a pattern that doesn't make sense no matter which way I look at it. This happened last night. I was happily getting on with my new project, a wavy lined sweater, rib finished and starting on the body. The pattern seemed very simple but after a couple of repeats I realised that I was gaining lots of stitches (56 more to be exact) and nowhere did it say you will gain 56 stitches after the first two repeats. Now if you're a knitter you will know that the worst thing that can happen is having to rip back your knitting, it has to be the most soul-destroying thing that can happen. It's the sort of thing that will put a halt to my enthusiasm for the project, I get very angry, pout and put the piece away until I have gotten over my pique. That is what happened last night, I ripped it back, picked up the stitches again and returned to the pattern. Now, the pattern calls for you to *(k2tog) 3 times, (k1yo) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times* repeat from * to end. The maths doesn't work (or am I missing something?), if you knit 2 together 3 times you loose three stitches and if you knit 1 yo (yarn over needle to create a loop) you gain six stitches. So... you know just writing this I have worked out! I was doing (k2tog) 3 times, (K1yo) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times and then going back to (K1yo) 6 times rather than (k2tog) 3 times! I have lost the will to live and if you have persevered with this then suffice it to say the blog has helped me see the error of my stitches! So, I'm afraid I have brought you here under false pretences, sorry about that but thanks for staying with me. Just finished a chocolate cake for a friend's birthday tomorrow, good old Rachel Allen's Bake book, she never lets me down. Hopefully it will be enjoyed by all at work tomorrow. Adieu for now.

3 comments:

  1. Looking in to say hello and wish you good luck with your blog.
    Looks good! I might even add you to my list of favourites :)

    ReplyDelete