Sunday, July 24, 2022

Would that worK?

 Chart it, swatch it and see!

While learning from the Craftsy Class: Lace Shawl Design, with Miriam Felton, I followed her instructions to go to stitch dictionaries to find patterns for particular motifs. In this case, I was looking for "leaves."

I found so many variations of leaves and noticed the designers use one of two ways to delineate a leaf on a background: with yarn-overs that produce holes around the leaf, or with purl stitches that raise a stockinette stitch leaf above the ground with yarn-overs accenting the center vein.

A good example of the latter method is illustrated in a free pattern from the website: Knitwise Girl, and can be found here.


Would that work for a hat, knitting on the right side, in the round?

First, I knit a swatch that included 4 pattern repeats, and one and a half row repeats. 

I wanted to work several rows as illustrated, then eliminate the half-drop repeat that fell between two leaves to add shaping to the fabric, to create a crown for the hat.

Using the written instructions I created a chart, but in doing so, I made the error of reading the even-numbered row (WS) from right to left. It didn't matter, until row 15, and while looking for a solution, I scrolled down and saw the author's chart below instructions, as well as a link to watch the video on YouTube. 

"When all else fails . . ."

Here is the original chart by Christine (aka Knitwise Girl)


How many leaves do you see?

At first I thought I saw three: one whole one in the middle, and one on either side. But that was my brain having a mind of its own and making the leap to make me believe I saw more than was there.

Now look at the chart after I ruled out the purl stitch border:

There are only two leaf motifs, neither of them shown as a whole image. That is why it's helpful to make your own chart, and expanding it as much as you need to see a 'whole motif." 

When you have a half-drop surface design, you will have some half motifs within a square or rectangle. Miriam Felton recommends swatching at least 4 repeats of a pattern from a dictionary (which are often charted in a rectangle, and knit flat.)

The chart after isolating the leaves to decide how to modify the pattern for shaping: 

Here I have 'decresed' 2 stitches in row 9 and 10, 4 stitches rows 11 and 12 - progressing to having decreased 8 stitches per half-pattern row repeat, just by not doing the yarn-overs.

But  I wanted that purl border to be yet narrower. By doing a decrease on either side of the middle, I can cut down the number of stitches from 5 to 3.  

I tried a center-double-decrease in the swatch, but it didn't give me the appearance I wanted. The nature of the purled border around the stockinette ground motif is to recede, so the leaf appears to lift forward. Therefore I had to find a purl decrease that does not attract any attention, but blends into the background as much as possible. 

So I hit the books and videos to find as many ways to make a purl decrease on the right side of the fabric as possible, and made a swatch to document what I found, using the same size needle and yarn as my pattern swatch.





Charting alone does not work for me. I need a chart reference but must knit on the swatch to see what works best in the specific project.

Decreasing for the top of the head:

I picked up the knitting at row 8: There are several ways to decrease a pair of purls 

After trying and 'tinking' (knit spelled backward, aka ripping) alternate ways to decrease a purl stitch on the right side to find a pleasing appearance, I chose one and continued the pattern until every other leaf was gone (in the 'half drop' - see the chart above.)

My wig stand came from a big-box fabric store and was on sale for $5.

Hat  Swatch:








Healing - grand but it itches

 Thank you to the faithful followers - as few or as many as you are.

I'm recovering from back surgery. Surgery went very well! Pain relief was immediate, even after the drugs wore off. It was for lumbar stenosis, a very painful thing. If you have sciatica, numbness, and pain - especially in the left leg - get thee to an MRI. It is easier to fix early on.

Computer time is limited until next month. 

One more thing -  I am getting a "lumbar kneeling stool" - it is better for your back than a chair.

Edit: Today, August 2, 2022, I saw the doctor for my "post-op" visit. I asked him about the stool, and he does not recommend it as being very hard on the knees. 

The best advice is that whatever you do- take breaks. If sitting at a computer, get up and walk around. If standing at the drafting table - sit down with a cup of coffee (or glass of wine?)

The draft of the new article should be done soon. Title: "Will this Work?"