The Heathen Housewife

I know some of you are turning blue with holding your breath over the next step in the pattern. Let me just tell you that I don’t at all enjoy playing with knitting charts on the computer, and I’ve just spent two evenings of my free time preparing a couple for you. The charts are in a .PDF file, which hopefully most of you will be able to open. If someone really can’t open one, I might be willing to figure out a plan B, but the .PDF should work for most people.

Let me do a little explaining about what you’ll find when you open the file. There are three pages. The first page is a new stitch pattern that you haven’t seen yet. It’s the one I’m using on my green and yellow Kauni sweater. It includes a little bit of everything – simple cables, little bobbles, and a little simple lace. I know it sounds crazy-complicated, but it’s not so bad really, and after only about five repeats of it, I’ve already got it memorized. I’ve got a first peek at it for you. Unblocked, it looks a little rough.

Once blocked, though, I’m very happy with how the bobbles pop out and the lace smooths flat and opens out. In blocking this pattern, one does have to be prepared to pluck and pinch at the bobbles a bit to help perk them up.

The second page contains the stitch pattern for the original sweater, only with a slightly narrower strip. If you want a wider strip, you can add more knit stitches to the sides. On both of the stitch-pattern pages, there are actually two charts. One shows the actual beginning of your spiral strip, where to increase, and how you can shift from stockinette on into the pattern as the strips widen.

Oh, and if you remember, when I knit the original sweater, I wished I’d increased a little more slowly at the beginning for a shallower slope. I went ahead and made that change for you on the charts.

The second chart on each of the two pages shows a single repeat of the stitch pattern. I was able to enlarge the chart a bit there for easier reading.

And the third page is the key to the charts – to help you decipher all those little symbols.

So, after you get this three-page file and look at it – what do you do? Choose one of the two stitch patterns, or substitute one of your own. Cast on two stitches, and start working the chart. For best results, slip as if to purl the first stitch of every knit row with the yarn held to the back, and slip as if to purl the first stitch of every purl row with the yarn held to the front (towards the purl side in both cases). This will create the nice selvedge you’ll want once you join your spiral together and start working it around.

Keep working through the chart, till you’ve finished the increases to the regular width, and then continue until you have about 20 inches or so of length. That should keep you busy for at least a day or so, until I can get the next step up.

Oh! and there have been a few rumblings of people nervous and/or unhappy about working with charts and/or lace. I have a couple of tips and reassurances for y’all.

Basics of working with charts:
You read every right-side row from right to left (those are the rows with the interesting stuff going on – like increases, decreases, and cables.) The wrong-side rows are read from left to right. For example, let’s read through the first two rows of Chart A. The first row is a right-side row, and it goes K1, P1, C3L, P1, K3, K2Tog twice, (YO, K1) three times, YO, SSK twice, K3, P1, C3R, P1, K1. The second is a wrong-side row, and it reads K1, P1, K3, P1, K17, P1, K3, P1, K1.

I like to use a post-it note to mark my place on charts – I position it so that the bottom edge of the post-it note is just above the row I’m currently working, which allows me to see the row I’m working and the rows already worked, which is good for checking to make sure you’re where you think you are in the row. More recently, I’ve turned to this amazing Highlighter Tape stuff, which allows you to see all of the rows, and is sticky like post-its, allowing you to move it up the chart as you knit.

Reassurances for lace novices – this is a pretty good place to start with lace. You’re knitting back and forth on a narrow strip, so if ripping back becomes necessary, it will be easier to get back to the mistake and then get the stitches back on the needles than a longer row like a shawl. Also, errors will be easier to spot right away. And these stitch patterns are quite simple and quite easy to memorize. I can’t *promise* that you’ll succeed, but I’m doing my best to set you up for success.

Okay, if you have questions, come over to the Ravelry KAL group and ask away. I can’t believe we already have more than 80 members! You don’t need an invitation, just follow the link and click the Join This Group button. Be nice, people. These charts have not been test-knit yet. I’m happy to answer questions and correct any mistakes, so if in doubt, just ask – nicely.

Next up, we’ll be measuring your “swatch” both pre-and post-blocking, and we’ll be measuring one of your favorite sweaters. So, get knitting, dig through your closet for a sweater that fits and flatters you – hopefully one that is a similar thickness to the one you’re knitting, and also one that is a bit boxy – as in not shaped at the waist. More explanation on that next time.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 4:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.