05.05.08
Posted in Guestbook at 7:08 pm by webmaster
For some time I had in mind to create a knitting stitch taxonomy. I recently got started with it. I would like to follow the type of heirarchical models that is learned when I studied botany. That is the standard Kingdom, Phyllum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, species approach. If Knitting is at the Kingdom level and an individual stitch pattern is at the species level, the question is how to fill in the middle levels. As with all taxonomies there will be room for disagreements about any number of things. If you study the biological sciences you soon know that every taxonomist is duty bound to recast some portion of the prevaling taxonomy. The following is the beginings of my taxonomy of knitting stitches and you are welcome to devise your own.
At the level that corresponds to the Phyllum level, I decided to base the sort on very fundamental structure. I came up with three phylla:
- Plain - the name speaks for itself.
- Relocation - this is the use of moving stitches either vertically or horizontally.
- Openwork - this is use that results in holes in the fabric.
In the next level that corresponds to the Class level, I found that some of the common categories familiar to most of us start to come into play.
Under Plain I have listed Knit Purl and Short Rows.
Under Relocation I have listed Slip Stitch, Dip Stitch, Twist Stitch and Cable.
Under Openwork I have listed Yarn Over and Ladder.
From this point on the classifications become more subjective. I won’t try to explain all my reasoning. This is afterall a work in process and I am learning quite a bit from the exercise. The diagrams I have so far are shown here.
As you might notice in the diagram there will be ‘hybrid’ stitches. The most obvious of these is the group of stitches that combine lace and cables.
From here, I have to fill in with individual stitches. I’m sure that I will discover more subcategories as I go along. And soon there will be no way to fit this onto a computer screen. If this develops as I hope it will, I plan to convert the diagrams into PDF files that could be down loaded. They probably won’t lend themselves to being printed unless you have a plotter printer that can manage oversized sheets.
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05.02.08
Posted in Guestbook at 7:37 pm by webmaster
Time to clear off some space on my desk again.
- Textured Horizontal Stripe II - attractive reversible stripes.
- Knot and Swag - produces a dense, reversible fabric. The sides are mirror images of each other.
- Dot and Dashes - simple two-color pattern with raised dots and dashes.
- Little Butterfly - this is another version of the bowtie family of patterns.
- Odin’s Eagles - large mosaic pattern
- Cross-Rib Stripes - simple, reversible pattern.
- Roll-over Reversible - primitive reversible pattern.
- String of Beads - watch the guage on this one; it draws in a lot.
- Knit Two Purl Two Ribbing Double Row Method - Simple reversible stripes.
- Two-color Mock Rib - looks like a rib, acts like a rib; not much mock about it. Reversible.
- Knit Three Purl Three Rib - representative of the basic ribbing patterns.
- Quilted Lattice - simple to make member of the quilt stitch pattern family.
- Lovely Lace - this pattern is somewhere between the arrowhead pattern family and the leaf lace family.
- Little Lace Diamonds - the diamond motif is subtle.
- Ringwood - this is a broken rib type of pattern.
- Mock Moss - this produces a much denser, sturdy fabric than the ordinary moss stitch.
- Knit Two Purl Tow Ribbing Single Row Method - reversible rib, simple to work.
- Two-Color Plaited Basketweave - makes a dense fabric; tends to curl.
- Broken Stocking I - simple pattern with raised horizontal dashes.
- Wedges - simple to make, low key texture.
- Basket and Garter - simple, block pattern.
- Fastened Diamonds - large, easy lace panel.
- Houndstooth Check - worked in a Fair Isles manner, carrying both colors along on each row.
- Purl-twist Knot - produces an attactive textured pattern.
- Argyle - worked in a Fair Isles manner, carrying both color along on each row. This method works for the Houndstooth Check listed above because the pattern is small. On the Argyle, the unworked color has to be carried along a bit too far. I prefer to work argyle patterns with bobbins, even though bobbins present their own management problems.
- Tile II - this makes a dense fabric. When I look at the pattern, it makes me think of electrical wall outlets.
- Two Color Waffle - this produces a fabric that has depth, but is not too dense.
- Textured Horizontal Stripes III - the stripe in this reversible pattern is a subdued effect.
- Single Knit One Purl One Rib - very basic reversible pattern.
- Textured Horizontal Stripes IV - simple reversible pattern
- See the Light - this is one of those two-color textures that seems to play with the light, somewhat like some of the shadow patterns do.
- Teepees - this produces a dense, tight fabrc.
- Parasol Rows - this pattern is interesting because it ends up producing vertical stripes of color even though all the management of color in the working of the stitch is done horizontally.
- Dip-Stitch Check - this is a simple representative of the dip stitch family of patterns.
- Cross-Color Stripe - this produces an attractive vertical pattern.
- Double Stockinette I - this is a very dense fabric. It will stretch horizontally by not very much vertically. When you stretch it horizontally, it will try to return to its original dimension.
- Dotted Diamond - this is a large pattern in the mosaic pattern family.
- Dotted Block - this is a simple stitch that produces a strong geometry.
- Triple Stripes - this is similar to the mosaic patterns.
- Feather and Fan - this is one of my favorite lace patterns. It is easy to remember and work. It produces a pleasing fabric. The edge is scalloped.
- Harlequin - this is a mosaic pattern. I realized afterward that I made a mistake in the second repeat of the pattern in the stitch index. I need to rework it later; for now the picture still conveys the appearance of the pattern.
- Long-Slip Textured - dense fabric that curls.
- Shadow Check - loose fabric.
- Woven Stitch I - this is one of the linen weave patterns.
- Woven Diagonal Herringbone - simple slip stitch pattern that produces diagonal pattern.
- Duet - this is a lace and rib pattern.
- Woven Diamond - slip stitch pattern that produces a double diamond pattern.
- Flowers in Squares - this uses a cluster stitch to make the ‘flower.’
The pictures of these newly added patterns are on the Knittingfool.com premium member site. Sign up to be a subscriber and you can see these and more than 800 other stitch pattern pictures.
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04.18.08
Posted in Guestbook at 7:18 pm by webmaster
Once again stuff is piling up on my desk and it is time list the latest additions before boxing them up.
- Gull Check - interesting two-color pattern. Probably better for a moderately experienced knitter since it requires some stitch shifting.
- Alternating Colored Bands - easy two-color pattern. This stitch is a entry level to Fair Isles knitting.
- Diagonal Structure - easy stitch that produces diagonal ridges.
- Easy Ripple - easy increase-decrease pattern. Tends to pull-in, so watch the guage if you use this one.
- Reverse Diagonals - easy stitch that produces a stair-step effect on the fabric
- Allover Cabled Eyelet - this is an attractive stitch and easy to work. it is not a true cable or course and does not have the raised volume effect that most cables produce.
- Linked Stripe - simple, two-color pattern with a lot of texture.
- Anemone II - two-color version of the anemome pattern. Cute.
- Rippled Chevron - mosaic pattern
- Sanguar Check - results in a checkerboard pattern. Easy to work.
- Fan Lace - easy lace pattern that is probably in the arrowhead lace family. Very loose, spreads, watch the guage closely.
- Mountain Peaks - another easy lace pattern, probably in the arrowhead lace family. Very loose, spreads, watch the guage closely.
- Tile III - two-color, highly textured.
- Three-and-One Check - two-color pattern with texture. Has a pleasing appearance. This has some shadow effect and could be used very effectively to give a fabric that extra shadow dimension.
- Alternating Rickrack Stripe - two-color pattern that has the fullness of a brioche stitch. Tends to spread, so watch the guage.
- Rickrack Stripe - two-color pattern that has a houndstooth appearance. Tends to have a bias. Loose fabric.
- Checked rose Fabric - two-color pattern that also has a houndstooth appearance. Unlike the Rickrack Stripe, this one does not have a bias. Also has a loose fabric.
- Flare - mosaic pattern. Could be considered more of a motif than a stitch pattern, just because it is so big.
- Arabic Block - mosaic pattern. Also could be considered more of a motif than a stitch pattern, just because it is so big.
- Light Tulle - highly biased lace pattern.
- Vertical Lace Trellis - simple lace pattern.
- Lace Trellis with Left Slant - highly biased lace pattern. Very similar to Light Tulle.
- Zigzag Lace Trellis - guess what would happen if you worked Lace Trellis with Right Slant for a few rows; then worked Lace Trellis with Left Slant for the same number of rows? The result is a simple effective pattern that does not so much suffer from the bias seen in both its constituent patterns. It does not have a flat edge; that can be a plus in some applications.
- Moss and Rib Blocks - reversible pattern that would work nicely in a scarf.
- Herringbone I - increase-decrease pattern. This is not a truly reversible pattern, but the opposite side, at first glance, seems similar to the front side. Therefore, it could be useful for a scarf.
- Ridge Tile - this is not a true reversible. It more of an opposite reversible; but it is not true to the rules for an opposite reversible either.
- Popcorn - boring.
- Eccentric Check - two-color pattern with texture.
- Bamboo Rib - another take on the Jacob’s Ladder pattern.
- Triple Chains - knit-purl pattern that gives a false cable effect.
- Tree of Life I - simple knit-purl pattern that is often seen in Gansey sweater patterns.
- Diamond Panels - boring
- Brocade Diamond - knit-purl diamonds. The diamond thing has been done better in other patterns. This one is just so close to boring.
- Triple Torch - two-color. Probably not for a beginner because it requires stitch shifting.
- Windows - two-color pattern with some texture.
- Seagulls - two-color, reversible, textured. Looks like a tweed.
- Textured Horizontal Stripe I - reversible, textured pattern. Also tweed-like.
- Ladder Rib - another Jacob’s ladder spin off.
- Textured II - has low, diagonal ridges. Fabric is loose. Watch your guage.
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03.09.08
Posted in Guestbook at 9:53 pm by webmaster
Time once more to clear the recently worked swatches off my desk and scurry them off to the swatchbox.
- Greek Cross Medallion - this is a mosaic pattern. I did this one in green. With a slight change in the pattern, I could see shamrocks coming out of this.
- Fingertip Tweed Stripe - this is a pleasing three color. Easy to work. Good texture also.
- Double Medallion - this is a mosaic pattern that is a larger version of the Greek Cross Medallion
- Lattice - this results in a pleasing and interesting pattern that is easy to achieve.
- Crested Medallion - another mosaic pattern. I am in a mosaic rut. There are a lot more to come in this list.
- Two Color Dip - this give a sort of hexagon shape pattern with a ’shaddow’ effect on the bottom. Interesting pattern. Not too difficult to achieve.
- Fancy Parallelogram - another mosaic pattern. This is sort of like the ying-yang/endless branch pattern.
- Egyptian Cross - this is one of the mosaic patterns that is a bit too much like a swaticke for ordinary comfort.
- Miniature Mosiac - this is the smallest version of the mosaic medallion pattern.
- Textured Check - this is a simple tweed type pattern.
- Lines and Loops - this is a simple reversible pattern. Both sides look very much alike.
- Two Color Garter - this is a simple reversible pattern. The textures of each side are very much alike, but the colors are reversed.
- Straight and Wavy Stripes - this is a simple reversible pattern. The two sides give the impression of being very much alike. I should do a blog spot on reversible patterns. There is a lot of ways to describe something as reversible. Reversible could mean that both sides are meerly visually appealing. Or it can mean that both side look very much identical. And then there are a few types of reversible that fall somewhere else along that specturm.
- Triple L Tweed - this results in a relatively open fabic with depth. The color pattern is pleasing and easy to achieve.
- Sparrow’s Track - this results in a simple horizontal stripe with irregular edges.
- Three-Color Basket Tweed - this is a simple, three color pattern with a raised texture due to the inclusion of some purl stitches.
- Twisted Slip-Stitch IV - this is a textured version of the bricks theme.
- Divided Diamond - this is a large mosaic version of the ying-yang/endless branch pattern.
- Long Stitch and Stripe - when I looked at this pattern just now, I had the impression of looking at a lot of exclamation points.
- Two-color Festoons - this looks like one of those stitches that your grandmother used to make a ‘ripple’ afghan. If you used this on the edge of a piece, you will have a slightly scalloped edge.
- Pyramid Mosaic - simple, effective, mosaic pattern
- Fancy Lattice - This is another mosaic stitch spin on the medallion/lozenge theme.
- Oblong Medallion - yet another mosaic stitch medallion (will the madness ever end!)
- Two-color Star - This is a fun stitch that yields a wonderfully interesting result. It is a very open fabric (lots of see-through). It is an attractive result and may be also interesting if worked in more than two colors.
- Leaning Stripe - this stitch is interesting to work. It does have some curl. Fortunately the resulting fabric does not seem to ‘pull’ to one side too much. That is often the flaw in these sort of bias stitch patterns.
- Fancy Chevron - this is a mosaic pattern that lives up to its name.
- Acorns - this is an attractive, open pattern that is easy to achieve.
- Lacy Lozenges - this is an open pattern, but I hesitate to call it lace. It is a yarn-over pattern. Of course, the distinction between lace, eyelet and yarnover patterns is subjective. That is the stuff of yet another blog spot.
- Yang and Yin - this is also known and the Endless Branch. This is one of the more visually pleasing mosaic patterns. An ancient pattern kept alive in knitting.
- Fretwork - this is another pleasing mosaic pattern. Another ancient pattern presented in knitting.
- Trellis Diamond - mosaic medallion knitting gone over the top. Enough already.
- Crown Chevron - this is a smaller varioation of the Fancy Chevron.
- Double Twist Check - this is a pleasing three color pattern with a bit of texture.
- Sturctured Squares - simple knit- purl pattern; unfortunately, it is not a very compelling result.
- Madiera Mesh - this pattern just did not work for me. Yawn. Who cares. There are so many really good lace patterns; why waste time on something like this.
- Thick and Thin Basket - this is a simple, reversible knit-purl pattern.
- Diagonal Rib - this is a simple, attractive and reversible knit-purl pattern.
Sorry about all the mosaic patterns. Once upon a time (about 30 years ago) I was goofy for mosiac patterns just because they are an easy way to get a sophisticated two color pattern.
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02.24.08
Posted in Guestbook at 2:09 am by mmb
Just found your blog b/c I’m trying to trace apattern.
Have you seen this pattern at masondixonknitting archives “mysterylace”? It is in the Jan 13, 2008 blog posting. It is a picture of a friend’s curtain. Beautiful. I hope to knit this and am trying to figure it out…
I know what happens, just not how to accomplish it:
-pattern is garter, they say,
-repeat is only four stitches long,
-repeat is nine rows deep,
-every other column is plain knit stitch,
-the other columns are the same pattern, but offset by 4 rows. This pattern consists of a plain stitch for 5 rows. On the 6th row, the 5 previous rows are knit into/under/deep-stitched/ pulled up so that a flower is formed. On the next row, the stitch directly above the loop holding up the flower is twisted. The row above that one is plain knit stitch, and then the pattern starts again.
_so, the chart would be :
columns 1 and 3: knit all stitches
columns 2 and 4: knit a pattern of 5 plain rows, pull up all the stitches into one stitch, twist the stitch in the next row above it, knit a plain stitch in the row above that, and then begin the repeat again.
How could I do this w/o having all the stitches fall off my needles???
any ideas?
Enjoy!
Meredith
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02.04.08
Posted in Guestbook at 4:58 pm by sunny77
I have a raglan sweater pattern that I am knitting from the top down ( sweater pattern generator)
I have knitted the collar but it says at each side of marker, increase 1 st by knitting into the front and back of the st..
I have 4 markers - one for the sleeves, one for the back, one for the other sleeve and one for the front, so by increasing into the back and front of each st. that would make an increase of 8 sts..
Does it matter which marker you start to increase at?
Awaiting your reply,
June
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01.06.08
Posted in Guestbook at 8:48 pm by webmaster
The latest additions to the swatch box are the following:
- Bow Ties
- Holly Berries
- Net to the Left
- Net to the Right
- Diagonal Chain
- Swallowtail Quilting
- Open Star
- Crochet-Knit Shell
- Broken Chevron
- Woven Stitch II
- Side Edging
- Grand Eyelet Lattice
- Lace Butterfly II
I added a few features to Knittingfool website recently. In addition to the Knitting Stitch Index Sorted By Stitch Count, I have added similar sorts based on Row Count and Stitch Category.
Today I added gallery views of the swatch thumbnail images to the three methods of sorting the stitch patterns (where thumbnails are available). Some of the gallery links lead to zero results. I am trying to remedy this by working at least one stitch swatch for each link. It will take a while to fill in the gaps; at least it is a goal. Eventually, I foresee the need to phase out the ‘all swatches’ gallery in favor of the sorted galleries. I think the ‘all swatches’ view will simply reach a point where there are two many thumbnails to work with easily. I will continue with the ‘all swatches’ gallery as long as it does not make trouble
I need to do something about Fair Isle patterns. My current web interface does not quite work for Fair Isles patterns. My system is geared toward having only one color per row. When I get to Fair Isles patterns, I need skip having the text version of the pattern and just have a graphical representation. I don’t think that many people rely on text representations of Fair Isle patterns. I’m going to have to fit another IF loop into the code to evaluate the category (i.e., Fair Isles) and make a determination of whether to show the text version of the pattern or just the graph.
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01.01.08
Posted in Stitch Pattern Catalog at 4:27 pm by webmaster
Swatchbox crop for the past few weeks:
- Haystack Stripe
- Three-Color Honeycomb
- Wavy Braid
- Horseshoe II
- Steeples
- Dotted Wave
- Stripes and Diamonds
- Sliding Block
- City Lights
- Four Color Progressive Tweed
- Quilted Check
- Macedonian
- Three-and-One I
- Vertical Chain
- Fancy Diagonal Stripe
- Sliding Bricks
- Wave
- Chessboard I
- Maze
- Fretted Mosaic
- Dogtooth Check
- Assyrian Stripe
- Pinbox
Most of these are mosaic stitches. I have this to say about mosaic stitches in general: Barbara Walker seemed to favor working mosaics in a garter stitch mode. I think all mosaic stitches work out much neater in stockinette mode.
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12.10.07
Posted in Stitch Pattern Catalog at 7:41 pm by webmaster
The latest additions to the box are the following:
- Holiday Stripes - This is a pleasing combination of color and texture.
- Night-and-Day Stripe - This is easy, Fair Isles-lite.
- Hornet’s Nest - This starts out like a bobble, but doesn’t close like a bobble.
- Watergate - An interesting spin on what is essentially a mosaic pattern.
- Surprise Two Color Version - The result is like a Fair Isles pattern.
- Swiss Check - A simple, easy, two color pattern.
- Reversible Two-Tone - Results in a double-knit with a different color on each side.
- Tweed II - This is the two color version of the Linen I pattern. The result is a dense fabric.
- Bold Check - Lots of color and texture.
- Garter Stitch Stripe - Similar to Bold Check. The result is blocks of vertical and horizontal stripes.
- Russian - A vertical serpentine pattern.
- Sandwich Stripe - The result is blocks of vertical and horizontal stripes.
- Tuscan - I do not like this pattern. It was tedious and the result is not very appealing.
- Syncopated Tweed - A pretty multi-color pattern with a hint of texture.
- Crazy Quilt - Results in a two color eyelet.
- Petal Quilting - Lots of texture and interest.
- Cluster Quilting - This is an evolution of the Petal Quilting pattern. The result looks like smocking.
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11.18.07
Posted in Stitch Pattern Catalog at 10:18 am by webmaster
This time I added the following swatches:
- Four Color Blend - Blends the colors nicely with a faint impression of being ribbed.
- Fingertip Tweed Check - houndstooth - like
- Dice Check - works more like a mosaic stitch with a result that looks a bit like something you would get from Fair Isles work
- Garter Stitch II - the fabric is lose and spreads horizontally
- Salt and Pepper Tweed - results in a tight, woven fabric. The reverse side is also interesting.
- Grain Slip - the results are like ribbing with little shadow boxes between the ribs
- Striped Quilting - gives a thick fabric that reminds me of smocking
- Two-color Hedges - tends to spread horizontally
- Royal Quilting - very pleasant geometry. I could easily see this pattern used on an Elizabethan costume
- Chain of Triangles II - gives the appearance of vertical ladders
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