05.28.08
Posted in Stitch Pattern Catalog at 7:32 pm by webmaster
Once more, time to clear the desk of a pile a swatches.
- Butterfly I - gathered stitches pattern
- Buttons - uses slip stitches to make pukers on the fabric
- Slipped Zigzag Cable - a psuedo cable stitch
- Pigtail - a pseudo cable stitch
- Swedish Weave - simple two color; you only knit with one color — the second color just goes along for the ride.
- Creative Relief - simple, raised horizontal stripes
- String of Purls - this is a loose bobble stitch
- Little Peacock - simple, fan lace
- Short Row - this stitch is similar to a bobble in that you work back and forth over a few stitches before moving on. It doesn’t look much like a bobble, but I would still classify it in that group.
- Bird Foot I - this is a Turkish, two color pattern. It does not follow the ‘Fair Isles rule’ that the unused color is carried behind for no more than six stitches. That seems to be typical of the Turkish patterns. From what I’ve seen of these patterns in practice, they are worked on small needles with finer yarns. The carriage of the yarn is less of an issue in that condition.
- Increase Decrease Smocking - this is a pseudo cable, although it has a convincing cable appearance.
- Crochet-Knit Right Cross - this is an open stitch that looks as much woven as knitted.
- Slipped Diagonal Rib - this is not a true rib stitch. It is made by using slip stitch and twist stitch techniques.
- Slipped Cable Rib - this is an attractive, “gull-wing” type of stitch.
- Slipped Hourglass - this is a slip stitch, twist stitch combination that is easy to work and results in a pleasant stitch that looks like one you might find on one of the fisherman style garments.
- Little Tent - this is a simple application of the gathered stitch technique.
- Cocoon - this looks a little bit like a bobble although it is not worked like a bobble. Reminds me of the Trinity stitch with a frame.
- Checked Basket - this results in a nicely textured fabric.
- Double Lattice - this is one of the many twist stitch lattice patterns.
- Woven Diagonal Herringbone Zigzag - this is one of the many over all patterns that can be developed using slipped stitches with the running thread held in front.
- Tiny Bowknot - this stitch is a gathered stitch over a very short span (shorter than most gathered stitches).
- Crochet-Knit Left Cross - ditto the comment on the matching Crochet Knit Righ Cross.
- Woven Transverse Herringbone - the resulting fabric has the advantage of laying flat without curling.
- Little Birds - this is a slip stitch, twist stitch pattern. This type of pattern usually allows you to get a cable effect without introducing the third needle.
- Chinese Fans - this is one of the dip stitch patterns.
- Twisted Slip Stitch II - I was disappointed with the result.
- Mock Honeycomb - this is a gathered stitch pattern
- Tree of Life II - there a many variations of this tree pattern. It is a staple of the fisherman sweaters.
- Semi-Woven Lattice with Moss Stitch - this is one of the moss stitch block patterns — I have seen better adaptations of that category.
- German Herringbone Rib - not a true rib.
- Cloverleaf Eyelet Cable - this is not a true cable. It is an attractive, openwork pattern.
- Simple Slipped Cable, Left Twist - this is a psuedo cable. It gives an attractive impression of a cable.
- Looking-Glass - this is a slip stitch, twist stitch pattern.
- Knit-Twist Lattice - this is one of the simplest of the twist stitch lattice patterns.
- Mock Wave Cable - this is psuedo cable
- Clams - this is similar to a bobble pattern in appearance.
- Closed Double Cable - this is a pseudo cable
- Open Double Cable - this is a psuedo cable
- Slipped Chain Cable - this is a psuedo cable
- Textured I - this is a very simple knit purl pattern
- Traveling Ribbed Eyelet - this stitch pulls in side to side. There is just something about the symmetry of this stitch that does not work for me.
- Twist-Four Mock Cable - this is one of the most convincing psuedo cable stitches.
- Wave of Honey Cable - this is not a tru cable stitch, but it is very attractive and easy to accomplish.
- Knit Five purl Three Rib
- Peanuts an Hazelnuts - almost a bobble stitch.
- Bavarian Block - this stitch seemed like a lot of work for a limited effect.
- Garland - this is not an easy stitch to work. It results in an unusual, attractive fabric. The person who invented this stitch was quite clever.
- Simple Slipped Cable, Right Twist - this is not a true cable.
- English Rose Tweed - simple to work, attractive multicolor pattern.
- Multicolored Beehive - much like the English Rose Tweed, just with more texture.
- Twisted Brioche - this results in a ’fluffy’ fabric that doesn’t look like a knit.
- Purl-Twist Fabric - this pattern might be more interesting if it was worked in more than one color. This is a difficult pattern to work — not worth the effort.
- Twisted Check II
- Broken Rib II
- Grecian Plait II - this is a difficult pattern to work. It is similar to the Purl-Twist Fabric. I would not waste my time on this stitch if I were you. There are other stitches that give a similar effect without so much trouble.
- Threaded Stitch I - this one is similar to the Grecian Plait II and Purl-Twist Fabric. Of the three related stitches, this is the best.
- Knotted II - easy enough to work, but not very interesting
- Mock Braids - emphasis on the “Mock”
- Small Zigzag- this results in a open fabric.
- Nautical Twisted-Rope Cable - after a long stretch of working too many little tedious stitch patterns, it’s sure fun to sink your needles into a big, juicy cable stitch. This one was fun!
- Rosette - this is a surprisingly interesting stitch. If you work it, after you work it, hold it, stretch it a bit, then move your hands alternately up and down to watch the diagonal tension. It is a well balance fabric with regard to stretch and it lays flat.
- Grecian Plait I
- Threaded Stitch II
- Dimple Eyelet
- Row of Eyelets
- Raised Bar - boring
- Ladder II - I don’t get the ‘Ladder’ part
- Ringlet II
- Coral Knot - this is a cute, openwork with a lot of texture.
I am moving in on the 1000 swatch mark. I should get there by the third week of June.
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05.05.08
Posted in Stitch Pattern Catalog 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 Stitch Pattern Catalog 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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