Tag Archives: chart

In which I do a bunch of math

If you’re a mathphobe, be warned. There’s gonna be a lot of math in this one.

Because I’ve got a pile of yarn and a plan. But not too much of a plan, because obviously that wouldn’t be fun.

So, I’m making a blanket- with a largeish gauge (I’m using US9s) in a lace pattern that I found… somewhere on the internet at some point in the past. I know that’s not great, and I would love to cite the original designer, but I literally have no information, except that it was a charted Japanese stitch pattern, probably from a stitch dictionary. Which one? I have no idea. (If you recognize it, please let me know and I’ll happily share the source.)

Anyway, I worked up a decent-sized swatch, I know I’m going to do this all-over lace pattern with a simple garter border, and I have a big pile of yarn. But how many repeats to cast on?

I could just guess, but that never ends well. Either I end up with a weirdly small blanket or I run out of yarn halfway through a king-size monstrosity. I’m aiming for a nice throw blanket this time. Big enough that the newlyweds can snuggle underneath it, but not so big that they will be celebrating their silver anniversary before it’s done.

I grabbed some tools. A pad and pen (I’m still old-school when it comes to math), a tape measure and my trusty kitchen scale.

First, I weighed the swatch: 30 grams. (I’ve got 12 skeins of 100 grams each, so 1200 grams of wool to work with.)

Then I measured the swatch. The whole blocked swatch was about 7.5x 9 inches, or 67 square inches.

So if 30g=67 square inches, I can do a little math to figure out that I can use my 1200g to work about 2680 square inches.

Then the next question is, If I have 2680 square inches to play with, how wide should the blanket be? In my head, the blanket is about 50 inches square… ish.

So I divided 2680 by 50, leaving me with 53.6. So, if I cast on 50″ across, I’ll have enough yarn for a 53″ long blanket.

Each repeat is about 3″ across, plus an inch and a half for each border, so dividing it out, that will give me 16.16. But, of course I can’t do part of a repeat, so I’ll round down to 16.

So to get my stitch count, I’ve got 6 stitches for the edges, plus 14 x 16 (14 stitches per repeat, 16 repeats), which gives me 230 stitches.

So now I’m off to cast on and cross my fingers that I did my math right!

Off (or on) the Map

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I get emails on a fairly regular basis asking me why I use charts in my patterns instead of just writing out the instructions. I try to explain why I prefer charts over written instructions (they are easier to read, they give you a visual representation of what the finished pattern should look like, etc), but I feel like I’ve never had a really good, succinct explanation. Until now.

I was chatting with a friend about charts vs. written instructions (like you do), and she had an amazing analogy. An analogy I’d like to share with you.

The year is 1998. The Barenaked Ladies, Destiny’s Child and Brittney Spears are on the radio, Armageddon is in the movie theaters, and I’m in middle school. You’re planning on taking a road trip (while listening to your new NSYNC CD in your very high-tech car CD player), and you need directions. 541c9257a84d7.image

You boot up the modem and go to Mapquest for driving directions. After 45 minutes (which seems very fast), you’ve downloaded and printed out your instructions. You’re ready to go.

You hop in the car, follow your instructions. Left on Aurora, right on 145th, take the northbound on-ramp, drive 5 miles, get off at Exit 220. But wait, there is no Exit 220! Where’s Exit 220? I thought I was supposed to be on the freeway? Why am I in the middle of a neighborhood? What happened?

You don’t have a map with you, because you didn’t need it- you had your Mapquest directions. Sure you could retrace your steps, carefully make your way back home and try following the directions again, but that’s a lot of work. You’re lost. You’ve got to cross your fingers that you can find a friendly gas station attendant to give you new directions. Capture Now imagine you’re on that same road trip, but this time you’ve got a map (or better yet, you’ve got a map and your instructions). If you get off track, you can pull over, find your cross street and figure out your location. Sure, reading the map might be a little tricky, but in the long run you know you won’t ever be stranded like you were with just the instructions.

Knitting is the same way. Sure, if you’re knitting with only written instructions, and you follow the instructions exactly to the letter, you’ll end up with a beautiful garment. But let’s be honest, when’s the last time you knit a garment without a single mistake? (I can’t say I’ve ever done that.) And once you’ve made a mistake, all you have is a big block of text that you have to wade through to figure out where you went wrong- not easy. Capture1 If you’re using a chart, on the other hand, you can usually tell much more quickly where you went wrong. Maybe there’s a yarn over where there should be, a section of lace that is missing a stitch, or a cable that’s been crossed the wrong direction (the bane of my existence). Because a chart gives you a birds-eye view of what your project should look like, it’s easier to figure out what’s going on, where you went wrong, and ultimately how to fix it.

I know charts aren’t for everybody (just like some people will never be able to read a map, no matter how hard they try), but if you’re on the fence about trying a charted pattern, give it a go! You might like it!

Tutorial: Reading Charts- Repeats

Tutorial: Reading a Chart in the Round

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Last week, I talked about the basics of reading a chart. Today, I’m going to talk about reading a chart while knitting in the round.

*Gasp* What?! Charts!? And circular needles?! That’s just too much! I can’t even! (Sorry… I’m feeling a little dramatic this morning)

No, it’s not difficult! It’s actually pretty simple.

So remember this chart from last week? This is a chart that’s been written so that you can work it flat (ie, back and forth).I’ve modified it to now be read in the round. Can you spot the differences (It’s like a sad, grown-up version of the puzzles in the back of Highlights magazine)?The first big difference (that I’m sure you spotted), is that all the row numbers are lined up along the right side of the chart. That’s because when you knit in the round, you’re always traveling in the same direction (from right to left). When you knit flat, you knit back and forth, so the row numbers are arranged on alternate sides. But, the same rule applies no matter how you’re knitting- you start knitting from the side of the row with the number, and work away.The second big difference is in they key:It looks like there’s a whole bunch of information missing, when you compare this chart to the “knit flat” chart. But, in fact, you’re not missing any information! This is because when you knit in the round, every row is a RS row! So, it’s just implied that (in this case) a white square is a knit stitch on the RS and a gray square is a purl.

Simple!

What’s your favorite kind of pattern?

Tutorial: Reading a Chart

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I’ve had a rash of people emailing me lately who don’t know how to read a chart- and that blows my mind! Not only are charts the best way (in my mind) to understand a complicated pattern, but I think they’re head-and-shoulders easier to read than a 100% written-out pattern. So, without further ado- let’s look at a chart.

This is a little chart from my new pattern, the Laura Shawl! (It’s the narrow, textured stripe, in-between the big cables.)Let’s look at the main parts of this chart. At the top, you’ll see the chart name- this is important if you’re working a project that uses several charts. For example, the Laura Shawl uses 5 separate charts, this is the third (C) one. And, at the bottom (or sometimes to the side), you’ll find a key which explains what the symbols mean (I’ll explain that in more detail later).Then, along the left and right sides, you’ll find row numbers. And, on the bottom, you’ll see the stitch numbers.You’ll notice that the row numbers go from bottom to top (ie. 1 is on the bottom). This is because you’re going to knit from the bottom to the top. That way, when you finish knitting the chart, you’ll be able to hold up your knitting next to the chart and you should see something that looks similar to the chart (in other words, it shouldn’t be upside-down or mirrored).This chart is meant to be knit flat, and I can tell that because the row numbers alternate sides. (1 is on the right, 2 is on the left, etc.) The beginning of your row is marked by the row number. So, Row 1 starts at the right and goes to the left. Row 2 starts at the left and goes right. (Just like your knitting!)Now you’ve got your bearings, it’s time to start knitting. But what do all those little squares mean? Each square is a stitch, and the symbol (or in this case, the color of the square) tells you how to work that square. Do you see down in the key? Each symbol has instructions, which include what to do on the Right Side and the Wrong side. On odd-numbered rows (unless your pattern says otherwise), you’ll work the RS instructions. So, for Row 1, you’ll K1, P3, K2, P3, K1.Then, on the even rows, you’ll use the Wrong Side instructions. So, Row 2, you’ll P1, K3, P2, K3, P1.And, that’s basically it! See? It’s not so bad! You can totally use a chart!