Tag Archives: tutorials

Tutorial: Reading Charts- Repeats

Now we all are experts in reading a chart while knitting back and forth, and we’re experts in using charts in the round. But charts aren’t always that simple. Sometimes your project has more stitches in a row than there are on your chart. You can imagine that this could happen with projects that have a wide, repeating pattern (like a dish cloth, a blanket, or sweater).

If you have to repeat the whole chart, that’s easy enough- knit across the chart row, then work it again (and again), until you get to the end of your row of your knitting. Simple.

But sometimes you have to repeat only some of the stitches in a row. When you need to do that, your chart will look like this:Do you see the change? (It’s subtle, so I’ll help you.)See those highlighted vertical lines? Those are your repeat marks. OK, honestly, I’m not sure what they’re technically called, but they mark out the stitches that you have to repeat.

So, let’s make an imaginary project- a scarf maybe? We’ll cast on 18 sts, and use this chart, repeating the 4 sts in-between the repeat marks 3 times.

Start at row 1 st 1, and knit straight through to st 6 (just before the second repeat mark). (You’ve worked 6 sts)

Then, go back to st 3 (just after the first repeat mark), and work back through st 6. (10 sts total)Then, you’ll repeat sts 3-6 once more, and continue on to the end of the row. (18 sts total)On the next row you do the same thing, but reverse the way you read the chart (because we’re pretending to knit back and forth).

So, start at row 2, st 10, and work across to st 3 (just before the second repeat mark). (8 sts)Then repeat the middle 4 sts. (12 sts)And finish by working sts 6-1 once more. (18 sts)

Make sense? Of course, for a wider project, you might be required to repeat the middle section more times, but the concept is the same. Just keep going across the row, looping back as needed when you get to a repeat mark. Simple!

Any more questions? Let me know if anything else is confusing to you, I’m happy to help!

What do you want to see?

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Hi knitters! It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with you, so I think it’s about time!I want to know what you guys are into! What are you interested in? What do you want to see?

Do you want tutorials? Knitalongs? Pattern and yarn reviews? Do you want more ramblings about how bad I am at technology? (Too bad- you’re getting those regardless!)Do you want recommendations for media to entertain you while knitting? Do you want to see more of the projects on my needles? Do you want to share your projects?

The sky’s the limit! Just let me know what you’re interested in, and I’m happy to provide!

Socks II: The Resockening

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I just realized that I hadn’t made an official pattern of my Sock ~~Week~~ Month Tutorial. Here it is, in a nice .pdf format for your printing pleasure. I also have the pattern saved in my “Pattern Library” page along with all the other patterns I’ve posted here. And, you can see all my patterns on Ravelry.

Socks by the Numbers

Actually, it is the size of the boat that matters

Gauge is a tricky concept to talk about, because it’s kind of abstract, but it’s not a tricky concept to understand. Gauge really means the size of the stitches of the knitting that you are producing. It’s usually measured in stitches per inch (for example, if you see a ball of yarn that says “4 sts/in” on the label, that means that the yarn manufacturer thinks that the yarn works best at 4 stitches per inch).

Gauge can play a HUGE role in how a project turns out. For example take a look at these two hats:

These hats are (I kid you not) exactally the same. They were both made with the Chunky Hat pattern that I posted Wednesday. The only thing I did was change the yarn and needles to change the gauge. The blue hat was knit at a gauge of about 2 stitches per inch, the red hat was knit at a gauge of about 8 stitches per inch.

So how do you get different gauges? You change two variables. Your yarn and your needles. First pick a yarn that will get you close to your gauge (by looking at the label on the yarn package you can get a rough estimate of your expected gauge). Then, through trial and error, try different needles to get your desired gauge (again the yarn label will suggest a needle for you to use).

The yarn you use will dictate (to a point) what needles you can use. For example, the bulky blue yarn is super thick, so you could probably use needles from about a 10 to about a 15. 15s are going to give you a loosely knit (large gauge) fabric, and 10s are going to give you really dense fabric with a tighter gauge. If you tried to use smaller needles (like 5s or 3s), you’d have almost no chance of being able to knit, since the needles would be so much smaller.

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