Realising you’ve crossed a cable the wrong way is a common problem. This video shows you how to fix cables, even if the problem was a few rows down.
This tutorial was created as part of my Level Up Your Socks KAL. Use it to help you knit patterned socks and enter to win prizes.
Reading your knitting means being able to look at a piece of knitting and recognising what stitch was used. Learning how to read your knitting will make it a lot easier to keep track of where you are in a pattern and help prevent mistakes. If you can see where you are in a pattern by looking, you’ll save yourself from lots of counting and it might make it easier to memorise a pattern.
The basic knitting stitches are knit and purl, so learning to tell them apart is the first hurdle. All knitting is made of rows of loops. If the loops on the row below are behind or in front of the current yarn is the difference between a knit and a purl.
Here we have three columns of knit stitches. You can see that the knit stitches form a v-shape, with the sides of the current loop in front of the loop from the row below. You can see the top of the blue loop is behind the black stitches on the needle, that have just been knitted.
Here all the stitches are purls. Now the sides of the loops are at the back and the top and bottom loop are at the front. This causes purl bumps to be seen, as horizontal bars.
Every time you work a stitch, you are influencing whether the top of the loop from the previous row is at the back for a knit, or the front for a purl. This means that if you turn a knit stitch over it looks like a purl stitch because what used to be the back is now the front.
When worked flat garter stitch is knit every row, but the rows of loops alternate between being at the front and the back. Here the blue stitches were knit, but they look like purl stitches, with the top of the green loop in front. That’s because we’re looking at the back of them.
If garter stitch is worked in the round, you alternate between knit and purl stitches. This is because you are always looking at the knitting from the same side.
Reading your knitting takes practice. In ribbing, the columns of stitches should all look the same, either v-shaped knits or bumpy purls. In order to practice telling the difference between knit and purl stitches, try starting with a random sequence and see if you can repeat it every row.
Choose a smooth, plain coloured yarn and cast on at least 15 stitches. Then use one of the methods below to work the first row.
For each stitch, toss a coin and make a knit for heads and purl for tails.
Alternate between knit and purl, making the number of stitches on the die each time until you run out of stitches.
Now the pattern has been set (don’t keep notes), repeat the row trying to match each stitch to the one below. Remember you’re trying to match how they look, not how they were worked. So if the last stitch was purl, when you turn it over it looks like a knit, so you knit the first stitch.
You should end up with something that looks like this, with identifiable columns of knit and purl. The edge stitches always end up looking a bit distorted, so don’t worry if you struggle to read those.
Once you’ve mastered the ribbing, try this instead. Cellular automata is a mathematical concept where a rule is used to determine the next row of a grid depending on the state of the previous row. Ribbing is an example of a simple rule where the next row is equal to the previous one.
Elementary cellular automata use the cell below and the two cells either side of that to decide on the value of the current cell. There are 256 possible rules to choose from, some of which are more interesting than others.
Start by generating a random sequence of knits and purls as before, set knit as 1 and purl as 0. Then pick a rule and use that to decide whether to knit or purl each stitch depending on the three below it. Assume all stitches outside your grid are knit.
As part of the Level Up Your Socks KAL I thought it would be good to hear from some other sock designers. I did an interview with Anna Friberg, who uses the brand name Yarnesty, about her experiences of sock knitting and designing.
AF: I have known how to knit since I was very small, I don’t even remember who taught me to knit. But I think it must have been either Mum or my maternal Grandma, as I remember that I knit my purl stitches as a Norwegian when I was young, and they grew up close to the Norwegian border.
RG: That’s really interesting, when did you stop using the Norwegian purl?
AF: That was when I was working on getting the same gauge with knitting and purling. Early teens, I think.
I knit a lot until I started uni. After that, I knit a little bit here and there, but not many things were finished. I came back to it in a serious way around ten years ago, and then I became an everyday knitter five or six years ago. That was when I discovered Ravelry and began to read patterns in English.
My first pattern in English was a free pattern from Ysolda: Garter Stitch Mitts.
RG: I think those garter stitch mitts have been in my queue for as long as I’ve been on Ravelry.
AF: They are a really fast knit ?
Today I prefer English patterns. Even if they are available in Swedish. The instructions are more defined in English.
AF: Well I think English is easiest. I can follow Danish and Norwegian as well if I must ?
My day job is as a quality software engineer for software that is used in aircraft. And that includes a lot of inspections and knowledge of processes. Not as much coding anymore.
I live in a house in Ljungsbro, a small village outside a town called Linköping. That is about 2hrs south of Stockholm. I live there with my husband and our two teenaged children.
AF: It all started out with me listening to the iMake podcast and Martine lured me to participate in a challenge to knit on a sock every day. After a while, I found a way I liked to make my vanilla socks and someone asking me to write down my Vanilla Sock pattern.
I could have written it down on a blog but I like doing things thoroughly. So I wrote down a pattern and put it up on Ravelry. Then I did two or three more sock designs that summer.
Then my friend Jannika told me about Joeli’s Designer Bootcamp on Periscope. And that was when I started to take my designing to a new level. I also used a Tech Editor: James Bartley and that has improved my designing immensely!
RG: That’s great.
AF: I suppose that is a part of my Scandinavian heritage ? At the same time I think it is a bit of a challenge to have stranded knitting on the leg of the sock, as it can be difficult to get the sock over the heel and arch. So that is why I often have patterns around the sock’s foot instead.
RG: That’s a good way to take the limitations of stranded knitting into account, without losing the lovely designs you can make with it.
AF: I was blown away of the response. Of course, it helped that MoodsOfColors, a very appreciated Swedish indie-dyer sold kits for the socks in her sock yarn subscription. But even without those kits, many knitters from all over the world was interested in participating. Many who never have tried my patterns before. That was really fun.
A normal KAL is also a good way to get the word out, but I think the MKAL attracts even more. Knitters like to get a pattern in clues and not knowing what comes next.
I also enjoyed all the secrecy! I was very careful not to give away anything beforehand. I only had one test knitter. Of course, the dyer had seen the prototype. And I never gave away if there should be a colour change or not for the next week. Well after a while, the knitters probably saw a pattern, that the colour changed each clue, but they never knew ?
It is a fun way to design as well. It can be a little bit of a franken-sock, but at the same time the yarn and the colours kept it together.
RG: That sounds really fun. Might you do another one in future?
AF: Yes I will definitely do more of that. Not this year, though ? The chatter on social media has been super fun to follow and participate in!
I am super grateful that so many have participated and knit them. And even people have started them after all clues have been revealed. That is lovely to see!
RG: I’m always a bit hesitant with mystery patterns because sometimes I love the beginning but then they go in a strange direction halfway through.
AF: I agree, I have done maybe 6-7 MKALs so far. I have actually loved most of them.
AF: Most of the surgery I have done on sweaters or shawls. Socks are so small items, so I usually rip back and start over instead of fixing it with surgery.
But, I knit kilt hoses for my son, and I had a simple cable on each side of the leg. (same as on the Fergus pattern). And after having knit half a leg I realised that I had done the cables too wide. Then I ripped only those stitches over the cable pattern (10 stitches or so) and re-knit the cable pattern correctly.
RG: Ripping back can be very useful. That must have been quite fiddly fixing those cables.
AF: Yes a bit fiddly, but with a pair of extra needles, it went quite well.
AF: I tend to write very detailed patterns. Most people appreciate knowing whether to, for example, slip a stitch purlwise or knitwise.
On the other hand, if they are used to patterns with open directions, they might skip reading instructions that are crucial for the next section and that can become a problem. I have only had one or two customers with those kinds of problems.
When it comes to more traditional Scandinavian patterns, they are sometimes so open (a bit like vintage patterns) that you have to be a very experienced and advanced knitter to be able to follow them.
Even if I regard myself being an experienced knitter, when I knit other designer’s patterns I want them to be very detailed and especially I want to know what to do next. Of course, I make changes in patterns, but that should be my own decision. Not that I have to, due to a pattern lacking in instructions or if the math is wrong in the pattern.
RG: It can definitely be frustrating if you can’t understand how the pattern is supposed to work.
AF: In that case, I’d rather make it up myself ?
AF: I think that if you want to be able to enjoy your socks as long as possible you should knit them with quite a tight gauge. That makes the socks more durable. Personally, I think that 9 sts/inch is nice for fingering weight sock yarn. And the socks will be thin enough to wear in your everyday shoes.
RG: That’s a very good tip ?.
AF: I have learnt loads by reading Sock Architecture by Lara Neel. It is quite a technical book and my engineer brain likes it ?
RG: I like that one, it has formulas in.
AF: Exactly ?. For new techniques, I often look at VeryPink Knit’s youtube channel.
You can find out more about Anna at her website Knitway, see all her designs on Ravelry and follow her on instagram @yarnesty.
My patterns tend to have a lot of cables because I really like them. However, if you’re using a cable needle, this can make it slow and awkward. Here’s a video on how I cable without a cable needle.
This was produced as part of my Level Up Your Socks KAL. Join in the KAL for more tips like this.
Pangolins are pretty special creatures. They’re the only mammals with all-over keratin scales and are believed to be the world’s most trafficked mammal. Although I have to admit that I’ve only heard of them because of the Ubuntu release named Precise Pangolin, which I didn’t realise was named after an animal until one of my colleagues pointed it out.
I named my newest sock pattern after the pangolin because of the cabled pattern reminiscent of overlapping scales flowing down the leg.
The unisex socks come in three sizes, to fit leg circumference of 8/S (9/M, 10/L)”/20 (23, 25.5) cm and feature a flap and gusset heel. This makes it easy to adapt for a high instep. The pattern has written and charted instructions, whichever you find easier to use and the digital pattern features bookmarks, making it easier to navigate.
The pattern utilises transition charts to help the pattern move seamlessly into the toe and heel flap. The smallest size is made on a size smaller needles, due to design constraints.
The sample is made in Phileas Yarns Explorer in the Reynisfjara colourway. This is unusual in being a black yarn that doesn’t hurt your eyes to work with. It’s a semi-solid yarn, but doesn’t have enough varigation to disrupt the cables.
Thanks to all my testers and my tech editor who helped make this pattern even better.
Visit the Ravelry pattern page here for more information and buy Pangolin Socks for £3.50+VAT directly here.
If you like this design and want to be notified of future pattern releases, sign up to my newsletter.
Charts are really useful for knitting because they look the same as the finished knitting, so it’s easier to know what you’re doing and if you’ve gone wrong. However, they can be a bit confusing if you’ve not used one before. This blog post is going to help you learn how to read a knitting chart.
The basis of a knitting chart is the grid. This is a rectangle of squares, where each square represents one stitch. The columns will be numbered, either at the top, the bottom, or both and the rows will be numbered at the side.
A flat knitting chart is read from right-to-left on right-side (RS) rows and left-to-right on wrong-side (WS) rows. To help you remember this, the row number is always on the side where you start. It’s done like this so that the stitches line up as they will when knitted, with a turn at the end of every row.
A chart that is to be knitted in the round will have all the row numbers on the right-hand side, because every row is read from right-to-left. The columns are always numbered from right-to-left as well, to match the direction of knitting. If there are no increases or decreases, the column number is always the same as the stitch number. You can use that to help you keep track of where you are.
Every knitting stitch is represented by a symbol. These aren’t always the same for every chart, although there are some standards. In order to know what a symbol means, look at the key.
The symbols are often designed to look like the stitch they’re describing, so a k2tog is a right leaning decrease, and the symbol slants the same direction as the stitch. If you find it hard to remember which stitch is which, you might find it helpful to highlight the stitches in different colours, so yellow is k2tog and blue is ssk, for example.
A chart is designed to look like the knitting from the RS. So in a flat chart, the same symbol is often used to mean knit on the RS and purl on the WS. This is because a purl on the WS looks like a knit when viewed from the RS.
Here are a small chart and the corresponding knitting, to help you see how the two compare.
The chart is a simple 6 row pattern, with purl stitches, yarn overs and decreases. It would be written out like this:
Row 1 (RS): k1, p1, k2, p1, k1. (6 sts)
Row 2 (WS): p1, k1, p2, k1, p1.
Row 3: k1, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k1.
Row 4: purl.
Row 5: k1, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k1.
Row 6: purl.
When you’re not sure how to read a chart, check it against the written instructions, if these are included in the pattern, or try writing them out yourself.
This is that chart knitted up, with a garter stitch border. You can clearly see the holes made by the yo’s.
Here the chart has been placed over the knitting, to help you see where they line up. See how the yarn over holes match the circle symbol on the chart, with the purl bumps below.
If you increase a stitch in knitting, you’re creating an extra stitch where none was before. As a chart is grid based, when we add an extra stitch in the middle we need to create a space for it by having an empty column below. To do this we use something called a no stitch.
In this chart, the first two rows have three knit stitches, separated by two no stitches, represented by grey boxes. When you get to the no stitch while knitting, you just ignore it. It’s a placeholder, not a real stitch. On row 3 there are two increases, bringing the total number of stitches to five. The no stitches are shown underneath the increases to make the chart line up the same as the real knitting.
On row 5, there are two decreases, bringing the number of stitches down to three again. This means that there will be too many boxes for the number of stitches we now have. Therefore, no stitches are used again.
Today is the start of my Level Up Your Socks KAL. I created the Level Up Your Socks e-course to help give people more confidence knitting patterned socks and now’s the chance to see you put it into practice. There’s also be extra content all through the KAL, for even more support.
You can enter with any socks that are more complicated than just stocking stitch or rib, and you get an extra entry for each pair of socks that are made from one of my patterns. I’ll also be releasing two new patterns during the KAL, so look out for those. You can join in on Instagram with the hashtag #levelupyoursocks, in my Ravelry group, or in the new Level Up Your Socks Facebook group. Then when you’ve finished your socks, all you have to do is fill out this form to be in the running for the prizes.
To get things started, here’s a tutorial on my favourite way to start top-down socks, the Twisted German Cast On.
I don’t tend to design using stitch dictionaries. Personally, I prefer to think of a shape and try to recreate it in knitting. However, they can be a very useful tool and 200 Fair Isle Designs is a great book for anyone interested in creating their own fair isle projects. Mary Jane Mucklestone is a very talented designer who specialises in stranded colourwork.
The book starts with an extensive skills section, not only covering basics like casting on and increases and decreases but things specific to stranded knitting, such as how to hold the yarn, managing floats and steeking. It also covers yarn choice including how that will affect things like float length and gives the names of all 11 recognized colours of Shetland sheep. I like that the tension section considers that different tensions are suitable for different purposes.
Photographs are used to demonstrate the techniques, which are fairly clear although I feel this could be improved in some places. For example, in the weaving section (dealing with floats) there are only photos showing weaving background yarn when working with both hands, and weaving pattern yarn for that style is only described in the text. As the photographs seem to all use Shetland wool, this can make it harder to see what is happening.
I also feel that while technical terms are described, the language used to describe them is sometimes quite a high level. Some people might struggle with terms such as superimpose and laterally, especially if English is not your first language. While the meaning can usually be worked out from the context, it’s something to keep in mind.
If you are feeling particularly brave and want to design your own fair isle jumper or cardigan, Mary Jane gives advice on pattern placement, traditional Shetland construction and colour choices.
The 200 Fair Isle Designs are organised according to width and height, making it easy to find motifs that work well together. It starts with the small peerie designs and finishes with large designs suitable for jumpers, or using singly on accessories. The section starts with a Design Selector, showing all the knitted up versions together.
Each design has a black and white symbolic chart, showing the pattern outline, two colour variations, one of which is shown knitted up and a suggested all-over repeat chart. Depending on how the small designs are placed, the all-over repeat can have a very different look to the individual chart.
As colour choice can dramatically change how a design looks, I like having two options shown. Often one uses more colours than the other, showing how the basic structure of a design can be broken up into the traditional Shetland gradient.
The 14 largest designs also have a Mix and Match box, showing how they can be combined with previous smaller designs and suggesting how colour choices can enhance the effect. This really helps show what is possible and shows what to consider when combining motifs.
200 Fair Isle Designs is a great collection of motifs. I think for anyone interested in creating their own fair isle project it would be a valuable resource and the design section is very well structured. Because traditional fair isle tends to be worked in horizontal bands, I think this style of book is especially suitable.
While the essential skills section has some useful content, I feel like it could be improved. However, it does cover everything you would need to know. I would perhaps not recommend it to someone who has never worked stranded knitting before, but as a refresher and a skills builder, it works well.
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This month’s sock book, Sock Knitting Master Class by Ann Budd, is a collection of patterns from well-known designers and contains an accompanying DVD.
The socks cover a range of techniques and styles, which are described at the beginning, in a chapter called Mastering Good Sock Design. This includes fit, yarn and gauge, needle choice, heels, toes and aesthetics. Each method is described, with instructions on how to work it, and it also includes why you might pick that particular one, which I appreciate as it can be hard to know which one to choose. It then indicates which socks in the book use that method, including page numbers which is always useful. All these techniques are also covered on the DVD.
Needle choice covers four and five DPNs, tiny circulars, two circulars and magic loop. While almost all sock patterns can be made with any type of needles, it can be interesting to know which the designer used.
The heels section covers a large array of heel types, including different ways to turn a flap and gusset heel, different stitch patterns to use on the heel flap, and toe-up and top-down variants of a flap and gusset heel. It also covers short row heels and afterthought heels (which it calls peasant heels). All the instructions are generic and can be worked with any number of stitches. This does require you to do a bit of your own thinking and may not suit people who want more detailed instructions
The toes section is also very extensive, covering some unusual choices used by the patterns in the book, including a mocassin toe and a horizontal band toe as well as the standard options. The toes instructions are only given for one of toe-up and top-down depending on what the book patterns use, which I do feel is a disadvantage, especially as the more standard toes are only top-down. The only toe to cover both is the short-row toe.
The aesthetics section is mainly of interest to designers. You don’t have to sell patterns to be a designer, but if you’ve ever wanted to make up your own pattern instead of following a bought one, you may find this section useful. It covers cables, stranded colourwork, lace, slipped stitches, twisted travelling stitches, entrelac and shadow knitting. Each section briefly describes the technique and then covers the advantages and disadvantages as well as things to take into account when using the technique for socks, such as the effect on stitch count.
The patterns are grouped into top-down and toe-up and each section starts again with why you might want to use that method and suitable cast ons. The top down section has six cast ons, three methods for joining in the round and three bind offs (you don’t have to use the Kitchener stitch). For toe-up, there are two cast ons and four bind offs. These are demonstrated on the DVD.
Each pattern has a distinct box indicating which techniques are used in the pattern and which page they can be found on. There are also design tips and notes on yarn choice from Clara Parkes (the author of The Knitters Book of Yarn, which I reviewed in April). The gauge is mainly given in both stocking stitch and the stitch pattern used, to help you achieve a good fit.
The first pattern in the book, Asymmetric Cables, is by one of my favourite designers, Cookie A, (read my review of her first sock book), and it has cables so of course, I love it. It comes in multiple sizes, although the largest size is a 9″ foot circumference so although the pattern is unisex it may not fit all men. I also find it odd that the cable pattern is only written out and not charted.
French Market Socks by Nancy Bush comes next. These are stranded socks with a four-point toe. The colourwork charts use symbols as well as colours to identify the different yarns, useful if you’re working off a photocopy. This sock is only available in one size, probably due to the patterning continuing onto the toe.
Almondine by Anne Handon has a lovely lace design and comes in a wide range of sizes. The designer considers the lace pattern unisex, although I’m not sure I would agree. This pattern only has charted instructions and not written for the lace.
Happy-Go-Lucky Boot Socks by Véronik Avery uses slip stitch colourwork and sport weight yarn. Again only one size is offered, which is disappointing. I do like the unusual heel flap though.
Thigh High Stripes by Deborah Newton are the impressive socks from the front cover. There is only one size available, which is given as measurements immediately above the heel flap, midway up the leg and at the upper leg just below the ribbing. Some suggestions are made on how the size could be adapted but are not included in the pattern. It expects the gauge to be the same in the stranded portions as in stocking stitch, which could cause a problem.
Rose Ribs by Evelyn A Clark are another delicate lace pattern, available in two sizes. The stitch pattern is not charted, although it is only 7 stitches and 8 rounds so fairly easily memorisable.
Twisted Stitch Stockings by Meg Swansen as the name suggests feature twisted stitch cables and also removable sole. The legs are calf length and incorporate decreases to fit. The cable pattern is charted and not written, although as it rather large that is understandable. Only one size in included, but it is considered very stretchy, so this is less of a problem than with some other socks in the book. If you don’t like grafting, these are not the socks for you as there is a large seam in the middle of the foot. As the foot is worked flat, this involves purling through the back loop which is one of my least favourite stitches to work, although instructions on knitting backwards are also included.
Knot Socks are also by Nancy Bush. These socks are inspired by Estonia and feature an unusual ribbed cable, a square heel and a three-point toe. The yarn used in finer than standard sock yarn and US0 (2 mm) needles are recommended. The cable is charted and not written out and once again, there is only one size (and a small one at that).
Mock Cables and Lace are by Ann Budd, the collator of this book. This features lace that looks like cables and twists that look like cables but aren’t. The leg length is quite long, and a larger needle is used for the first part of the leg to help the fit, however, there is only one size given. The pattern is charted but not written and I like the way the pattern flows into the heel flap.
Slip-n-Slide are by Chrissy Gardiner and use slip stitch patterns (but not colourwork). This forms delicate patterns on the surface of the socks. I would be considered how these socks would wear, in the given 100% merino yarn and with a patterned but not reinforced heel flap. The instructions are only written out, which for a 17 round pattern seems an odd choice.
Up-Down Entrelac by Kathryn Alexander use 30 different colours, so would be perfect for using leftover, although you can also buy a kit. The legs are worked top down, the foot toe-up and the heel is afterthought. Although since the odd construction is to enable that kind of toe, I’m not sure the name is appropriate (perhaps why peasant is used instead). I think it is the longest pattern in the book and not for the faint of heart. Only one size is given, which is perhaps not surprising for such a complicated pattern, and three different needle sizes are used.
Bulgarian Blooms by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts involves working intarsia in the round and a tutorial for this is given in the pattern. I’m not sure why intarsia wasn’t covered in the aesthetics section, although it is very infrequently used for socks. There are five sizes given, which is a refreshing change.
Stealth Argyles by Eunny Jang use shadow knitting to hide the diamond pattern. The motif is charted, and this is the only colourwork chart in the book not to use symbols to differentiate colours, as symbols are being used to show which stitches are purled.
Terpander by Melissa Morgan-Oakes features a large central cable, which is charted only, and a toe-up heel flap. Instructions for working socks two-at-a-time are included. Only one size is given, but it would be fairly simple to extend the purl panels between the cables.
Half Stranded Socks by Anna Zilboorg also feature a removable sole, but this one is knit in a more traditional direction so it doesn’t require the whole thing to be unravelled and doesn’t have a giant grafted seam. I love the stranded colourwork and while the colours are reversed on the second sock, this isn’t immediately obvious which I like. Due to the large colourwork pattern, there is only one size given.
Pussy Willow Stockings by Cat Bordhi features Cat’s mocassin toe, a travelling lace pattern and a twisted stitch heel flap. It has two sizes, and is said to be stretchy so could accommodate more. The yarn overs are used to shape the gusset, which is unusual but pleasing.
Toe-Up Travellers, also by Ann Budd are the final socks of the book. They have a beautiful Japenese twisted stitch cable pattern and wrapped stitches. The charts are very large but clear.
I had problems watching the included DVD on my laptop, although that probably says more about my laptop than the DVD. It worked fine on my TV.
The DVD is split into sections, so you can just watch the part that interests you, although it then continues into the next section automatically which is a bit annoying. When talking about designing with different techniques (aesthetics), it demonstrates what is being talked about with the socks from the book. This can give an interesting insight into the designers’ thought processes, although Ann Budd is the only designer actually featured in the video.
When demonstrating the different needles, the example socks and needles used were far larger than usually used for socks. This may make it easier to see on camera but it annoys me. The video is good at discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the different types but doesn’t go into how to actually work that method in any detail.
It doesn’t show all the heel types available in the book, only the round heel toe-up and top-down (the most common flap and gusset version). I find it odd that when showing how to pick up the stitches on the heel flap the camera is facing Ann Budd and not showing her perspective, which makes it a little hard to see what is going on as her fingers are often in the way.
The DVD does not have subtitles, which makes things harder for knitters who are hard of hearing or may not have English as their first language.
I think the patterns are very attractive and I like learning about new to me designers. The technique section at the beginning is not as in depth as I might have liked but covers everything you need to know to make these socks, and I do like how it goes into the benefits of each method. I find the lack of sizing options a problem, especially as most of the socks that are only available in single sizes are at the smaller end of the range. As a designer, I know it can be hard to provide a range of sizes, but I couldn’t wear half of the socks in this book.
I appreciate there are space constraints in any book but I would like more consistency in whether a pattern has written or charted instructions and both in more places. The instructions, however, did seem clear and easy to follow, although I haven’t knitted any of the patterns myself.
I think if you like the patterns in Sock Knitting Master Class and are interested in trying some more unusual techniques then the book would be great, but not if you have large feet! The DVD is somewhat helpful if you’re a visual learner, although since the book was published in 2011, there are a lot more tutorials available online these days.
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The Yarn Harlot is well-known in knitting circles for her blog full of amusing yarn related anecdotes and Knitting Rules! is written in that style, but also contains lots of helpful knitting content. You can easily read it through from start to finish, or just look up the information you need.
If you’ve ever felt bad about knitting too much, having too much yarn or not being able to get through a conversation without mentioning knitting, then Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is here for you and even has handy tips and quizzes to help you deal with it. The first two chapters are “What is Knitting and How Does it Get Like This?” and “Yarn and How Not to Feel Guilty About It” and are recommended reading for any budding knitting-addict. The section on identifying mystery yarn is something that all knitters will find comes in handy at some point, and contains multiple ways of identifying fibres, weights and yardage.
Highlights include “Five Reasons Why People Don’t Knit” (and why they’re all poor excuses), a quiz to assess your level of knitting obsession (I come out as a Scientist, unsurprisingly), a letter to the inventor of ziploc bags thanking them on behalf of the knitting community. It also has a section on identifying mystery yarn, which is something that all knitters will find comes in handy at some point and contains multiple ways of identifying fibres, weights and yardage.
Chapter Three is called “Know Your Stuff” which is all about stuff knitters use that isn’t yarn, i.e. needles, bags, patterns and notions (it has a handy list of what should be inside a model knitting bag). l. It’s also the only book which I’ve seen mention casein needles. I inherited some casein DPNs from my grandma and can attest to her point that they taste very, very bad, despite being made from milk protein.
The next chapter is “Gauge, Swatches, and Learning to Accept Them” which includes 10 Times When You Should Worry About Gauge” and “5 Times You Don’t Need to Get Gauge”, to cover all the bases. She includes a cautionary tale to remind you about the perils of ignoring gauge, but in a very amusing way.
The final four chapters are about different types of project: hats, socks, scarves and shawls, and sweaters. Each gives 10 reasons to knit that type of object (the socks chapter has 10 reasons not to as well) and then has basic patterns for everything other than sweaters, including size charts to fit almost anyone. There are then suggestions on how to build on the basic patterns to make more interesting things.
For a small book, it packs in a lot of information and in a very accessible way. While the technical bits are probably more suited to a beginner knitter, I think all knitters can get something out of this book as Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a very relatable writer. Not only does Knitting Rules contain guidelines for knitting, it’s also a celebration of knitters everywhere and the crazy things they do for love of the craft.
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