BS: knitting - what's this?

Subject: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Nov 21 - 04:28 PM

I'm looking for a free or cheap knitting pattern for a headband with a cable, and I finally found one that looks just right. But the first row of the directions is this:

CO 13 STS.
Row 1 {WS}: WYIB S1PW, P1, K2, P5, K2, WYIF S1PW, P1

What's that? It looks like something from another galaxy. All I recognize is P1, K2.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Nov 21 - 04:31 PM

Never mind. Now I know, for example, that

SL4BK1 – slip 4 STS to cable needle, hold in back, knit next stitch, slip 3 STS back to LH needle and bring remaining stitch on cable needle to front, knit the 3 STS from LH needle, then knit the first stitch from cable needle.

I'm capable of mastering this, but it wouldn't be any fun. I'm in the mood for fun.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Nov 21 - 06:48 PM

There has been an awful lot of knitting going on.
Is it a post-pandemic thing?

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Nov 21 - 10:55 PM

If you have to stay home a lot and avoid crowds, why not knit?

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 12:02 AM

Or sew, or play music......or read......or knit.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 12:04 AM

some of us do simple stuff, others are more ambitious!

Nudinits, anatomically correct knitted people living in a proper English village complete with English humour. Nudnits check out the vicar & his flock & watch the award winning animation

a whole hospital   video

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Monique
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 02:01 AM

Leeneia, you can get free patterns written in proper English on Drops. I use La grenouille tricote (The Frog knits) a lot, it's in French but you can put the instructions into Google translator. Sometimes the pattern has been borrowed from some other site with English instructions, she always includes a link in her pdf.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Monique
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 02:46 AM

Knitting abbreviations glossary
co= cast off
wyib= with yarn in back
wyif= with yarn in front
s1pw = slip one pearl wise

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 02:56 AM

SIPIUO = Sod It, Pick It Up, Ooooops. as in:

Knittershanty

Modesty forbids. Well 30% of me.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 07:09 AM

How do you slip one purlwise? Asking for a friend.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 07:21 AM

I think we dropped one, purl one

But then 30% was a knitting expert, and she didn't query it. Since you are going to ask - the 10% left was perspiration.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 12:54 PM

Slip one purlwise:

You take (slip) the loop across to the other needle as you would if you were knitting it purl style and not knit style. If it was a knit style you would put the right hand needle under the loop (on the left hand needle) taking it from the left side of the loop, but a purlwise slip takes it from the right hand side of the loop.

If that makes sense.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: leeneia
Date: 11 Nov 21 - 01:45 PM

Thanks for the advice and the humor. Monique, thanks for the Drops site.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 09:17 AM

Somewhere there must be a decoder for modern knitting patterns. I was thinking of knitting a Tardis mouse, but the pattern was complete gobbledegook to me.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 01:23 PM

Well, Monique's link above to the "Knitting abbreviations glossary" is a good start. Different publishers might use different abbreviations but they usually have an explanatory page.

A basic how-to-knit book or even video would explain what is meant by terms like knit or purl or slip stitches etc etc.

The abbreviations make it look complicated but the actual steps are mostly very simple when you understand what each step is.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 02:53 PM

There are plenty of you tube knitting tutorials too......sometimes seeing something done makes more sense than reading instructions.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Monique
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 03:20 PM

"Complete guide to knitting abbreviations: how to read knitting patterns" is another useful link.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 10:29 PM

Thompson, do you have the pattern for the Tardis Mouse? Maybe we can decode it for you.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 21 - 11:37 PM

Helen, I knitted for years. How the patterns are expressed has changed.

The Tardis mouse pattern seems to be no longer available online. I have a copy, but if the maker doesn't want it online, I'm not going to post it, of course.

Here's a couple of puzzling instructions:

Ssk – slip 2 sts, one at a time as if to knit, and knit them together
Sssk – slip 3 sts, one at a time as if to knit, and knit them together

(Does this mean you slip three stitches in order so the effect is to twist them, because stitch 1, 2 and 3 become 3, 2 and 1 on the spare needle?)

And in crochet:

Ch – chain
Hdc – half double crochet Sc – single crochet
Sl st – slip stitch

And another:

…work i-cord tail for 6 inches.

What is i-cord?

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Nov 21 - 12:23 AM

Must say I agree with Thompson......pattern writing has changed from when I learned to knit.

Back in those days SSK hadn't been invented, we used to slip one, knit one, pass the slipped stitch over the one just knitted. Having tried both ways (when I eventually worked out how to SSK) I have gone back to my old way, as it looks the same to me.

As for crochet - there is a difference between American and British terminology. I learned British, so that's what I tend to stick with.

As for graphs for both knitting and crochet, rather than written instructions.....I just don't go there.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Nov 21 - 01:10 AM

i-cord = idiot-cord, or ingenious-cord according to the writer of this article I never knew that!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 13 Nov 21 - 03:24 AM

Ssk

This explanation may or may not be helpful:

"Slip next 2 stitches knitwise one at a time. Pass them back onto left-hand needle, then knit through back loops together"

Knit Abbreviations

I'm assuming that this is at the stage where you would be reducing the number of stitches in the row to create a narrower part of the mouse, and you would want the reduction of stitch numbers to not be obvious when looking at it. I could be totally off on that assumption.

I'm wondering whether Kristen C. Howard, the creator of the pattern, has her own knitting abbreviations. Maybe you could contact her and ask her.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Nov 21 - 06:50 AM

Nope, didn't understand a word of that i-cord page. Not one word. Still also baffled by "Ch – chain", "Hdc – half double crochet" and "Sc – single crochet".

And yes, I too knitted using British patterns when I knitted.

Maybe I'll default to YouTube to get some explanations.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 13 Nov 21 - 10:45 AM

Hi Thompson, for how to do a chain in crochet there are videos but also instructions here:

How to Work the Chain Stitch in Crochet

How to Do Half Double Crochet Stitch (HDC)

How to Slip Stitch in Crochet

The same site also has knitting abbreviations

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 14 Nov 21 - 01:56 PM

I found this video:

How to Knit an I-CORD: Knitting Lessons for Beginners

Basically, an i-cord is knitting a few stitches in a circle. The double pointed needles mean that you are starting each row back at stitch one instead of the usual knitting method of knitting to the end of the row and then turning the piece and knitting back to the other end on the second row.

You could do an i-cord on a French knitting spool. When I was a kid we used to make them by hammering a few nails into a wooden thread spool.

There's a picture, instructions and video here:

French knitting spool

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Nov 21 - 03:24 AM

Aaah, I remember those thread spools with four nails on them! Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Monique
Date: 15 Nov 21 - 05:19 AM

We call them "tricotin" -which is also the name of a French knitting, crochet etc. website. There are free knitting and crocheting patterns but they ask for you email address to send you the link.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 15 Nov 21 - 01:22 PM

Thanks Monique. With my high school French (from over 50 years ago) I can just manage to read it but it looks like a really interesting website.

The automatic and semi automatic tricotin machines are interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 04:17 PM

So Thompson, have you knitted the TARDIS Mouse yet?

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 04:36 PM

I have not! I have to work my way up to these things slowly! Get the wool, for a start. (I actually have a list of woolly things I need to get: some yellow crochet cotton to fix a string bag I've had for years after the moths ate the wool that fixed the leather handle on; an elastic-setting needle to put some new elastic in a couple of sets of pyjamas; some brown-and-black striped linen, if possible, to mend the edges of an old South American rug I bought from a travelling friend and which has itself become a ravelling friend; a book of actual needles since all the ones I have are old and rusty - and some dark blue, black and white wool to make the mousetardis.)

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 05:42 PM

Thompson, your To-Do list looks about the same as mine! LOL

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 07:06 PM

to-so-lists - I know them well.

Some time back I picked up a sheet of apple-green paper (white paper gets lost in all the other white paper) & a black marker pen & wrote 16 items. I crossed off a few things before losing it among the WHITE papers!

So I eventually wrote a new un-numbered list on bluey-green paper (in biro) 6 of the 21 items have been crossed off. I no longer know why I wrote "email Rob? ask Chris" one is a historian, the other my Personal Help Desk - this list got lost, too

Latest list is on same green - with only 5 items, but they are specific articles needing creating/fixing on the blog.

Today all 3 lists are in front of me after my latest clean up & Gather-all-white-papers-with-valuable-info together.

It is very interesting to compare them.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Thompson
Date: 18 Nov 21 - 01:53 AM

Hah! I do all my lists on the computer and delete them afterwards! Maybe I should keep them!

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Nov 21 - 12:18 AM

TARDIS mouse ... just when you think you have seen everything.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 21 Nov 21 - 12:36 AM

keberoxu, you ain't seen nothing yet. Do a Google image search on:

TARDIS knitting patterns

Be prepared to be amazed.

Subject: RE: BS: knitting - what's this?
From: Helen
Date: 21 Nov 21 - 12:43 AM

Or widen your search to

Dr Who knitting patterns

EXTERMIKNIT!

weeping angel

etc etc ad infinitum