Yarn on Thursday: Snow Edition

As you may have guessed from the title, we've gotten a lot of snow here lately. So, I got quite a bit of knitting done. Here's the first bit!

The project: Knitting all the stitches in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory.
The yarn: Anything you want. I'm using a Phentex "Monster Ball of Yarn" (32 oz. 100% acrylic), which won't block, but will give good stitch definition.
The needles: Again, whatever you want that goes with your yarn. I'm using my beloved Lantern Moon size 7s, because they're pretty.
Why this is happening: Because lots of people want to learn new stitches this year!

This week's stitches: Garter Rib (#16), Garter Stitch Steps (#18) and Inverness Diamonds (#19)

First up, Garter Rib. Since this stitch is a (multiple of 4) +2, I chose to go with 18 pattern stitches, with six stitches of seed stitch before and after the pattern. It's also not terribly exciting, so I only got through twelve rows before I decided that I had enough to work as a gauge swatch, then did my six rows of seed stitch.


Things I noticed about this pattern: Very reversible, very textured. The rule is "whatever is on the row below, DON'T stitch that on the next row". Makes a nice, thick fabric like garter stitch, with a nice texture.

Next up is Garter Stitch Steps. This is a "multiple of 8" stitch, but pretty easy, so I'll do two and a half repeats, which will give me 20 pattern stitches with five stitches of seed stitch on either side. Here's what I actually knit, with the "extra" stitches in bold:

Row 1 and all odd rows: knit across

Rows 2 and 4: k4, p4, k4, p4, k4
Rows 6 and 8: k2, p4, k4, p4, k2, k2, p2
Rows 10 and 12: p4, k4, p4, k4, p4
Rows 14 and 16: p2, k4, p4, k4, p2, p2, k2

I wanted the "center step" to extend all the way from corner to corner, so I repeated rows 1 and 2. Then I knit across once more (repeating row 3, I guess!), and started five rows of seed stitch on the wrong side.


Things I noticed about this pattern: Not reversible at all. Lies fairly flat, without much pulling in. Would work well over any number of stitches divisible by four (but preferably over 12).

On to Inverness Diamonds. This pattern is over a multiple of 17, so I went with that. I started each RS row with 6 stitches in seed stitch, and ended with 7 stitches. It is a 12-row pattern, and it's time to get back to 24 rows per swatch, so I'll knit it twice; then, to make the top and bottom look the same, I'll knit Row 1 again, then knit five rows of seed stitch, starting on the wrong side.


Front/Right Side

Back/Wrong Side
Things I noticed about this pattern: It is reversible, but not identical, as advertised. It's one of the patterns that should be blocked, so knitting it in acrylic would be a bad thing, but since it's in the middle of what will be a pretty heavy blanket, it will probably look okay.

A note on the whole project: Since there are 139 stitch patterns (some are listed under multiple headings), plus 7 different edgings in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory, I'll be trying to do two to three stitches a week, minimum. This should get everyone a goodly number of new stitches by the end of the year, and hopefully get me a blanket. No worries if you "fall behind" or "start late" - this is for fun & education, there isn't *really* a time limit of any sort on it. If you're just discovering this project, this link will take you to the beginning, and this link will pull up all the related entries. Just knit on, and have fun!