Yarn on Thursday: Stitch Edition - Moss, Parallelograms, and Moss Parallelograms

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: Moss Stitch Border Diamonds (#28), Moss Stitch Parallelograms (#29), Parallelograms (#30) and Parallelograms II (#31)

First up, the Moss Stitch Border Diamonds. It's 23 stitches across, just like the last pattern from last week, so they "go" nicely together. (See, I told you I'd tell you why I didn't mind going all the way out to 23 stitches last week. I knew this was coming.)


Right Side


Wrong Side
Things I noticed about this pattern: Wow. That's a lot of stitches for a "pattern". I mean, seriously - this swatch is a dishcloth by itself. (Note to self: you now have a dishcloth pattern you like.) On the other hand, I can see doing a lovely blanket or large-man's sweater (as opposed to a large man's sweater) out of it. And is it just me, or is there just a hint of X-Men logo here? (It's probably just me.) I actually prefer the wrong side - with the big stockinette X - to the right side - with the big reverse-stockinette X.


Detail
Here's Moss Stitch Parallelograms. We're back to the easy math with this one; a ten stitch repeat means two repeats, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a six row pattern, I did four repeats, for a total of 24 rows, and then did Row 1 again, just to bring out the pattern. So, starting on the wrong side, there are five rows of seed stitch between this pattern and the next.


Things I noticed about this pattern: The parallelograms don't really show up well - blocking might help, but I'm not certain. It was very easy to get "lost" as to which side of the strip I was on, front or back - I was being bad, and not using my red and green here's-the-border stitch markers for some reason. I'm not sure if I'd use this one, since there are other moss stitch variations - and parallelogram variations - that I like better.

Speaking of, here is just plain Parallelograms, which is my favorite of the parallelogram options. Again, it's 2 repeats of a 10-stitch pattern, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a ten row pattern, I did two repeats, for twenty rows, then did Row 1 again to define the pattern. So, once again, only five rows of seed stitch are supposed to be between this and the next pattern, but I got a little confused and knit seven by accident. Hey, it happens, and it looks fine.


Things I noticed about this pattern: Once you've figured this one out, it goes quickly. The setup of the parallelograms allows the swatch to lie flat, so blocking wouldn't be necessary, and the parallelograms are well-defined. It resembles the Mock Cables from last week, but for some reason, I like it much, much better. (Possibly because it's not trying to pretend to be something it's not?) It was interesting to knit, but not so interesting I really had to pay attention to every stitch.

Finally, here is Parallelograms II. For the third time this week, it's 2 repeats of a 10-stitch pattern, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a 24 row pattern, I did one repeat, with Row 1 repeated after that to bring out the pattern, so there will be five rows of seed stitch AGAIN between this and the next pattern.


Things I noticed about this pattern: It pulls in a *lot* - sort of curly both ways, which means it has to be blocked. The "knit or purl on WS, whichever stitch is facing you" makes it easy, as long as you remember which side of the strip you're knitting. Looking at it makes me think of underarm gussets. I'm wondering if there's anything to that...

Anyway, next week will bring some excitement, since it's almost time to start putting the strips together. Actually having them attached to each other is the best way (for me) to make sure that they'll actually wind up the same length. For some reason, six foot strips of worsted-weight knitting aren't as cooperative as you might think!!

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!