Process or Product?

Which kind of knitter am I? Well, sometimes one and sometimes the other, but also another category altogether "Experimental".

I have hauled out the stitch dictionaries,



and started in on slip stitch swatches,



and this reminds me how much I enjoy swatching pattern stitches. I love playing around with them, trying to analyze why they do what they do, tweaking them, envisioning how they could be used, what they would be good for and what they would not be good for. I could almost be satisfied just swatching and sketching design ideas without ever completing a finished object. (Almost.) What I have done so far barely begins to scratch the surface of the possibilities.

Just one example: ringing some changes on a very basic 4 row pattern:



On this swatch I started out with Pinstripe from Barbara Walker (bottom). Looks like stranded knitting, but only one color worked per row - breaks up the varegation of the second yarn - sleeve cuff for sweater? The first half of the second section up is "Corn on the Cob" (also BW). These are really exactly the same pattern stitch, except the first is worked in stockinette and the second in garter. But there is a significant difference in look (and in feel). Thicker - kind of cute nubbiness - hat brim? The top half of the second section combines them: two rows stockinette based, two rows garter based. The difference from Corn on the Cob is very subtle, but might be more apparent with a different yarn combo, maybe one fuzzy and one smooth? Or what if I worked 6 rows stockinette based and 2 garter? You see how it goes.

Moving up, I am still working the Pinstripe Pattern, but...



In the bottom section, on the variegated rows I slipped with yarn in front instead of in back on Red RS rows. In the next section (looks like solid black) I slipped wyif on the black RS rows. And at the top I slipped wyif every right side row. (Hmm, that flattens out the fabric noticably.) None of these are all that visually exciting. But what if I worked that first bit slipping every third stitch instead of every second, so the background color peeked through a little more?

Some of this is, in a sense, reinventing the wheel. I expect that any number of stitch variations I can come up with will already exist in the stitch dictionaries. But by swatching for myself I start to get an understanding and a feel for how they actually work (not to mention tons of other "what if?" ideas). And I like that.

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P.S. to Jeanne: Thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I've tried to return the visit, but the link in the comment doesn't work for me. :(

Slipping Along

Slipped stitches have always seemed a little bit magic to me. It's rather amazing how so many (and such varied) pattern stitches can be based on such a minimalist maneuver - slipping a stitch from the left needle to the right needle without doing anything else to it at all. I'm thinking about working up a tutorial on the basics and the possibilities. But before that can happen, I will need some swatches for examples, so I have started on the first.



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Monday was sock mending day. This picture demonstrates why I don't usually do a classic darn. Its not very pretty, though it will serve the purpose (cover and hold together the gaping hole under the heel). I'm not sure why I attempted it, except maybe to see if this time I could do it neatly. As it turns out, I could not.

This next pair, however, hadn't developed an actual hole. The yarn had worn so thin that I was afraid to put it through the wash, but it was still in place. So I was able to use Swiss Darning (aka Duplicate Stitch) for a very unobtrusive mend. The socks are semi-felted, somewhat matted and pilled from many washings, but (partly because of the felting) toasty, toasy warm. So I'm glad I can keep them going.




(BTW this is the Not Really Cable sock pattern, which you can have for yourself if you scroll down the sidebar to the "free stuff" section)

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And on a completely unrelated note: sometimes there are obstructions to making up the bed.



He will probably stay there, a contented lump, until the sun is well over the yardarm.