Fourth time’s a charm
I did cast on for the Cinnabar scarf last night. Three times unlucky and the fourth time is, hopefully, the last.
The problem lay with the chart. Looking at the pictures of the finished scarf, I could tell it was garter stitch, yet every time I got started it was coming out stockinette. I read and re-read the pattern and thought about it - row 1 is knit, row 2 is purl, row 3 is knit… yup, that would give stockinette. And I had a conversation in my head about other possibilities: maybe the photographs of the finished scarf are from the wrong side; maybe because of my long tail cast on and the already knitted row that that creates, it’s messing up the pattern. But the material in the finished scarf pics looked to thick to be reverse stockinette - it had to be garter.
And I re-read the chart and the chart legend and there-in was the problem. I’ve only knit a few things following a chart - Shedir, while it’s not complete, but is completely done by following a chart, is the most recent. And all the charts I have followed have been for items knit in the round so they were always being read from right to left. The chart for Cinnabar alternates with each row - e.g. row 1 is read right to left and row 2 is left to right. I don’t know if this is how it’s normally done for flat knitting. Once I realised this, I got going and it’s been fine.
However, it does seem rather odd to write a chart and say row 1 (reading right to left) shows a symbol for knit and row 2 (read from left to right) shows a purl symbol, but because it’s the wrong side you actually knit these stitches. It’s really confusing! Why not just put the appropriate symbol and note that the chart is read in a zig-zag OR have the chart read from one direction (e.g. right to left) and use the appropriate symbols?
It’s going fine now. I did have to switch from using bamboo needles to aluminium ones as the bamboo was proving to be way too grippy for the silk wool and I was having to fight to push the stitches along the needle. Now they’re going along relatively smoothly. It looks like this is going to be the first item I will actually need to block to really get the Seafoam part of the pattern into shape.
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Comments
Hi Shannon! That’s going to be beautiful. As an FYI on chart reading - charts for flat knitting are read zig-zag while charts for in the round knitting are read always from the right. The difference is that when knitting flat you have a RW and a WS and in knitting in the round you only have a RS. So, when the chart legend says something like “K on RS, P on WS” for the one symbol and the same or reverse for another symbol, this allows universal symbols that can be used throughout the pattern interchangeably. For the Cinnabar chart, the row 2 symbol states to K on WS for a difference symbol, since the even rows are the wrong sides, this results in garter stitch. The symbol is different because its describing what to do on the WS. I got so confused the first time I read a chart, and not too long ago forgot to switch from reading a chart from in the round on a sleeve to flat for the body and got it all screwed up. Sometimes it’s counterintuitive, but once you get the knack for them they are real time savers! Good luck!
Posted by: jillian | January 3rd, 2007 16:25
Thanks for clarifying that charts for flat knitting are always read in a zigzag. It’s probably wise not to work on two projects requiring charts at once if one is worked in the round while the other is worked flat - it might get mighty messy!
Posted by: Shannon | January 3rd, 2007 18:28