The Phantom Blogger Returns!

Sorry for the break in blogging, some real-world issues came up that derailed the rather time-intensive compilation of stitch instructions, and I just realized that I missed an update entirely. I was thinking about subjecting you to some of my ideas about how a libertarian society would distribute responsibilities between the government and society itself, but I think that might be a bit far off-topic for my current audience and a bit too touchy for an election year. So, instead, you get something knitting-related:

The Universal Knitting Pattern Procedure

Yes, you read that correctly, and I didn't leave anything out. I am going to show you how to make a pattern for pretty much anything, from socks to sweaters. This is the procedure I follow for making the base pattern for pretty much anything I make, and it is simple enough that for things like socks and fingerless mitts, I can do most of it in my head.

What you will need:

• Measuring tape
• A gauge swatch for the stitch pattern you plan to use for the majority of the piece, or one per stitch pattern if you plan to use more than one.
• Paper and SCWI (Self Contained Writing Instrument, pronounced "Squee"; i.e., pen, pencil, crayon, whatever)* or a computer and a printer
  
• The body you wish to make the item for, or a reasonable facsimile thereof
  

* I do not recommend using a PRWI (Pigment Requiring Writing Instrument, pronounced "Pree", i.e., dipped pen, paintbrush) for design work- you are too likely to get the pigment on your yarn. ;-) Yes, I like geeky, uneccessarily precise terms, why do you ask?

Before You Start:

There are some concepts you will need to understand to design knitwear.

Seam Allowances- Thankfully, not a huge part of knitting design. If you are planning to have a seam in your knitwear, you need to decide ahead of time how you are going to work the seam. Some varieties of seam require you to work a few extra stitches or rows to allow the seam to be worked a bit in from the edge of the fabric. Others work right at the edge. You will need to adjust your garment design to allow the relevant amount of seam allowance for the type of seam you plan to use.

Ease and Negative Ease- These affect how tightly the garment will fit to the relevant portion of the body. If you sew garments from woven fabric, you have already run into the concept of ease, although it might not have been explained. A non-stretchy garment needs to be larger than the body that will wear it so that it does not bind the wearer. This extra size is called Ease. Knit garments tend to be stretchy, so less ease is required. For particularly stretchy garments or garments meant to be worn very close to the body, like socks, the garment might even need to be smaller than the relevant body part. This is called Negative Ease.

Wearing Ease- This is the standard (usually minimum) amount of ease needed for a given garment to be comfortable. Socks will usually have an inch or two of Negative Ease in the calf so they don't fall down, sweaters will usually have an inch or two of Ease in the circumference of sleeves so that they don't climb up, that sort of thing. This is not as standardized with knits as it is with clothing sewn from woven fabric, but you can find various opinions about the basic amount of ease needed for a given type of garment simply by asking other knitters or looking in a good book about that garment type.

Design Ease- This is the amount of ease allowed to give the garment the shape the designer wanted. Slouch socks have positive Ease, because they are supposed to fall down. Some sweaters have Negative ease, because they are supposed to cling to the body, that sort of thing. This is what you will adjust from the Wearing ease to turn a default sweater pattern into a huge boxy tunic or a svelte clinging number designed to get you out of speeding tickets.

Garment Ease- Wearing Ease + Design Ease = Garment Ease, the amount the actual garment will be larger or smaller than the body for which it was designed. When you see a pattern that says size Medium is meant for a 36" bust, and the finished garment bust measurement is 40", the Garment Ease in the bust is 4". I highly recommend buying patterns that actually come out and tell you the desired Garment Ease (or at least finished measurements, so you can do the math yourself), because it is impossible for the garment to fit everyone the same way, and it is much easier to adjust it for your measurements if you know how closely it is meant to fit.

Instructions:

1. Measure the circumference and length of all relevant body parts (foot and lower legs for socks, hand and lower arm for mitts, torso and arms for sweaters, etc.). You will discover over time which measurements are important for each kind of item, but I will give you the ones I use below.
2. Decide how you want to construct the piece- toe-up, toe-down, in the round, flat with a seam, one-piece sweater, pieced sweater, cardigan, etc.
3. Draw a simple sketch (art skills are irrelevant) of the pieces you plan to make. Later on, you can skip this for simple items like crew socks, but it remains a good idea for complex items like sweaters. You might want to take the time to do a fairly clean sketch and make a few copies- it's much easier to use several than to keep marking up the same one, and if you draw a new one halfway through the process, the temptation is to rush it.
   
4. Match up the measurements you took with the relevant portions of the sketch. For example, note the foot length along the bottom of a sock, the calf circumference near the top of it, and so on. For sweaters, note the waist circumference at the bottom of the sweater (or at the waist of it, if it is going to be much longer than waist-length), arm length by the arms, etc. These are not the final dimensions of the garment, they are for reference.
5. Determine how much Wearing Ease you want to allow on each relevant measurement. Generally, only circumference measurements need ease. If you are going to be making many of this item for this person, you might want to set this sketch and measurement set aside for future reference, as this is your Basic Pattern for this type of item.
   
6. Determine how much Design Ease you want to allow on each relevant measurement. If you want the garment to be loose, add extra ease above the Wearing Ease. If you want it to be tight, you might even subtract from the Wearing Ease, but be careful- Wearing Ease usually provides a garment as close to skin-tight as is comfortable, and you can make a pygmy garment very easily with what seem like small deductions.
7. Add any design details that aren't about fit, such as three-quarter sleeves, bell sleeves, a hood, etc. by adjusting measurements or adding components. Don't worry about stitch patterns yet, only things that affect the shape of the garment.
8. Clean up your sketch, and transfer your final garment measurements to a new sheet, if relevant. Make sure not to erase these measurements when you do the next step.
   
9. Convert your measurements from inches or centimeters to rows and stitches. Usually, length measurements will get converted into rows, and circumference measurements will get converted into stitches. If you are using more than one stitch pattern, divide the measurement into portions, then convert. For example, if I am working a sock in stockinette, but want a lace panel up the side, I will figure out the width of the lace panel, subtract that from the circumference, and convert the remaining amount into stitches at my stockinette gauge. Don't forget to add them all together again when determining the number of total stitches, though!
10. If you are making an item with complex shaping, like set-in sleeves, you will need to write or chart out those portions separately, but you can still determine the measurements for the simpler parts now. Sorry, complex shaping is out of the scope of this particular tutorial.
11. If you are making an item with simple shaping, such as the toes and heels on a sock or waist shaping in a sweater, you can work out the shaping straight from measurements. Specific examples to come, but the basic idea is that you treat each section almost as if it were its own piece, making sure to measure for each "edge" separately.
    
12. Translate the information in the sketches into your preferred form of instructions. Trust me, if you have made it this far, this is much easier than it sounds. The hard part would be making it make sense to other people. :-J

Measurement Sets:

These are the measurements I take for these items. You may not need them all, or you may need others because you want to add details I generally don't.

Hats:

1. Circumference of head just above ears- should be even with eyebrows.
   
2. Length from circumference measurement on left side to circumference measurement on right side over the top of the head.

Socks:

1. Length of foot from toe to back of heel, along the bottom
2. Circumference of foot at ball of foot
3. Length from toe to ball measurement
   
4. Circumference of foot at "elbow" of foot and leg- basically the same spot you measure ankle, but down around the foot instead
5. Length from back of heel to measurement 4 along bottom of foot
   
6. Circumference of ankle
7. Length from bottom of heel to ankle along the back of the heel
8. Circumference of widest part of calf
9. Length from ankle to widest part of calf
   If making Knee Socks:
10. Circumference just below knee
11. Length from widest part of calf to just below knee
    If making Thigh-Highs:
12. Circumference of knee at center (bend knee, mark fold, straighten knee, measure at where the fold was)
    
13. Length from widest part of calf to knee measurement
14. Circumference of thigh
15. Length from knee measurement to thigh measurement

Mittens:

1. Length from wrist to tip of middle finger
2. Length from wrist to tip of shortest finger (usually pinky)
3. Length from wrist to fold of thumb
4. Length of thumb from base (near wrist) to first joint (near fold)
5. Length of thumb from first joint (near fold) to tip
   
6. Length of desired cuff
7. Circumference of hand at base of fingers
8. Circumference of hand at fold of thumb, not including thumb- as far down as possible
   
9. Circumference of hand at first joint of thumb, including thumb- as close to #8 as possible
10. Circumference of thumb at second joint (last bend before fingertip)
11. Circumference of wrist
12. If relevant, circumference of arm at end of cuff. Usually only relevant if making a very long cuff, a very loose cuff, or the person has very thick forearms.
    

Gloves would be similar, but you measure the length and circumference of each finger. Usually, only the pinky is significantly different in circumference, and the ring and index fingers are roughly the same length.

If you are making very long cuffs, see the measurements for sleeves in the next section.

Sweaters:

This can vary, depending on what kind of sweater you are making, and whether it has certain features. Therefore, I am dividing it up into parts:

Torso- Male or Child:

1. Chest circumference
2. Waist circumference
3. Hip circumference
4. Neck circumference at base
5. Length from neck measurement to chest measurement
6. Length from neck measurement to waist measurement
7. Length from neck measurement to hip measurement
8. Length from neck measurement to shoulder seam, along top. Press along top of shoulder and lift arm. Shoulder seam should be placed just before the portion that bulges up when arm is lifted. You will be able to feel the joint move when you are pressing in the right place.
9. Width from shoulder seam to shoulder seam, across back
10. Armscye measurement- measure from shoulder seam point under arm, back around to start
11. Width between armscye measurements across front, even with collarbone
12. Length from armscye bottom to waist measurement
    

Torso- Female:

1. Bust circumference
2. Chest circumference (just below breasts)
3. High Bust circumference (chest measurement above breasts)
   
4. Waist circumference
5. Hip circumference
6. Neck circumference at base
7. Length from neck measurement to high bust measurement
8. Length from neck measurement to bust measurement, over a tight shirt (trying to measure as fabric would lie, not the valley of cleavage)
9. Length from neck measurement to chest measurement, over a tight shirt (trying to measure as fabric would lie, not the valley of cleavage)
10. Length from chest measurement to waist measurement
11. Length from chest measurement to hip measurement
12. Length from neck measurement to shoulder seam, along top. Press along top of shoulder and lift arm. Shoulder seam should be placed just before the portion that bulges up when arm is lifted. You will be able to feel the joint move when you are pressing in the right place.
13. Width from shoulder seam to shoulder seam, across back
14. Armscye measurement- measure from shoulder seam point under arm, back around to start
15. Width between armscye measurements across front, even with collarbone
16. Length from armscye bottom to waist measurement
    Even if you do not plan to have side seams, pretend you do for the following measurements- on women, it really does matter if you add width to the front or the back. The side seams should run from the lowest part of the armscye straight down along the body.
    
17. Bust width from side seam to side seam across the front.
18. Bust width from side seam to side seam across the back (I know, the bust is in front, but still)
19. Waist width from side seam to side seam across the front
20. Waist width from side seam to side seam across the back
21. Hip width from side seam to side seam across the front
22. Hip width from side seam to side seam across the front

Those last measurements are especially important for designs meant to be worn by very curvy women, and preventing the sweater from accentuating bumps you wish didn't exist. I think the fact that most designs just add all around is a major reason many knitters are disappointed in the results they get from many sweater patterns.

Sleeves:

Always determine the armscye and shoulder point while measuring for the torso, and use the same positions when measuring for the sleeves. Incorrectly fitting armhole and shoulder seams are the most common reason for uncomfortable fit in top-half garments in general, and when you are putting in the work to knit something, it really is worth the trouble to measure and construct the sleeve attachment correctly.

Same as with a cast, measure to the next joint out past where you want your sleeve to stop- measure to the elbow for short sleeves, the wrist for three-quarter sleeves, and the base of the fingers for full sleeves.

Take all measurements with arms hanging comfortably at the sides unless they specifiy "flexed".

1. Length from shoulder seam to elbow along outside of arm
2. Circumference of bicep at thickest point, relaxed
3. Circumference of bicep at thickest point, flexed
4. Circumference of elbow
5. Length from elbow to wrist along outside of arm
6. Circumference of forearm at thickest point, relaxed
7. Circumference of forearm at thickest point, flexed
8. Length from wrist to fold of thumb
9. Circumference of hand at fold of thumb, including thumb
   If you are making extended sleeves that go over the hand, you might want to replace those last two with:
10. Length from wrist to base of fingers
11. Circumference of hand at base of fingers, including thumb
12. Length from base of fingers to tip of middle finger

You can also make sweaters that have fingerless mitts at the end of extended sleeves, in which case you would switch from sleeve measurements to mitten measurements at the wrist.

High Collar:

1. Neck from collarbone to fold of chin in front
2. Neck from bump at top of spine/base of neck to base of skull in back
3. Head Circumference as for Hats (so you can be sure it will fit over the head!)

Hood:

Measure fairly tight to the head; adjust for big hair in the Wearing Ease stage of design.

1. Head Circumference as for Hats
2. From neck measurement on right to neck measurement on left over the head
3. From neck measurement in back to front center hairline over the head

Conclusion:

So, that's the basic procedure I follow when designing everything from easy fingerless mitts for my friends at the LYS to the doubled-laceweight blouse I plan to spend half my life making and the other half wearing every chance I get. Examples of how you can design basic shaping straight from the measurements will come within the next day or so to make up for the missed update.

Have fun!

Disambiguation Part 1: What's Your Style?

As I embarked on the quest to create a nice, style-neutral listing of increases and decreases, it came to my attention that I can’t quite manage it. I can make one that is considerably more style-neutral than the majority I have seen, which assume a great deal about how stitches are laying on the needles, for example, but there are a few differences in styles that don’t go away just because I want to be able to make a universal guide. So, your first entry is not a listing, but an expository piece.

First, let’s get some terms defined, as I see some of them thrown around in ways that make no sense at all once you get a grasp of how many styles there really are.

Glossary:

Front: the side of the stitch that will face the knitter after being worked without twisting.
Back: the side of the stitch that will face away from the knitter after being worked without twisting.
Working Needle: the needle that is inserted into a stitch and has yarn wrapped around it to form a new stitch.
Holding Needle: the needle that holds stitches not yet worked in this row.
Pick: wrap the yarn to form a stitch by holding the yarn taut and catching it with the Working Needle
Throw: wrap the yarn to form a stitch by holding the yarn in hand and moving that hand around the tip of the Working Needle
Working Yarn: the yarn running from the yarn supply (e.g., ball) to the work.
Tail: extra yarn left hanging from the work when yarn is cast on, bound off, added, or ended; not connected to a yarn supply.

Clockwise and Counterclockwise are judged as if the needle is pointing directly at the knitter, with a watch face balanced on the point, facing the knitter.

What’s Your Style?

There are several different components that go into the definition of a knitting style, including how you hold your needles, how you get the yarn around your Working Needle to form a stitch, whether said yarn goes around the needle clockwise or counterclockwise, and whether you work through your stitches from right to left or left to right. However, only two are actually important when it comes to stitch instructions:

1. Do you knit from left to right or right to left?
2. Do you wrap Clockwise or Counterclockwise when forming a new stitch?

While the main debate in the US is Pick vs. Throw, the distinction is largely irrelevant to the actual instructions. Yes, if you pick your yarn and the person showing you how to do something prefers to throw, you will need to change your actual procedure somewhat from what they are doing, but what the yarn does will be the same as long as you knit and wrap the same direction, and most people will introduce variants into how they get the yarn to do that even when compared to other knitters in the same style.

Most knitters work from Right to Left. If you work from Left to Right, you are a Backwards knitter. (No judgment on you, and many knitters will be very impressed that you can. :-) All of the styles can be worked in either direction, and many knitters learn or want to learn to work both directions so they can avoid turning their work under certain circumstances.

If you wrap Counterclockwise, the stitches on the Holding Needle will face away from the Working Needle. This is Western knitting.

If you wrap Clockwise, the stitches on the Holding Needle will face the Working Needle. This is Eastern knitting.

If you work Knit stitches Western and Purl stitches Eastern, you are using Combination Knitting.

If you work Knit stitches Eastern and Purl stitches Western, you are using Inverse Combination Knitting.

Before We Start:

You may be a bit startled to see that you aren’t using the style you thought you were. In the Exotic Knitting Styles group on Ravelry, we have many members who taught themselves to knit from books, and thought they were knitting English or Continental, only to discover that when they tried to work in the round or try lace that things weren’t turning out quite right. It’s okay. You’re not “doing it wrong”, you just inadvertently reinvented the wheel. There are places where English and Continental are the exotic styles, and you would fit right in. The key is understanding what style you use, and adapting any instruction that was meant for another style.

Another common effect of learning from a book and changing the style somewhat is knitting Eastern Crossed. You get this if you wrap your yarn Clockwise, then insert your Working Needle into the stitch from left to right to form the stitch. This twists the stitch from the commonly-known V to a more complex cross shape (thus the name). It is very attractive, and I sometimes do it on purpose, but it can be very frustrating when directions assume you are not twisting your stitches. This is a result of a common bad habit I see in instruction for Western knitting styles, in which they tell you that the left side of the stitch is the “front”, and the right side is the “back”, rather than explaining the terms properly. If you want to try Eastern Uncrossed, simply insert your needle into the real front of the stitch, which will be facing your Working Needle, and continue as you usually do.

The Instructions:

For Backwards Knitters: If you work from Left to Right, my instructions should work exactly the same as they do for people working from Right to Left, but the stitches will lean the opposite direction. You may need to do some substitution if the direction of the lean matters for your pattern.

Note 1:

I default to using the versions of increases and decreases that involve the least modification from a standard knit or purl stitch. Thus, if there is a variant that requires you to Knit into the Back of a stitch, it will be listed after the variant that can be knitted normally. This might or might not reflect the preference of a particular designer, so check to see if they specify a variant.

Note 2:

Many instructions will list the lean of a purled increase or decrease as it will appear from the “right” side, as if no one would ever want a purl bump on the side anyone would see. As this assumption is what annoyed me into making this list, I do not do this. The lean mentioned is the lean you will see on the side the stitch was worked on.

The Basics:

For practice, here are some stitches you probably already know, written in the style I plan to use for the more complicated stitches. When I use these terms in the later instructions, I will be assuming that you are working them as described here.

With a few rare style exceptions, you will need to hold the yarn behind your work before a Knit stitch and in front of the work before a Purl stitch in order to avoid an inadvertent Yarn Over. Trust me, if you’re one of the exceptions, you will already know you can ignore this instruction.

See the Styles section if you are not sure which way the Front of the stitch lays for your style.

Knit Stitch- K:

1. Insert the Working Needle into the Front of a stitch on the Holding Needle
2. Wrap the Working Yarn around the Working Needle
3. Pull loop of Working Yarn through stitch on Holding Needle
4. Slip stitch off the Holding Needle

Purl Stitch- P:

1. Insert the Working Needle into the Back of a stitch on the Holding Needle
2. Wrap the Working Yarn around the Working Needle
3. Pull loop of Working Yarn through stitch on Holding Needle
4. Slip stitch off the Holding Needle

Knit Into Back/Twisted Knit Stitch:

1. Insert the Working Needle into the Back of a stitch on the Holding Needle
2. Make sure point of Working Needle is still behind the Holding Needle.
3. Wrap the Working Yarn around the Working Needle
4. Pull loop of Working Yarn through stitch on Holding Needle
5. Slip stitch off the Holding Needle

Purl Into Front/Twisted Purl Stitch:

1. Insert the Working Needle into the Front of a stitch on the Holding Needle
2. Make sure point of Working Needle is still in front of the Holding Needle
3. Wrap the Working Yarn around the Working Needle
4. Pull loop of Working Yarn through stitch on Holding Needle
5. Slip stitch off the Holding Needle