Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

  This is the fourth and final post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. The second post was about ridges and valleys. The third post was about garter. The final group of variations are four based on welts. These are two rows of stockinette followed by two rows of garter. Their rhythm when working back and forth is knit, knit, purl, purl once established. 13. k p p k  reverses to  14. p k k p 15. k k p p  reverses to  16. p p k k Version 13: stockinette Row 1: knit in pattern Row 2: knit all Row 3: purl all Row 4: purl all In this version, the welt is directly above the pattern row, as rows 1 and 4 recede while 2 and 3 advance. The fan portion much resembles the broccoli crowns from version 10 with a valley below a purled pattern row. The welts through the feather section show, but they are more subtle than some of the other options in this group. The decr...

This is the third post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. The second post was about ridges and valleys. Continuing through the options, the next variations are just two — knit garter and purl garter. 11. k p k p  reverses to  12. p k p k Version 11: knit garter Row 1: knit in pattern Row 2: knit all Row 3: knit all Row 4: knit all Unsurprisingly, garter stitch produces a rough texture. The feather pattern is essentially obscured, although the two ridges are subtly different, with one ridge being thicker than the other. Once again, we encounter the outlined filigree in the fan section, as we saw in version 8 when placing a valley on row 3. Version 12: purl garter Row 1: purl in pattern Row 2: purl all Row 3: purl all Row 4: purl all The purl garter is surprisingly nice. There is a subtle difference in the two ridges through the feather section, but to my eyes it ...

This is the second post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. Continuing through the options, the next group produces three rows of stockinette with a ridge of purls or three rows of reverse stockinette with a valley of knits. This is the largest group, accounting for half of the sixteen options.  3. p k k k  reverses to    4. k p p p  5. k p k k  reverses to    6. p k p p  7. k k p k  reverses to    8. p p k p  9. k k k p  reverses to  10. p p p k The consideration for these variations is where will the ridge or valley appear in relationship to the pattern row? Variations 3, 5, 7, and 9 are simply the purl ridge executed on row 1, 2, 3, or 4. Similarly, variations 4, 6, 8, and 10 are their inverses, with a knit valley executed on row 1, 2, 3, or 4. The ridges: Version 3: ridge on pattern R...

If you've read this blog for awhile or taken a class with me, you may know I swatch. It isn't uncommon for me to think of three or four ways to do something. I'll audition each one, evaluating it. By the way, for those of you who wonder why some people connect STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) with STEAM (same letters with the "A" added for arts), it is because the processes are similar. In engineering or science you have ideas. You test them. You evaluate. Did they work? Did something unexpected happen? Why? Can you improve upon it? Did you learn something? The arts are the same way. What happens if I do this? Do I like it? What if I do this other thing instead? Both process involve trial and error, including a willingness to travel dead ends on the way to a more brilliant solution. I'm thinking about what projects I need to fill out a couple books on versa lace. I was thinking about a Shetland hap. A hap is a quotidi...