What's the difference between a beginning knitter and an intermediate or advanced knitter?
One of the big differences is: intermediate and advanced knitters don't follow the pattern.
I know that doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it make more sense to say intermediate and advanced knitters are better at following the pattern? It would, but that isn't necessarily the case. Let me share an example.
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| booties — even the bind offs are mirrored |
I recently made a pair of baby booties. These are the "Lace and Bobble Bootees" from Debbie Bliss Cotton Knits for All Seasons (North Pomfret, Vermont: Traflagar Square Publishing 2002, pp. 46-7). Here is how I changed the pattern.
There's no schematic or construction diagram. And there's only one picture of the booties. I sat down with practice yarn and worked the first dozen rows of the pattern. There's some working back and forth and increasing. From that and reading ahead, I was able to understand how the booties are constructed. They are worked back and forth. A seam runs up the bottom center of the sole and up the heel.
The pattern starts with cast on 34 stitches, then knit 1 row.
Change #1: Using Judy's magic cast-on with tail on index finger and skein on thumb, cast on 34 stitches total, 17 on two needles. Flip work over so you see a center ridge. Place removable marker to indicate this is the public side of the work. You are now ready to work row 1.
Rows 1 through 12 involve increasing. The pattern is written for back and forth flat knitting. Because I'm working with the sole already "sewn up" as it were, I'm not on two needles. But, I do want to set myself up for success when seaming the heel.
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| sole |
Change #2: Arrange work on three double-pointed needles and knitting with a fourth. Needle 1 is one side of bootie, needle 2 is toe, needle 3 is other side of bootie. If you prefer a circular needle, place stitch markers at toe increases to separate toe stitches from side stitches.
Change #3: Establish vertical lifelines at both selvedges.
There are 12 rows of seed stitch to raise the sides of the booties. Then there is a section of short rows joining the sides together while working the instep. The instep even has a the eponymous lace and bobble pattern. Nice! The vertical lifelines allowed me to seam the back of the booties using a hinge pin seam. This isn't the strongest seam, but it is inconspicuous. It does not leave a thick ridge on the inside, which might bother a sensitive baby.
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| heel |
The bobble instructions are on page 41 in the instructions for the matching Guernsey dress. The bobble is k-p-k-p-k in one stitch, turn and purl across those five, then pass each stitch in succession over the first stitch. It does produce a bobble, just not the one I like best.
Change #4: Make bobble =
k-yo-k-yo-k in next stitch
slip all five stitches back to left needle
knit five
slip three stitches back to left needle
knit center stitch of the group of five
pass left stitch over center
slip center stitch to right needle and bind off one
slip center stitch back to left needle and pass one stitch over
slip center stitch to right needle and bind off one.
Change #5: Mirroring
When I got to the second bootie, I chose to mirror. Thus, I mirrored the twist. I also mirrored the asymmetrical increases. If the first bootie had an increase, knit 2, increase, knit 3, increase in it, then the second bootie had increase, knit 3, increase, knit 2, increase instead. I also mirrored the bind-off direction. I even mirrored the lean in the decrease at the buttonhole.
I prefer to work seamlessly, when possible. The booties were written sole up with short rows to make the instep. Then the strap is picked up along the back. If the bootie had been stockinette, this wouldn't have been too bad. But instead the pattern is seed stitch. If you pick up knit 1, purl 1 over the bound-off edge, it is noticeably thicker. I am thinking this pick up and the seam up the heel are why the picture in the book does not show the back of the bootie.
Change #6: Live stitches for strap
I left the stitches live. I seamed up the back, then used the seaming tail to work in pattern to even out the row. (Before picking up 1 and working 7, half the 15 stitches have been worked and the other half haven't been worked.) One button strap needed to be picked up one way and the other needed to be picked up the other way in order to get symmetry. One bootie involved binding off, then working the strap on the live stitches. The other involved leaving a 5 yard excess tail at the beginning of the project. After seaming, picking up 1, and working 7, that tail was needed to create the strap.
There are excellent reasons patterns are not written this way. At the same time, it is helpful for newbie knitters to understand you aren't getting the same results as advanced knitters because advanced knitters are doing things not in the pattern.
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