Checking out Stitch Maps

If you were around the knitting Internet (yes, there is such a place) at the end of last week or over the weekend you may have already heard about Stitch Maps, a new project by knitting chart enthusiast J. C. Briar. Briar’s book (which I have read but somehow failed to actually review) Charts Made Simple is a really good book for teaching how to use knitting charts of all sorts.

Briar is clearly a visual thinker and knitter, and she has taken visual representations of knitting even further with her latest project.

If you look at that picture up there, which is a version of Feather and Fan, you might think that it looks like a crochet chart. And it does. Crochet charts have always been a more literal visual representation of the work, because it’s difficult to symbolize the difference between, say, a double crochet and a half-double crochet any other way.

But knitting charts have always been flat, I guess because stockinette stitch is flat, or because whoever started charting knitting didn’t think to make the chart look like knitting.

J. C. Briar did. And the result is a little jarring if you’re a knitter, but still pretty darn cool. And it’s actually really logical, because the map can show, for instance, the curving of the Feather and Fan pattern, and how two stitches from the previous row come together in a knit 2 together on this row.

I don’t know if this sort of stitch mapping will catch on, because it also takes up a lot more space in print, and I imagine it might be difficult to represent different sizes of garments on the same chart. But for simply charting out stitch patterns, it’s very cool and I look forward to playing with it some more.

What do you think about stitch maps as opposed to more traditional knitting charts? Would you ever knit from one?

[Photo via Stitch Maps.]

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

Have you read?