Knitting Basics: Learning to Read Your Knitting

This is an old post I came across several months ago, but I wanted to share it because I’m hoping some of you have the New Year’s resolution to improve your knitting skills, and one great way to do that is to take some time to get a better understanding of how knitting works, what you’re actually doing when you form the stitches and how to read your knitting.

This post from the Craft Sessions goes into great detail about how to look at and understand your knitting stitches. It deals with Stockinette Stitch, because that’s a stitch pattern that makes it easy to see the differences between knitting and purling (I have a little post at About that’s less detailed but looks at ribbing).

There are lots of big pictures, using big stitches, to help you see what’s happening, but of course it would be best if you worked along with the post, looking at your own knitting as you go so you can really understand it.

What’s the big deal about reading your knitting? Once you know your knits from your purls and how they’re supposed to look — in Stockinette and in other stitch patterns — you’ll be able to spot mistakes more readily and you’ll know how to fix them. It’s a big step in taking control of your knitting.

[Photo via the Craft Sessions.]

Next Pattern:

Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply