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:

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?