Reading Patterns

When deciding whether to buy a pattern consider the following:
Who will you knit it for?
Is it something you or they would actually use. In other words is it suitable for the climate and normal life. I say this because there are absolutely beautiful cardigans and jackets out there in patternland that no one living in Texas could use more than three days a year.

Is it something that will stay in style at least as long as it took you to knit it?
Fashions change even in the world of knitting. Each year has it's own colors, and some of them are only in style briefly. If you want to use those colors, make something quick and easy - a hat or scarf.

Is it something you can knit without a lot of help?
Of course, when you are a beginner, you will feel like there isn't anything you can knit without a lot of help, but as you gain experience new worlds will open to you. Most patterns magazines these days will tell you if they consider this a beginner, intermediate, or advanced pattern.

Lastly, do you have, or can you get, a suitable yarn and needles for the pattern? Remember that there are catalogs out there, as well as yarn shops, and there are yarn markets at most fiber related shows.

Okay, now you've chosen the pattern and picked the yarn, and got some needles you think you will get gauge with.

Reading the pattern: The pattern should start out with a description of the garment, and maybe a little about how it is made. Then it will list materials, including the yarn, the needles, and the other tools you will need. Feel free to add to that list: markers, stitch counters - whatever you personally like.

Materials - the yarn
Especially in older patterns, the designer probably specified a yarn, which is probably no longer available. In general you can substitute any yarn of the same type (i.e. smooth or fancy) in the same sort of fiber, that knits to the same gauge. The problem will be figuring out how much to get. The pattern will give the amount in balls, or ounces, but a more relevant number for substituting is the number of yards. The same weight of different yarns will often be different amounts of yardage. These days the ball band on a ball of yarn will usually give the number of yards, or meters, as well as the weight, but the old patterns won't tell you that. There are booklets, called yarn substitution guides, in existence that give the gauge and number of yards per ball for many yarns. There are also charts in various books that give you guesstimates for the yardage for different sizes and types of sweaters, but they don't take into account what the stitch pattern does or doesn't do to take up extra yardage. So it's a tricky business.
There are quite a few patterns put out these days that don't specify the yarn - only the yarn type and the expected gauge. They give information to make it easy to substitute yarns. Many people will buy only one ball of a yarn to swatch with before deciding if that yarn works with that pattern, then go back and buy the rest when they are sure. Another solution to the problem that works for many people is to buy kits. You can find ads in the backs of knitting fashion magazines that offer to make a kit for you to knit the specific patterns in the magazine. Expensive, but takes a lot of the guesswork away. Then you only have to swatch to make sure you have the right needle size to get the gauge.

Needles:
And that's another thing. Don't just buy the needle size it says in the pattern and assume you will get gauge. If you knit exactly as tight as the original knitter, you will, and if you don't, you won't. And the garment will be not be the size you thought it would be. I learned this by making a sweater for my then 4 year old son, that fit him when he was 6. With a little experience, you will learn whether your needles will probably be one or two sizes larger or smaller than the pattern states. Also, don't worry if you buy needles and then can't use them. I know it's annoying, but the needles last, and eventually you will build up a collection of needle sizes and types so that you seldom have to buy any more. Just save them.

Okay, so you've decided you're going to do this pattern, have done your swatch, have the needles and other tools.

Read the pattern all the way through. Boring, yes, no plot, no character development, but what you are looking for is two things: are there any techniques you don't know yet, and are there any statements such as: work in pattern for 6 inches, and (a paragraph later) “at the same time decrease two stitches each side every other row”. This would be a circumstance where you are doing a pattern and shaping the garment at the same time. You don't want to get 6 inches up, read the next paragraph, and discover that “at the same time” business, and have to rip down and re-do. Not fun.

If it turns out that there is some technique or some abbreviation you don't understand, there will probably be a little section, either in the front or the back of the pattern booklet with a key to abbreviations, and possibly a longer description of how to do different techniques. Most magazines have a “how to do it” section that describes techniques likely to be used in the magazine. There are also books, such as June Hiatt's Principles of Knitting, and my favorite, The Handknitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley, that have more techniques in them than you would believe existed.

While I am recommending books. I would like to recommend that you get a copy of Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English. It's a wonderful book.

Abbreviations: Not all patterns use exactly the same abbreviations, though a consensus has developed over the years. British English uses slightly different terms than American English, and many European patterns are translated into British rather than American English. So with that caveat, here are some abbreviations and what they abbreviate.

k: - knit
p: - purl
s: or
sl: - slip the stitch
st: - stitch
st st: - stockinette stitch - knit the right side, purl the back side
k2tog: - knit two stitch together (just treat the two stitches as one stitch. This decreases one stitch.) This decrease leans right.
p2tog: - purl 2 stitches together - same as above, only purling. Leans left.
ssk: - this is another form of decrease, and it means slip, slip, knit. In full, it means slip the first stitch, turning it as if to knit, slip the next stitch, not turning it, but going straight in as if you were going to purl it, slide the left needle into the front of the two slipped stitches, and knit the two together. There are pictures of how to do this in many magazines and knitting books. This decrease leans left.
b.o.: - bind off. British English calls this cast off.
eor: - every other row
inc: - increase There are lots of ways to increase. One easy way is to knit into the front of the stitch as normal, but don't slip it off, then knit into the back loop of the stitch. Another way is to knit into a stitch and then into the stitch in the row below it.
m1: - make one. This is another form of increase. Depending on the designer, make one could mean lift the running thread between two stitches, put a twist in it, and knit it, or it could mean put a twisted loop of the yarn you're knitting with in between two stitches, and count it as a stitch.
yo: - yarn over. Just bring the yarn over the needle between two stitches. When you knit into it on the next round, this will produce a small hole called an eyelet, and is often used in lacy patterns. The British call this wrn (wool round needle).
wyif: - with yarn in front Hold the yarn in front of the needle while doing whatever the next thing they tell you.
wyib: - with yarn in back. Same idea, in back. This is generally done while slipping stitches for some reason.
skp: - slip, knit, pass. This is another decrease. Slip a stitch, knit the next stitch and lift(pass) the slipped stitch over the knit stitch as if you were binding off that one stitch.
sl1,k2tog, psso: - This decreases two stitches at once. Slip a stitch to the right needle, knit the next two stitches together, and pass (lift) the slipped stitch over the k2tog stitch.
sl2, k1, p2sso: - Same idea. Slip two stitches to the right needle, knit the next stitch, and pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch.
These last decreases are mostly used in lacy patterns, so you won't see them in most beginner patterns.
k1b: - knit one in the back “leg” of the stitch (twists the stitch differently)
p1b: - same idea, only purling
work even: - This means work the pattern stitch, without increasing or decreasing, usually followed by “for ____ inches.”

copyright cjwyche, 2000-2006 These patterns and documents are essentially learning tools and I favor free access to knowledge on the internet, I have placed them on this web page under Copyleft|GNU Free Documentation License (version 1.2 or any later version). This means you have permission to freely download, ocpy and use content from this web site under the same License. Any creative changes you make to this source material cannot be copyrighted, but must also be freely distributed under the License.

Modified: 2006-02-03