I’ve moved this blog!

It is still at gannetdesigns.com, but it’s not being hosted by wordpress.com anymore.

One side effect of this is that there are not going to be email updates for my new blog posts for the foreseeable future: my apologies.

The RSS feed for the new location can be found at https://gannetdesigns.com/feed/ . I hope this helps you keep track of my new posts.

In any case, I hope you’ll come see me there!

Thanks,

Naomi

Candle: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon this month is Candle, suggested by Kate, a Patreon supporter. This one has multiple unusual maneuvers, but it couldn’t be helped. This was the only arrangement of yarnovers based on the word that could be turned into lace I liked. So it’s got a bunny ears yarnover in it, and a (k1, yo, k1) in next stitch, and also both a k1 tbl and its mirror image. The latter was needed because otherwise the yarnover between it and the CDD at the center of the design collapsed and disappeared when I got to the next right side row. I haven’t untangled why. Yet.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made a Candle needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Home: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The word I drew from my word hoard for this stitch pattern is Home, suggested by Natasha, a Patreon supporter.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made a Home needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Amber: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The second word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon last month is Amber, suggested by Kate, a Patreon supporter. I see two-handled pottery jugs in this.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made an Amber needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Nippy: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon this month is Nippy, suggested by Antoinette, a Patreon supporter. Nippy is a great word for where I live at this time of year: just enough chill in the air to need sweaters and other woolly knitwear!

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made a Nippy needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Sheep: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The word I drew from my word hoard for this stitch pattern is Sheep, suggested by Cathy D, a Patreon supporter. It’s always good fun to encode words related to string or yarn, and this was no exception!

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made a Sheep needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Étude no. 25: Tall Diamonds

It’s been a while since I designated a blog post as an étude, which is a thing I like to do occasionally.

In music, an étude is a kind of musical exercise meant to increase skill in a single technique. I used to take classical violin lessons when I was young, so I was assigned my share of études to practice at home.

The études on my blog aren’t quite the same, but they’re not unlike. They’re exercises in design techniques that I’ve assigned myself to see what I can accomplish and what I can learn from them. I’ve probably posted some blog posts since my last étude that probably should have qualified. I might go back and tag them, I might not.

This particular étude is one I did without a write-up some years ago; I think I remember enough of what I did back then to be able to write up the results: it’s yet another in my series of stitch designs delving into chevrons and diamonds.

Query: a lace knitting stitch pattern

The second word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon last month is Query, suggested by Kate, a Patreon supporter. As a reference librarian, I really like the word query, so I was pleased to play with it.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make three of these into knitting stitches each month: the second and third (posted on the first day of the next month) are drawn from the collection of new words; the first is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose these, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also made a Query needlework chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Coffee: a mosaic knitting chart

A while back, I encoded the word Coffee and made it into a lace stitch pattern and a needlework chart. For this week’s post, I reworked a code grid I made while planning that post and turned it into a mosaic knitting stitch pattern. (I used the process described in this post.)

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.

Brim: a mosaic knitting chart

A while back, I encoded the word Brim and made it into a lace stitch pattern and a needlework chart. For this week’s post, I reworked a code grid I made while planning that post and turned it into a mosaic knitting stitch pattern. (I used the process described in this post.)

Note: this isn’t meant to be a brim; it’s using the word brim as the basis for the design.

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.