Greenland: a needlework chart for any craft

A long time ago, I encoded the word Greenland as both lace and a needlework chart as suggested by Ron, a Patreon backer. I didn’t really have a good routine in place for the needlework charts at that time, and had trouble even choosing a chart I thought was best from the possibilities. But now I’ve picked one I like a lot and came up with a layout I think shows it off well.

I don’t know that I’ll do something like this for all of my oldest needlework charts, but here’s a proper chart that has repeat borders in it, written instructions, and also an image showing how the pattern looks when it’s repeated.

I did make one small change in where the chart repeats because it was easy and I like it better.

Candle: a needlework chart for any craft

The random number generator picked Candle from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Kate, one of my Patreon supporters.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Candle, but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

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 needlework chart for any craft

The random number generator picked Home from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Natasha, one of my Patreon supporters. I like this one because it almost (though not quite) looks like basket work or weaving.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Home but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

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 needlework chart for any craft

The random number generator picked Amber from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Kate, one of my Patreon supporters.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Amber, but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

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 needlework chart for any craft

The random number generator picked Nippy from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Antoinette, one of my Patreon supporters.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Nippy, but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

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.

Equinox: a needlework chart for any craft

A long time ago, I encoded the word equinox as both lace and a needlework chart. I didn’t really have a good routine in place for the needlework charts at that time. I don’t know that I’ll do something like this for all of them, but here’s a new post for the Equinox needlework with a proper chart that has repeat borders in it, written instructions, and also an image showing how the pattern looks when it’s repeated.

I did make one small change in where the chart repeats because it was easy and I like it better.

While the chart is dark on light, I made the illustration light on dark because the word equinox evokes a night sky for me (even though that’s not really what the equinox is about). I’ve included a dark on light version at the end of the post in case that’s something that matters for you.