Seeded Chevron

Henry VIII in the tudors, It's good go watch it.

            Hooray a new post! Been busy actually knitting the past few days, (Mostly because I'm
getting annoyed with Persona 5 after Okumura's palace, literally the worst) But I'm starting to run into a classic student problem, I'm running out of things to watch. Seriously I've finished the whole of the series the Tudors. (costume drama about Henry VIII it's great go watch it) Now I'm watching being human and I'm already halfway through it, and I have no idea what to watch next, given game of thrones has finished (Dat finale doe) I'm going to have a serious lack of things to watch this autumn and autumn has the best telly normally! Havent been watching bakeoff I suppose I should watch some of that. But anyway on with today's swatch.

Seeded chevron is a very pretty pattern but it's hard to call it a stitch pattern. It's more like a combination of stitch patterns it uses seed stitch, purl welts and plain old stockinette to make an overall very attractive pattern. It's personally one of my favourites but it is a bit of a pain to knit because seed stitch is time intensive. The pattern is technically reversible, but on one side the seeded chevrons are bordered by welts, and on the other they are bordered by stockinette. Personally I prefer the welted border but both sides are attractive. The pattern is pretty long and complicated but stick with it.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 45st x 70st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
Row 1   - K1 *P3, (K1,P1)x2, K1, P5, K1, (P1,K1)x2, P3, K1*
Row 2   - P1 *P1, K3, (P1,K1)x2, P1, K3, P1, (K1, P1)x2, K3, P2*
Row 3   - K1 *K1, P3, (K1,P1)x5, K1, P3, K3*
Row 4   - K1 *P3, K3, (P1,K1)x4, P1, K1, P3, K1*
Row 5   - P1 *P1, K3, P3, (K1,P1)x3, K1, P3, K3, P2*
Row 6   - K1 *K1, P3, K3, (P1,K1)x2, P1, K3, P3, K3*
Row 7   - K1 *P3, K3, P3, K1, P1, K1, P3, K3, P3, K1*
Row 8   - K1 *(P1,K3,P3,K3)x2, P1, K1*
Row 9   - K1 *P1, K1, P3, K3, P5, K3, P3, K1, P1, K1*
Row 10 - K1 * P1, K1, P1, (K3,P3)x2, K3, (P2,K1)x2*
Row 11 - K1 *(P1,K1)x2, P3, K3, P1, K3, P3, (K1,P1)x2, K1*
Row 12 - K1 *(P1,K1)x2, P1, K3, P5, K3, (P1,K1)x3*
Row 13 - P1 *(P1,K1)x3, P3, K3, P3, (K1,P1)x2, K1, P2*
Row 14 - K1 *K1, (P1,K1)x2, (P1,K3)x2, (P1,K1)x3, K2*

Phew that was a long pattern to write out. I'm also not entirely sure you can find this one online anywhere but a smart knitter might be able to replate it from the image. Anyway I'm off now, good luck with the pattern it's very pretty once you finish it so it's well worth the difficulty. Happy Knitting!

Pinnacle Chevron

Current paint project,
she's taken about a week so far and still isnt finished.

            Oh no, I didn't keep my promise of posting yesterday! And no one is surprised. Look I just
forget when I'm on holiday and because my laptops doing "something spooky" as my brother would put it, it's a real PITA to post when I'm here, I keep leaving it upstairs and it's annoying to climb three flights just to get my laptop down. Not only that but because my phone is being weird with instagram at the minute some of the pictures I've taken need to be edited again on my laptop which again, is testing my already lazy nature. I've also been doing very little actual knitting since I got here mostly because Persona 5 partly because stellaris and partly because a bunch of my mini's arrived and I've been painting. (Yes I paint mini's, yes that's like the lamest thing anyone can do, but really I only do it for display/I like painting, not for actual wargaming unlike the BF who is a much bigger dork than I am) My problem is I have about 20,000 different hobbies and I tend to have very intense periods of doing one a lot more than the others then I get distracted and drop it. I procrastinate my hobbies with more hobbies! For example the above paint project is actually a "side project" for my main project which is a giant dragon. And I havent started it as I can't decide on a colour scheme I've narrowed it down to either, black and blue, black and red, or white and blue. Buuuut I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get back to uni. I'm actually staying here longer than expected as the BF doesn't have to go home next week and I didn't want to abandon him to a house with only J*** (one of our housemates, he's fine but the BF wanted to have a longer holiday with me) in it.

Anyway on with todays stitch. Pinnacle chevron. One of the prettiest patterns in the first chapter (possibly beaten by seeded chevron which is next up) it's a very nice overall texture. Because it's basis is a broken 2x2 ribbing the pattern also has a lot of lateral stretch. If left unblocked or blocked lightly the ribs tend to twist slightly, (a result of the moving purl stitches) and resembles a mock ribbing rounding out naturally, defining the chevron.

Swatch is as Follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 37st x 48st - Longtial CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 18st + 1
Rows 1 & 3 - P1 *(K2,P2)x2, K1, (P2,K2)x2, P1*
Rows 2 & 4 - K2 *(P2,K2)x2, P1, (K2,P2)x2, K1*
Rows 5 & 7 - P1 *P1, K2, P2, K2, P3, (K2,P2)x2*
Rows 6 & 8 - K1*K1, P2, K2, P2, K3, (P2,K2)x2*
Rows 9 & 11 - Rows 2 & 4
Rows 10 & 12 - Rows 1 & 3
Rows 13 & 15 - Rows 6 & 8
Rows 14 & 16 - Rows 5 & 7

I've added spacing to this pattern as I think it makes it easier to read. I will be doing more complex patterns this way from now on to save your eyeballs. This pattern is another cyclical one, (like the chevron pattern) where the second half is the inverse of the first half. This pattern is also a good one if you want to practise "reading" your knitting as it's pretty obvious is you make a mistake. Anyway hopefully I will remember to do another blog post sooner rather than later. This week has been a pretty good test of how often I will post when I'm at university, as the only difference is I'll be doing lectures rather than just playing persona 5 and painting. I will likely post less if I have a lot of work to do (obviously) but twice a week is a pretty good rate for most blogs anyway. Good Luck and Happy Knitting!

Chevron Pattern

I'm the good guy. Right?!

            Ah! How has it been so long since the last post?! I blame Persona 5, that game is

Me right now.

ADDICTIVE. But it still has the bs gameover mechanic if your main character dies in battle, why can't my teammates use a revive bead on me? Why can't I restart the battle rather than being forced to lose an hour of progress like it does with boss battles? Basically I'd been grinding for an hour in order to beat the second palace boss and a whole load of crap happened that was beyond my control. I ambushed a shadow in a room full of shadows, excellent it's practically impossible to lose in a battle if you ambush an enemy, I win fight end but then another enemy joins the battle (this can happen if there were other shadows nearby) Enemy happens to be faster than everyone in my team, fine it gets one turn then I can weakspot and talk my way out of it. Nope. Lucky crit on another character gets another attack, weakspots my main character (before I have the opportunity to change persona) gets another attack, then just hits my main character again (of course it didn't go for anyone else) and kills them. I lose an hour of grinding for sucessfully ambushing an enemy. Great. That's why I've stopped for now as I'm a little salty.

Enough about my salt and on with the pattern that you've all been waiting patiently for. Speaking of patterns I've completly filled the second book now and I'm onto the slip stitches so we won't be out of options when we've finished the basic ribbings. The chevron pattern is formed of transverse zigzags, that we saw earlier in the parallelograms of the vandyke pattern. In the second half of the pattern the first halves odd rows, become the even rows and visa versa. The pattern if left unblocked tends to ruche up in a zigzag pattern meaning although the overall texture is flat if worked in a large yarn it would make an interesting wavy blanket.

This picture shows off the natural wave better than the distinct pattern, likely because of the tweedy yarn I used

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 33st x 48st - Longtial CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 8st + 1
Row 1 - K1*P7,K1*
Row 2 - P1 *K7,P1*
Row 3 - K2*P5,K3* end P5,K2
Row 4 - P2*K5,P3* end K5,P2
Row 5 - K3*P3,K5*end P3,K3
Row 6 - P3*K3,P5* end K3,P3
Row 7 - K4*P1,K7* end P1,K4
Row 8 - P4*K1,P7* end K1,P4
Row 9 - Row 2
Row 10 - Row 1
Row 11 - Row 4
Row 12 - Row 3
Row 13 - Row 6
Row 14 - Row 5
Row 15 - Row 8
Row 16 - Row 7

Well that's it for today, I will probably only post when I get home again, or maybe I'll post on the train on wednesday so see you then. The next two patterns are very nice and are probably my favourites in this chapter but they are somewhat tricky the seeded chevron particularly. So good luck and Happy Knitting!

Tulip Pattern

Although I put my clothes away for once
as I didn't want to get yelled at by my mother

            I'm back off my holidays (Boooo!) so you'll now have a more regular posting schedule
(Yaaay!) everyone's been busy today returning the house to habitable levels, doing laundry, getting the cat, doing the shopping, doing more laundry, getting annoyed that the cat keeps crying ect. Although I have a HUGE spike in my views on the 8th of august when I posted the parallelogram pattern so either you all went mad for that one or you were all dying for a new post. Either way I've been very busy today, on the last day on the beach I wove in all the ends on my finished swatches and I've been putting them in the book as fast as I can I've only done 5 so far because it's a tedious and long job but hopefully by the end of the week they'll all be in and I can get on with the slip stitch patterns. Anyway enough chatting on with the pattern.

Tulip pattern is likely so called because it resembles rows of tulips in a flower bed. Or well... Sort of? Idk i get where they're coming from, but it looks mostly like a weird ribbing, and it has a lot in common with broken rib patterns. I personally much prefer last week's patterns as they have a clear use but idk about this one; it's not ugly but I probably wouldn't do it again. Not my style. It does look better with blocking, and maybe the yarn I used here wasn't the best choice but I think its more personal taste. (I'd hazard a guess it's not one of Barbaras favs either given she doesn't say anything about it) It'd probably look best in green.
It also has an annoying tendency to curl a lot as you can see I've tried to pin it flat but it REALLY doesn't want to, and if you know me I will do anythning to get a stitch that doesn't curl. It does have a lot of vertical stretch so if you want a pattern that stretches well longways this may be a viable choice.

*sigh* I took this picture when on holiday :(

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 52st - Longtail CON -  Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat
CON multiple of 3st
Rows 1 & 3 - *K*
Rows 2 & 4 - *P*
Rows 5 & 7 - K1*P1,K2*P1,K1
Rows 6 & 8 - P1*K1,P2*K1,P1
Rows 9 & 11 - *P2,K1*
Rows 10 & 12 - *P1,K2*

Well that's it for todays pattern, although I am sad to no longer be on holiday, and the cat's constant meowing to make sure we havent abandoned her again is very annoying, I will say I have missed my own bed caravan singles are horrifically small, and very hard; so my spine is thanking me for sleeping on an actual bed rather than on a very skinny rock. Hope you're all having nice holidays if you're on them and that work isn't too terrible if you're there. Happy Knitting!

Parallelogram Check

What I do on holiday

            It's been a while I know, the bf arrived here this week so we've been busy tourisiting our way around weymouth. He had to have a Rossi's and a scone from the lobster pot, I've gotten nice and brown now and I've managed to avoid getting too badly burnt. The weather isn't looking very good the next few days though, so I've been trying to organise the swatches I've knitted up by weaving in a lot of ends, and have been putting a few in the book today; I am however out of brads again so I can't write up any more. I have also just finished the ribbing chapter, so I'm skipping on to the slip stitch chapter as I feel there are more fundamental ideas in that chapter than in the colour change chapter, which seems to require knowledge from later chapters in the books. I did bring an extra book so after writing this up I may start lining the pages of it.
Anyone been watching new Rick and Morty? I have to say Pickle Rick may be the best episode they've ever done, "I'm a pickle Morty! I'm pickle RIIIIIIIICK" I may have to knit a scarf with that on with pickles as a border, but I already have enough scarves and I hate giving my knitting away (curse my selfish knitting).

Anyway on with today's stitch, as recompense for taking so long I'm going to post both the horizontal and vertical version of this pattern at once. In the vertical version the sides are stagiht, and the slanted edges are the top and bottom; where as the top and bottom in the horizontal version are straight and the sides are slanted. In both versions the checks slant left if the odd rows are the right side, and the checks slant right if the even rows are the right side. The back of the pattern should be used if used in an object with two panels with a common center.

Vertical Parallelogram Check. Odd rows right side.

 Swatch (Vertical) is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 44st - Longtail CON - surprisingly Stretchy COFF

Horizontal Parallelogram Check. Odd rows right side.

Swatch (Horizontal) is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 48st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern (Vertical) For working flat:

Con - multiple of 5st

Row 1 - *P1,K4*

Rows 2 & 3 - *P3,K2*

Row 4 - Row 1

Row 5 - *K1,P4*

Rows 6 & 7 - *K3, P2*

Row 8 - Row 5

Pattern (Horizontal) For working flat:

CON - multiple of 10st

Row 1 - *K5,P5*

Row 2 - K4*P5,K5* end P5, K1

Row 3 - P2*K5,P5* end K5,P3

Row 4 - K2*P5,K5* end P5,K3

Row 5 - P4*K5,P5* end K5,P1

Row 6 - *P5,K5*

           The use of parallelogram shaped welts is certainly unusual if very attractive. It's worth noting that the vertical check tends to pleat gently if left unblocked, and the horizontal check has a natural wave across the fabric if left unblocked. The next two patterns we'll be doing are pretty easy, but once we get into the omplicated chevron patterns and pyramids the patterns tend to get really long. It's also harder to find some of these patterns are online, (although most appear to already be on knittingfool) hopefully you'll be patient as it takes a while to finish one round of the longer patterns. In general they are worth it however as they are very pretty. Happy Knitting!

Broken Diagonal Rib

Tomasz Schafernaker aka the best weatherman

            And I'm back sorry about the break but I've been busy doing nothing on my holidays, it's also going to be a pretty short post today as I've left it late, and I'm tired from swimming/ trying to dunk my brother and cousin as much as possible today. We went to an indoor pool as it was peeing it down all day today. Other than the day we arrived it's been pretty nice weather here so far, especially compared to home where the weather has been pretty dreadful all week. But you didn't come here for a weather report, or to hear about all the icecream I've been eating, you came here for the swatch.
Although speaking of Icecream has anyone else watched the sweet makers? Just me? I really like historical food programmes, I want to have a banquet one day but I don't know where I would hold it or why. Feasts are just fun OK?! (yes got to use an interrobang) Bluh I shouldn't write at night time my brain runs away with me. Anyway on with the knitting game.

Broken diagonal ribbing is pretty much the same as the last swatch I posted, Diagonal rib but the shift is staggered to every few rows rather than every row, the pattern provided leans in the opposite direction as the diagonal rib pattern does. The stagger gives the ribs an interesting zig-zag appearance.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 32st x 32st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 8st
Rows   1 - 4 - *P4,K4*
Rows 5 & 7 - K2*P4,K4* end K2
Rows 6 & 8 - P2*K4,P4* end P2
Rows 9 - 11 - *K4,P4*
Rows 13&15 - P2*K4,P4* end P2
Rows 14&16 - K2*P4,K4* end K2

Well it took longer for me to update this post but there it is done! We're getting towards some very long and complicated patterns soon so it's time for you to sharpen up your skills, so get practising! and of course Happy Knitting!