English Diamond Block Pattern

So I've been busy. And by busy I mean insane exam period happened and I temporarily became fully nocturnal thanks to two back to back exams. Seriously wtf is the organiser doing? Every semester my exams have been well spaced and not stressful at all but oh it's the third years fuck those guys it's not like these exams are LITERALLY the most important, and stressful exams of their degree! Despite the HORRIBLE organisation (and one of the exams being a total awful curve-ball) It's gone OK. Well enough that I'm still on track (OK mum! Don't freak out!)

And I also ended up totally wasting the two weeks I had off (because my exams were so smashed together I got an extra free week I guess) on Final Fantasy XV, great game, the combat system is brilliant... or at least it is when there isn't a tree or hedge screwing with the camera! And for once the story wasn't pants-on head ridiculous, it does have a very weak middle act given one of the characters is criminally under developed, but I would honestly say there hasn't really been as brilliant a villain since Kefka in final fantasy VI, without spoilers - the villains motivations are pure brilliance.

Tobus has been busy driving me insane, over Christmas she escaped once and chewed a massive hole in her bin cage lid this wouldn't be so bad here because I don't own a cat unlike my parents. Since she's gotten back to aber she's chewed all the runners off  her wheel (that I made for her), figured out how to climb on the wheel to climb on the lid so the second box has to be permanently shut, but of course once she figured out how to get on the lid she immediately ran around the room she's in. I though this wouldn't be a big deal because she's not in our bedroom anymore we keep her in the empty room in the house, (it isn't being rented out right now) so the only stuff in there is a wardrobe and a desk. Now I blocked the bottom of the wardrobe up with books because it's a small enough gap for a hamster but not small enough for an arm so I didn't want her getting under there because I wouldn't be able to get her out. Obviously the first thing she did when she got out? She chewed up the corner of a book to get under the wardrobe -_- RIP rogues anthology. Luckily she's easily lured with food and no harm was done, but now if I let her free roam all she wants is to get under the wardrobe so I'm considering breaking up the old damaged bed frame for the wood slats.

Anyway on with today's stitch English Diamond Block pattern, whew that's a mouthful. Another one Barbra doesn't really say much about we can at least learn from the name it's from England but that's really the extent of the knowledge I can find which is pretty unsurprising given how generic it is, it's just another variation on purl welts really and a pretty meh appearance one at that.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 33st x 40st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 14st + 5
Row 1 - P5*K4,P1,K4,P5*
Row 2 - K5*P3,K3,P3,K5*
Row 3 - K7*P5,K9* end last repeat K7
Row 4 - P6*K7,P7* end last repeat P6
Row 5 - K5*P9,K5*
Row 6 - Row 4
Row 7 - Row 3
Row 8 - Row 2

And that's all for this post I'll be posting this in the future *oooh spook past blogging* but I'll be continuing to write several posts and queue them up for the next few days so hopefully this will make up for the several month hiatus I've had. (seriously third year university is HARD work I have 2 less modules this term so hopefully I can write more) Good luck and Happy Knitting! :)

Vandyke Pattern

Anthony Van Dyck with his signature beard.

            I missed a day I know I'm terrible, I really just didn't want to post after running yesterday. Also I may have been distracted by magicarp jump. I should've written it up whilst waiting for GoT episode 2 but I was being lazy :O
Speaking of GoT much prefered this episode to episode 1, more stuff happened and it actually feels like important characters are going to meet and not get distracted on the way. *SPOILERS* Although I think Davos is going to be a bit miffed that Mel is on dragonstone working with Dany, hopefully that wont get in the way of Jon and Dany dealing with the wars to come *SPOILERS END*

            An interesting pattern with an unclear history today. The likely origin of the name is from a 17th century artist called Anthony Van Dyck. He had a penchant for collars with a sawtoothed or scalloped edge, and often painted people wearing such a collar given it was also fashionable at the time, and so along with his signature pointy beard the collar with a pointed trim was named after him. Later the trim would be known as vandyke trim, which is the anglicised version of his name.
            The pattern features parrallelograms and rectangles, both of which can be formed from sawtooth triangles. With no other obvious explanation that's likely why this pattern has it's name. I don't think Van Dyck knew how to knit given he would be too busy painting dudes with pointy collars; it's more likely the pattern was invented during the regency period after the lace collars with a van dyke trim became more popular amoungst women.

Swatch is as Follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 32st x 44st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 8st
*Left leaning parrallelograms*
Row 1 - *K*
Row 2 - *K4,P4*
Row 3 - P1*K4,P4*end P3
Row 4 - K2*P4,K4*end K2
Row 5 - P3*K4,P4*end P1
Row 6 - *P4,K4*
Row 7 - *K*
*First set of squares*
Row 8,9,10 & 11 - *K4,P4*
Row 12 - *P*
*Right leaning parrallelograms*
Row 13 - *P4,K4*
Row 14 - K1*P4,K4*end K3
Row 15 - P2*K4,P4*end P2
Row 16 - K3*P4,K4*end K1
Row 17 - *K4,P4*
Row 18 - *P*
*Second set of squares*
Rows 19,20,21,22 - *P4,K4*

I've organised the pattern into the sections if you knit the rows in the order shown you get the van dyke pattern but you can re-arrange it to make horizontal chevrons (put the left leaning and right leaning one after another) or just one type of parrallelogram in the pattern with the squares, the pattern is really easy to change. Happy Knitting!

Block Stitch/ Dice stitch

            With half an hour until GOT is released in the US we're diving straight into Block stitch, I will be refreshing TPB constantly about an hour after the show airs despite the fact I know it won't be up at least for an hour after it shows. But that's the desperation talking, hmm I should also probably re-adjust I've been sat curled awkwardly for a while and my spine isn't having it.

            Ah that's better, right Block stitch. Or should I say Dice stitch? Not to be confused with Sliding Block Stitch, it is the simplest form of a check pattern in it's most basic form however the raised "blocks" that are usually formed by the purl stitches are the most often edited part in this pattern. Barbra introduces a garter stitch block and a seed stitch block in place of the regular purl block. The plain version of this pattern is reversible the others appear to not be much different from garter stitch on the wrong side (technically all stitches are reversible but sometimes there is clearly a RIGHT side) Lots of pictures today! There are 3 versions of this stitch in the book so there are extra closeups on each.

3 Versions of Block Stitch side by side

   Swatch is as follows - 4ply - 2.5mm needles -        30st x 74st - German Loop CON - Chain COFF

Plain Block Stitch

Pattern for plain Block Stitch working flat:
CON - Multiple of 10st + 5
Rows 1,3,5,6,8 - K5*P5,K5*
Rows 2,4,7,9    - P5*K5,P5*
Row 10             - K5*P5,K5*

Garter Block Stitch

    Garter Block Stitch

    CON multiple of 10st + 5

    All odd Rows - Knit all St

    Rows 2,4,6     - K5*P5,K5*

    Rows 8,10,12 - P5*K5,P5*

Seed Block Stitch

Seed Block Stitch

CON multiple of 10st + 5

Rows 1,3,5   - P5*(K1,P1)x2,K1,P5*

Rows 2& 4   - K5*(K1,P1)x2,K6*

Rows 6,8,10-(P1,K1)x2,P1*K5,(P1,K1)x2,P1*

Rows 7,9     -(P1,K1)x2,P1*P5,(P1,K1)x2,P1*

Well that's a whole bunch of patterns for you all, now it's 2:10 so I have 50 minutes to agonizingly wait until I sail the high internet seas. Although now I've seen an advert for the crown, so I now kinda want to watch that too. Argh! Netflix introduces both solutions and more complication to the "what should I watch" issue. Happy Knitting!

Squared Check Pattern

            Night gathers and now my watch begins, it shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come. Or until the premier of season seven gets on TPB. (Don't judge me, if I could watch it legit I would! It's not my fault HBO hates the UK) It's about 2 hours until it airs in the US so ~ 3-4 hours until I get to see it so I'm pulling an all nighter!

         
            Yes I am a GOT maniac. I literally own every world of ice and fire book written by GRRM including: 

• the Dunk and Egg stories (I own the combined novellas, a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms)
• The Ice dragon
• Dangerous Women
• Rogues
• The World of Ice and Fire
• The official GOT cookbook
• The Unofficial GOT cookbook
• GOT the Graphic Novel
• The GOT Board Game

In fact the only Game of thrones things I don't own are the illustrated version of the first book and the map book Lands of Ice and Fire. (Both of which I really want but I'm thinking birthday maybe I can ask for one)

            I read the first book in 2010/2011, back then there were only 3 books out and no TV show! When I read the first book I was 16/17 (I think?!) and it's been my obsession ever since, (remember the blanket?) basically if something's going down in Westeros I know about it. I was lucky enough that I finished reading the first 3 books just around the time the show was first aired, and the 4th book published. I was super excited during season one (I am also a bean stalker so Sean Bean as Ned made me both very happy and very sad) and think in general the show has done a great job of bringing the books to the screen (mostly... *COUGH*dorneplot*COUGH*) So you can imagine my distress at the realization this year that I would have to wait more than a year for any new content, this was compounded by GRRM pushing back the Winds of Winter until late this year/early next year, so I've been DYING for this episode. Hence the late night.

            But you aren't here to hear me rave about possibly the best fantasy franchise of the 21st century, no you wanna know about the knitting game so here we go. It's a blocky pattern that reminds me of windows. The reverse is embossed squares. Jeeze that was underwhelming maybe I should do something else. Oh! I have finally written up the entire first chapter worth of swatches, so you lucky cluckies will be glad to know that because I'm going to be up so late I'm going to schedule a bunch of stitches in advance. So there will be daily updates, so long as I can be bothered to write/take swatch pictures tonight.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 32st x 32st - German Loop CON - Suriprisingly Stretchy COFF

Pattern for Working flat:

Multiple of 10st +2

Row 1 - *K*

Row 2 -*P*

Row 3 - K2*,P8,K2*

Row 4 - P2*K8,P2*

Rows 5,7,9 - K2*P2,K4,P2,K2*

Rows 6,8,10 -P2*K2,P4,K2,P2*

Row 11 - K2*P8,K2*

Row 12 - P2*K8,P2*

I think this pattern would benefit from blocking perhaps more than others. I don't tend to block the swatches as the extra work involved often isn't worth it for such small objects that don't need to be a perfect shape and often stitch patterns look best unblocked but the welts in this one tend to curl a lot compared to the purl ribbing gaps. Idk Barbras looks much better and perhaps it's because it's blocked. Well That's the first post written up on with the next. Happy Knitting!

Swedish Block

Dr Doggo

            Apparently I made a mistake when I said yesterday that my brothers favourite character in casualty was super nurse he is apparently only second best. The best character is Dr Keogh because, "He has a dog" and he likes that it goes to doggy daycare when he is at work. (That's not the real reason but being forced to write a correction on a blog is ridiculous, so I'm going to let you all believe that my brother loves dogs as much as a 7 year old with dog wallpaper) Also he's demanded to have more posts about him so if he manages to do anything else stupid I'll be sure to mention it. I've gotten a lot of knitting game related stuff done today, I've fully lined the next book (Graciously bought for me by my lovely mother) and written up 7 more stitches. So we're full steam ahead.

            Today's stitch is a Scandinavian stitch, it's an alteration on block stitch with some squares enlarged and others squashed, it makes a sort of block-y cross rib nice for sports wear and it's very easy to knit.






Swatch is as follows - 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 32st x 42st - Longtail CON - Surprisingly Stretchy COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON - multiple of 6st + 2
Row 1 - K2*P4,K2*
Row 2 - P2*K4,P2*
Rows 3, 5 & 7 - P2*K4,P2*
Rows 4,6 & 8 - K2*P4,K2*

Dr Blondie

Fun fact my favourite casualty character (although I must admit I dont watch it religiously) is Dr blonde although he's gotten a bit emo since his brother got stabbed by a rascist. A quickie today so if you don't mind I'm off because I want my idiot brother to read this post. Happy Knitting!