The Knitting Fiend

X-and-Diamond is a simple knit purl combination suitable for ganseys. If you are working on your first design project, this would like nice placed across the chest of a man’s sweater, or as border just after the ribbing.

I’ll be alternating this pattern with “Welted Leaf Pattern” when knitting Jim’s sweater.

I was supposed to cast on last night, but we got too rowdy with the inlaws. Maybe today? The family is threatening to make me watch a Bears game; I can get a lot of knitting done during that!

The knitting chart for this stitch pattern is shown to the right.

I bet you’re wondering how I’m creating these nice clear charts? I bought “Stitch Visualizer ” yesterday. The program is available for both Mac and PC from Knit Foundry. I’m finding it very easy to use, but also joined the Knit Visualizer Users Group, which is run by Nancy Walsh who wrote Stitch Visualizer. I’m sure if I run into any problems, she can answer them!

I’ll be using two stitch patterns in my next “original” design for Jim’s sweater: “Welt Leaf Pattern” and “X-and-Diamond Border”. Both are fairly simple knit-purl combinations with 8 stitch repeats and appear on page 36 of Barbara Walker’s “Treasury of Knitting Patterns”.

Because I like following knitting charts, I charted out “Welt Leaf Pattern”, it’s shown below the right. (If you have trouble reading charts, refer to How to read knitting charts. If you scroll to the bottom, you can find all 7 articles in that series.)

I’m planning a simple drop sleeve sweater for Jim. The chest will measure 40″ around. So, the body will just be one big tube up to the armholes. Tonight, I plan to calculate out the body and cast on the ribbing.

Later this week, I’ll explain how to organize the two stitch patterns– which pretty much involves centering the two patterns. There’s not much to doing it, but my philosophy is: There is always a newbie knitter out there who wants to know. Why not post the tutorial?

Who knows, if I get ambitious I’ll make a podcast!

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Blogging tip: I get about 600 visits a day when people search for knitting tips using Google or other search engines and I also make some money with this blog. Not a fortune– but more than most knitting bloggers. How does this happen? Well, it’s partly due to using few “tricks” Two are used in this article:

• Tip 1: Notice how I linked back to my previous article about reading charts? Linking back is helpful for the reader. It also reminds Google that page exists and is about reading knitting charts! (This is called a ‘SEO tip’ because it has to do with pleasing a search engine.)
• Tip 2: Notice that the first time I mention Barbara Walker, her name is linked her knitting books at Amazon.com? That link helps knitters find all her knitting stitch pattern books, which quite frankly, most avid knitters eventually buy. If they happen to buy after clicking my link, I make a few bucks.

  But neither of those two are the tips! The tip is this: I inserted that automatically using a free Wordpress plugin called “aLinks”. I described how to use aLinks at Big Bucks Blogger. (I can write a better tutorial at anyone’s request. ) Do you want to see how powerful that plugin is. Look at this: Elizabeth Zimmerman! I didn’t code that: aLinks did.

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Tonight, I cast on!

Jim’s going to have a cardigan soon!

I picked up some blue “Chaco” brand yarn, which, according to the vendor at the fiber fest is “just like” Plymouth Galway. In fact, it’s spun by the same manufacturer.

Do I believe the vendor? Well, actually, I do. The yarn does look like Galway, it knits up like Galway. Yarn mills often do sell the same yarn under various labels.

I do know the yarn cost about 1/2 what I would have paid for Galway. So is it “just like Galway?” I guess we’ll see over time.

In any case, I knit a swatch using “Welted Leaf Pattern” and “X - and - Diamond Border” in Barbara Walker’s “A Treasury of Knitting”.

I plan to design a drop sleeve pullover using these yarns, and I’ll be illustrating the steps as I go along!

If I happen to find any thing to write Haiku’s about I will, but for better or worse, knitting designs have gotten less awful recently. So I’m having trouble finding inspiration!

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Knit Blogging Tip.
From now on, when I write a blogging tip of general interest over at my blogging blog, I’ll post a link here.

Blogging tips for the week: To increase links to your blog, get a better page rank and encourage traffic, advise your friends to try coComment. I discuss coComment at my blog.

I set up a knitting group at coComment. I’m not entirely sure how those groups work, but there weren’t any for knitting. I think having could might help us track collect all the comments tagged “knitting” and help us track conversations at a variety of knitting blogs. Worth a try anyway!