The Knitting Fiend

We’ve all seen it, “reduce evenly across the row”. Beginners often worry about doing this using the precisely correct method. There isn’t onecorrect method; there are many. Your goal is to sprinkle the increases across the row pretty evenly. That’s it; nothing more.

Still to help beginners overcome their anxiety, I’ve coded two reasonable methods. I’ll call one method “unbalanced”; it’s the easiest possible method to calculate and code. The second I’ll call “balanced”; it’s more complicated to code, and results in more complicated directions. It’s sometimes worth knitting the more complicated method.

As it happens, I always work balanced decrease rows even when it’s not worth it.

If you visit the lesson page, you’ll find a table like the one below. You can change the two values to match your reduction row. The program will fill in the blanks for you and provide instructions. ( Sorry, the table here doesn’t work, you need to click here to visit the functional page. )

Enter number of stitches in the row:	stitches.
Enter number of stitches to you need to decrease.	stitches
Number of stitches left will be calculated:	stitches.

Go here if you want to page to calculate for you:
How to work decreases evenly across a row.

Dear Bevin,
I read your wonderful comment:

I remain a big fan of yours Lucia,

I am also a big fan of yours, and visit your site regularly. There, I read your delightful article The Yarn Bus: A Photo Essay⁽¹⁾. However, I became somewhat worried when I read this:

It’s a good thing we got to Lauren before any crocheters did, because we were able to warn her about the ickiness of crochet and the folk who practice said inferior fiber art (TM). We feel like we helped her dodge a major bullet.

Reading that triggered a nagging thought in my mind. I clicked back to my site and was saddened when I read the final portion of your comment , which ended:

even as we differ re: Ponchos and now Wallmart.

Saddened, because I fear my impending revelation will cause you to implement a “three strikes” clause and exit my fan club. Who wants to lose a fan?

Despite the risk, and my fears, I must be honest and not dupe you by failing to reveal the following:

I crochet.

Not wanting rub salt in the wound, or to increase the likelihood you will leave my fan-dom, I hesitate to reveal where I bought the “Caron Simply Soft” used to crochet the stitch pattern pictured to the right. ( Crochet fans: Some day, I may write up and publish the generator for a garment that can be crocheted using this stitch pattern. )

Love,
Lucia

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End Notes:
1. Visitors are advised to visit The Yarn Bus: A Photo Essay to see pictures of the fantastic yarn bus and a “massive fiberglass yarn ball sheep” and a delightfully iridescent blue-green-yellow colorway.

I promised Jim a thicker raglan; on to swatching!

I’ve decided to test knit my next generator using something fancier than stockinette. Still, I want the pattern to be fairly easy. So, I dragged out my stitch books. The stitch pattern needs to be simple to work, fairly easy for a beginner to rip back (should things go wrong), have a relatively small pattern repeat, not too overused, and suitable for a conservative man’s sweater.

That’s asking a lot.

Brioche stitch and its cousin, Fisherman’s rib, seem to be popular in recent knitting magazines. All are attractive and look wonderful in men’s sweaters. I have to warn beginners though: Don’t make a mistake when knitting. It can be difficult to pick up stitches after ripping back. Many cable patterns are beautiful, but the pattern and row repeats are large. I want to avoid those for now.

Anyway, I flipped through all of Barbara Walkers stitch pattern books. After looking through tons of stitches, I finally hit “Cartridge Belt Rib” (found on page 21 of “The Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns”). I swatched; it looked nice to me. I ripped a few rows to test whether it’s difficult to pick up stitches; I find it easier than picking up the stitches in Brioche stitch or Fisherman’s rib. After knitting enough to learn I like this stitch, I practiced decreasing to see how that would look. I was able to get the ribs to slant in attractively. I think that type of decrease will look nice at the raglan shoulder line.

If Jim approves of this stitch pattern, it will reappear at this site in several weeks. Later on, it will become a raglan. I haven’t decided on the color or yarn though. I may pick olive. Any suggestions?