Nomenclature Differences

There are several adages in the fiber arts world that some of us (yes, I do mean myself) at times choose to ignore.  "Swatching saves time later" and "Measure twice, cut once" among other adages.  Well, here's a new one to the list.  "Read it once, read it twice, read it thrice to be sure you understand it."

Why do I say this?  In the course of watching others struggle with The Knitter Knitting Masterclass, I made a few personal observations and discoveries that and I'm sharing them with you here.

I think the biggest discovery is that you do need to read these patterns more than once to understand them.  These patterns are not published in an American based magazine.  This is a British publication and it appears that many of the designs used in the class are created by designers in Europe or the UK.  To that end, there's a definite style difference in how popular American designers and American publishers and technical editors write and edit patterns versus how submitters, editors, and publishers for The Knitter write and edit patterns. This is why I recommend reading the patterns thoroughly and more than once.  Here is an example of what I observed so far.

An American designer tells you to continue in the pattern stitch for either X number of inches or X number of pattern repeats.  In the first pattern in the Knitting Masterclass, you are given the ribbing pattern and told to repeat the rows and chart for 30 rows and end with a certain wrong side row.  This sounds fairly straight forward until you start to really think about the instructions and then look at Chart A that is an 8 row chart.  30 cannot be divided by 8 evenly.  You can divide 32 rows by 8 evenly and you actually then end Chart A on a wrong side row. 

This is why I recommend reading the patterns several times, ask questions if there's something you don't understand.  Also, search The Knitter website for pattern errata as many of the patterns are reported to have errors.  If you check for errata before you start the project and find corrections, it will save you A LOT of frustration later. And if you discover an error in a pattern and find no errata, contact the designer or The Knitter and report it.  One, you'll get the correction and be happier with your project; two, you'll be everyone's hero by getting the pattern fixed.  And if you're a member of my Become a Better Knitter group on Ravelry, please let the group know your findings in the appropriate thread.  You'll be our hero there too!

That's all for today, fellow fiber fanatics!  Knit on and knit strong!