Don’t get me wrong. The grand majority of the time, I think that cabled stitch patterns, like knit/purl patterns, are best charted using traditional grid-based charts. The grid provides structure, making it possible to choose symbols that clearly represent the fabric with a minimum of clutter.
clean and easy to read
But I still want to support cables at Stitch-Maps.com. You have Estonian lace patterns that feature the occasional cable cross. And you have “Celtic” (or “continuous”) cables, with increases at the base and decreases at the top of each cabled loop. These sorts of patterns would display nicely as stitch maps.
with a stitch map, you could see how the lace flows;
stitch pattern courtesy Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia
with a stitch map, you wouldn’t have any “no stitch” symbols;
stitch pattern courtesy Elsebeth Lavold’s Viking Patterns for Knitting
So that’s why I’ve been working recently on adding support for cable crosses. I’ve been figuring out what abbreviations to recognize, how to draw the symbols, and where to draw the line and say, “That’s enough cable cross symbols. It’s time to work on something else now.” And though I’m normally reluctant to talk about works in progress, I’ve made some interesting observations that fellow knitting geeks might appreciate. I’ll post my musings over the next few days. Stay tuned!
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