Posts tagged: geeky
Just to be clear
By JC | November 16, 2011
A couple weeks back I talked about the notion that you can get a looser cast-on edge by casting on over larger needles or over two needles held together. Nope, not true, I said, not for a long-tail cast-on: you get big, sloppy stitches but the tail yarn limits the cast-on edge’s ability to spread [...]
What she said
By JC | November 4, 2011
Have you listened to the latest Knitcircus podcast? I have; I was the one nodding my head vigorously as Amy blasted open the myth that you can give a long-tail cast-on more “give” by working it over a larger needle, or over two needles held together. Oh, not so, dear reader. Lemme show you why. [...]
Experimental sock
By JC | July 18, 2011
Remember the toe I mentioned in my last post? The one with the kfb increases? It’s turned into a sock: For the most part, it’s just a plain vanilla sock. The only decorative elements are narrow columns of seed stitch, just two stitches wide, added more to keep me from falling asleep while knitting than [...]
Toe #4
By JC | July 14, 2011
This past week I’ve been on a sock-knitting kick. This is a good thing: with Sock Summit right around the corner, it’s high time to be in a sock-knitting mood. It all started with a stitch pattern that demanded to be in a sock worked from the toe up. (Sorry, can’t show details; it’s a [...]
Wavy is the way to go
By JC | April 29, 2010
A few weeks back, I posted a couple charts for a lace edging. Both had a zig-zag left selvedge (just like the edging), to account for the change in stitch count from row to row. But one also included “no stitch” symbols, so the symbols in the chart could line up vertical like the stitches [...]
Easily amused
By JC | April 16, 2010
For four years now, I’ve been drawing all my charts, schematics, and diagrams in Adobe Illustrator. It ain’t cheap, but it’s worth it: Illustrator produces publication-quality vector graphics (no jaggies from low-res bitmap graphics), and gives me complete control over every aspect of the final illustrations (yes, I might be a bit of a control [...]
Which do you prefer?
By JC | April 3, 2010
Lately I’ve been playing around with lace edgings. Here’s a favorite: Normally, you’d see it charted like so: The right edge of the chart is straight and the left edge zig-zags, like the edging itself. Yet this chart distorts the “leaf” motif within the edging. And the zig-zag edge is a little exaggerated. Here’s another [...]
A little epiphany
By JC | April 1, 2010
Over the past few years, I’ve drawn a lot of charts: for tech editing clients, for my own patterns, and just for my own use. My tool of choice is Illustrator—nice, sharp, vector graphics and complete control over every aspect of the charts, from colors and fonts and line widths to the actual chart symbols. [...]