A friend was recently lamenting how she was having to frog the lace she was working on. I wrote back the following, explaining all the steps and fall-backs I use to make sure I'm following the chart correctly, in order to cut down on the amount of frogging I have to do:
I bought one of those magnetic boards to mark my rows (Post-It's eventually lost their "stick"), and I also made some Excel spreadsheets to check off when I completed a row (or a chart portion of a row - that was a bit of overkill, but works well for Aran sweaters).
I found I couldn't depend on just the spreadsheet or just the row marker on the chart. I also figured out how many stitches I should have between stitch markers (remember it could change with each row). I made sure to count the number of stitches as soon as I completed a row. Sometimes more than once just to be sure. Every once in awhile, I'd also go back and read the chart to make sure what I had on the needles is what the chart said I should have. Lastly, I'd hold up the knitting, looking at both sides for any mistakes. I frogged stitch by stitch as I found just ripping back made it impossible to recreate all those yarn-overs and decreases!
It sounds like a lot of trouble, but eventually it did cut down on the amount of frogging I had to do. I'd rather count stitches than undo a "Sl1, K2tog, PSSO"!
I found that running a lifeline was too much trouble. (Maybe I wasn't doing THAT right!) Then again, a row had only a hundred or so stitches, not several hundred. I might rethink a lifeline in that case. Maybe with more experience knitting lace, I won't have to go through so much trouble.
What do you do to keep track of your patterns or charts?
I bought one of those magnetic boards to mark my rows (Post-It's eventually lost their "stick"), and I also made some Excel spreadsheets to check off when I completed a row (or a chart portion of a row - that was a bit of overkill, but works well for Aran sweaters).
I found I couldn't depend on just the spreadsheet or just the row marker on the chart. I also figured out how many stitches I should have between stitch markers (remember it could change with each row). I made sure to count the number of stitches as soon as I completed a row. Sometimes more than once just to be sure. Every once in awhile, I'd also go back and read the chart to make sure what I had on the needles is what the chart said I should have. Lastly, I'd hold up the knitting, looking at both sides for any mistakes. I frogged stitch by stitch as I found just ripping back made it impossible to recreate all those yarn-overs and decreases!
It sounds like a lot of trouble, but eventually it did cut down on the amount of frogging I had to do. I'd rather count stitches than undo a "Sl1, K2tog, PSSO"!
I found that running a lifeline was too much trouble. (Maybe I wasn't doing THAT right!) Then again, a row had only a hundred or so stitches, not several hundred. I might rethink a lifeline in that case. Maybe with more experience knitting lace, I won't have to go through so much trouble.
What do you do to keep track of your patterns or charts?
1 comment:
Hi! I really enjoy your blog!
One thing I do with lace to keep track of it is to scan the pattern on to my computer and assign different stitches a different color. Such as: Yarn overs are always yellow, etc. I have found that having the colors on the chart also make it easier to keep my place. I then print the chart and use a magnetic board PLUS a row counter....and if I'm really ambitious I keep notes.
Angela
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