following a cable chart left to right - mirror knitting

So we left handed people who knit mirror (left to right) have to make small adjustments to the meaning of stitches that lean a particular way. Right handed people read a chart right to left and knit right to left which means they are approaching their stitches from the right. Mirror knitters knit left to right and we read charts left to right which means we approach our stitches form the left.

In regular charts where decreases are marked we just switch the meanings. So in a standard chart / = k2tog. And of course a k2 tog is going to slant to the right if you are approaching the stitches from the right. But for mirror knitters \ = k2tog because we are approaching the stitches from the left.

At 1st when you are new to charts and knitting it helps to make these notes on your chart. But as you get comfortable with it you will find you no longer look at the legend and simply do what the stitch is telling you to do because you have come to know how to make things lean left or right and the symbole will either lean left or right \ or /.

The same goes for cables. Because mirror knitters approach the stitches from the left, knitting left to right, our terms for cable symbols also need to be switched.

Your standard, simple cable is a front cable where you place your stitches onto a cable needle and hold them to the front. In mirror knitting this results in a right leaning cable (it leans in the direction you knit). But a right handed knitters front cable will lean to the left because they are knitting right to left.

So when the chart shows a left leaning cable and tells you it means C#F you will C#B and hold your stitches to the back. Or if it shows you a right leaning cable but tells you to c#b you will need to c#f to accomplish the same symbol in the chart.

Again, as with any chart, when you are new it can help to make the notes for the stitches YOU have to do to create the symbol in the chart. But as you get used to charts, cables and knitting you won't need to make these notes as it will be second nature to create the cable the leans proper to the chart instructions. But until then, here is a sample and/or suggestion as to the notes you may want to make on your own chart before embarking on the project.

Here is the chart legend for Knotty but Nice hat (which is a free pattern) with the changes a mirror knitter will have to make.

You will follow the directions for the new meanings for the symbols on the right.




In written patterns it's not usually a big deal but your c4b will lean the opposite way as the designer intends. this may affect a few patterns that are dependent on cables coming together in a particular way. But in general a written pattern can just be followed as written. IF you find you are having problems, all you need to do is swap the front and back instructions.

Life would be much easier if designers simply referred to cables as left and right leaning. No translation needed if they did that ♥

Cabled balaclava

So I'm participating in the Ravelympics and representing Team PissDrunk. My 1st project was From Russia with love: Cabled Balaclava . It's a really pretty and easy pattern. I chose a wool blend yarn. I would suggest though that if you want to make it I did it on size 8 needles and it's a tad snug for my taste so adding a pattern repeat (18 stitches) is my recommendation.

At one point I dropped a stitch in a cable and didn't realize it till I went to twist the cable again and didn't have enough stitches on the needles. It was 8 rows down! I didn't want to rip 8 rows so I dropped the stitches in the damaged cable and worked my way back up with a crochet hook and sock DPN for aids. 1st time I tried to do a fix in this way before. It was a tad tedious at times but worth it.

I am going to make another Balaclava but have taken a break to make a felted lunch sack. Inspiration from Brown Bag. I'm not really following the pattern cuz it's so basic. I'm making mine much larger than the design so we will just have to see how it works out. I'll also add a handle.

Incase anyone is wondering and doesn't already know... on Ravelry I'm GsCraftsNthing

Here is where I fixed the dropped stitch. This made me a bit nervous but it worked fine.and the finished balaclava. The cables are a bit difficult to see on the charcoal yarn but you can click for a larger image if you like.

Finished my last Christmas project!

Talk about waiting till the last minute! I was getting a bit worried. All the hours I have been working (6 day weeks on 3rd shift) has really slowed down my holliday projects. But i made both my nephews hats. My older nephew asked me to make him one and I figured I might as well make one for my younger one as well. So. here are the hats. I used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. The one on the right was the 1st one I did and I just finished the one on the left. It's only by chance that they ended up with stripes in the same spots.

Michael's hat

I made another one of these knit beanie hats. The pattern is Struan By: Ysolda you can find it further down the page in the link. It's a really fun hat to knit and easy to make any size you like. This one is an XS hat for my son. It a top down knit and starts with 5 cast on stitches. Each stitch you add to the cast on it creates one pattern repeat of cables & seed stitch. The brim is a cut piece of plastic canvas. The hat is very warm. You knit the pattern to the top of the ears then you knit 4 inches of the edging and fold it under, tuck in the brim and stitch it up so there is an extra thick band around the ears.

simple knit beanie

Simple Knit Beanie

This is a very easy to knit hat. This is a small hat for my older son Robert (who is at school so it's modeled by his brother Michael). this is knit from the bottom up.
For this hat I cast on60 stitches and it is knit in the round on 2 sets of size 8 circular needles. Using worsted weight yarn.

After casting on and joining to knit in the round I work about 1 inch of 1x1 ribbing. The body is a simple k9, p1 repeat till the body of the hat is long enough.

The crown:
Row 1: on each panel purl the purls and ssk the 1st 2 stitches of the knit sections.

Row 2: On each panel purl the purls and k2tog the last 2 stitches of the knit sections.

Continue these 2 rows till the crown is down to just 1, and 1p per section and (12 stitches for a 6 section hat) and cut the yarn, run thorough renaming live stitches to remove them from the needles and cinch the opening closed, secure and weave in ends.

This is an easy hat to make for the whole family. For an adult cast on extra stitches in multiples of 10 to fit a larger circumference. When deciding weather it's long enough, allow a bit of extra length to allow for a bit of pulling in that happens as you finish the crown. I have made this hat pattern for my Father and my 20 year old nephew asked for one of these hats.

This pattern is available as a PDF file

The Dead Fish Hat is done!

I finished my Dad's "Dead Fish Hat!" I'm quite happy with the results. I used Carron Simply Soft ECO (which is a very strong yarn BTW). This was my 1st pattern work. Up to this point I have been winging it and doing my own thing. This was also my 1st stranded work. My Dad is very excited to get the hat. I will take a photo of him wearing it when he receives it.

progress on the dead fish hat

It's coming along quite nicely IMO. I think I did pretty good for the color changes areas. this is my 1st actual pattern that I have followed (mostly just wing stuff). I'm using carron simply soft eco yarn.

Dead Fish Hat

I found this pattern Fish Hat (dead or alive) and I think it will be vrry fun for my dad. this is the WIP photo. I"m knitting it in the round on 2 circular needles.