Knitters....a pattern question

[Jeb]

When you are knitting from a pattern chart, do you read from right to left or left to right?

I have always read from right to left. I've been trying to make a scarf from an Interweave magazine pattern. They tell you to follow the chart but that row 4 has to be done differently than the chart and they give written instructions stitch by stitch for the row, then you resume the chart as before. I have frogged the damn scarf at least 15 times and I even wrote Interweave asking if there was a problem with the instructions. Nope. It turns out they assumed you were reading the chart from left to right and those written instructions were for left to right too. So of course my version didn't work. In all my years of knitting I have never run across this. I have always knitted from right to left. Could this be a difference between American/English and Norwegian/Eurpean?

[shannon]

Patterns rarely work for me the way they're supposed to, because I'm a switch knitter. I knit equally well right to left as I do left to right. It took me a while to figure out why things never quite looked like they did on paper, but I've since managed to alter as I go to accommodate my style. The thing with cable and colourwork patterns that never made sense to me is that while the majority of people are right-handed (and are therefore likely knitting from right to left), any pattern I've seen is numbered left to right, like the way English text is written. Maybe it's done that way because most of us are used to reading in that direction? I don't know.

[Sarah]

When you are knitting from a pattern chart, do you read from right to left or left to right?

I have always read from right to left. I've been trying to make a scarf from an Interweave magazine pattern. They tell you to follow the chart but that row 4 has to be done differently than the chart and they give written instructions stitch by stitch for the row, then you resume the chart as before. I have frogged the damn scarf at least 15 times and I even wrote Interweave asking if there was a problem with the instructions. Nope. It turns out they assumed you were reading the chart from left to right and those written instructions were for left to right too. So of course my version didn't work. In all my years of knitting I have never run across this. I have always knitted from right to left. Could this be a difference between American/English and Norwegian/Eurpean?

I loooooooove charts.

Row one is read right to left. Row two is left to right. (Er, assuming row one is a rightside row.)

[shannon]

I loooooooove charts.

Row one is read right to left. Row two is left to right. (Er, assuming row one is a rightside row.)


That's my problem, right there. I don't turn my work, so I don't have a right side/wrong side guideline.

I really do make life harder than it should be, don't I?

:knit::knit::knit::knit::knit:

[Sarah]

That's my problem, right there. I don't turn my work, so I don't have a right side/wrong side guideline.

I really do make life harder than it should be, don't I?

:knit::knit::knit::knit::knit:

HEH, yes. There has to be a 'wrong side' even if you don't turn. One side is next to your skin, right? So even if you don't turn, that side exists. But I can see how reading a pattern that way would be insanely complicated if you're only looking at one side. Mmhmm.

[shannon]

HEH, yes. There has to be a 'wrong side' even if you don't turn. One side is next to your skin, right? So even if you don't turn, that side exists. But I can see how reading a pattern that way would be insanely complicated if you're only looking at one side. Mmhmm.

I can identify the inside vs. outside, yes, but I really do have rewrite almost every pattern as I go to make it make sense in Shannon-world.

I'm obviously coping quite well with my knitting disability. :p If nothing else, I am a testament to the fact that anyone with working opposable thumbs can knit.

[bannanabette]

I can't use pattern charts - they confuse me, and plus, I'm a combination knitter (instead of English or Continental) so I have to reverse the increase/decrease directions (I have to do that with directions too, but for some reason, it's easier to do that verbally for me)

But if I *did* use pattern charts, I would read them right to left :D

[Sarah]

I can identify the inside vs. outside, yes, but I really do have rewrite almost every pattern as I go to make it make sense in Shannon-world.

I'm obviously coping quite well with my knitting disability. :p If nothing else, I am a testament to the fact that anyone with working opposable thumbs can knit.

I think it shows a great love of knitting :D :knit::knit::knit::knit:

[Anne]

I loooooooove charts.

Row one is read right to left. Row two is left to right. (Er, assuming row one is a rightside row.)

Yes, that's how I've always done it. Except when I've converted something to "in the round."

I love charts because that's how I learned to knit. I used to create my own off of American instructions when they seemed to be all words that I had a hard time figuring out, anyway.

[Jeb]

Good Lord! I've been doing charts all wrong! I have never heard of switching like that. No wonder I've had to frog that scarf so many times!

How do you know what a pattern is going to assume? I know for a fact that some of my Norwegian patterns work from right to left because they say so and point with a little arrow, yet the Interweave pattern is assuming you are going left to right and they also didn't say it. How was I to know?

[Sarah]

Good Lord! I've been doing charts all wrong! I have never heard of switching like that. No wonder I've had to frog that scarf so many times!

How do you know what a pattern is going to assume? I know for a fact that some of my Norwegian patterns work from right to left because they say so and point with a little arrow, yet the Interweave pattern is assuming you are going left to right and they also didn't say it. How was I to know?

I learned to read charts from Stitch n' Bitch and she was really good in her notes on how to read a chart. But if not for that, I wouldn't have a clue.

However. When you look at the chart, it's a picture of what you're making. So it does make logical sense that if you're working on the back you'd be going the other direction. Which is all well and good if you're a very logical thinker -- and I'm totally NOT. :dunno:

Try it, though -- I bet it goes much better for your knitting. :love::knit:

[hamamelis]

That's my problem, right there. I don't turn my work, so I don't have a right side/wrong side guideline.

I really do make life harder than it should be, don't I?

:knit::knit::knit::knit::knit:

I found a link to a website somewhere that you could make your own charts and it had an option of the "right side only" showing. I'll have to look for it. :knit::knit:

[shannon]

I found a link to a website somewhere that you could make your own charts and it had an option of the "right side only" showing. I'll have to look for it. :knit::knit:

:fairy:knit::knit::knit:

Yay!!!!!!!

[hamamelis]

:fairy:knit::knit::knit:

Yay!!!!!!!

Here you go-

http://sweaterproject.org/visiknit/

[macaquinha]

Row one is read right to left. Row two is left to right. (Er, assuming row one is a rightside row.)

Yup. Boustrophedon (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?db=dictionary&q=+boustrophedon).

Where's the "I am a Total Dork" smiley?

[shannon]

Here you go-

http://sweaterproject.org/visiknit/

THANKS!!!!!:kiss:

[hamamelis]

Thinking on this a little bit more- when I'm following a chart, I use different colored highlighters for the different stitches and highlight only those. If I'm on the wrong side I simply follow the rule of the stitch in the previous row- excepting moss-type patterns. After a while of following it I'll see green and know to c2r while orange would mean c2l. The only time I look at the chart is on the right side that the cable is being made.