Sunday, May 02, 2010

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Post 4

(for more details, see Eskimimi Knits)

Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.

Hmm - I think I covered this in post 2, when I should perhaps have talked more about a particular project. Anyway, it gives me a chance to make another confession. And one that may shock those readers than know me primarily as a cross stitcher.

Are you ready?

I can't follow knitting patterns that are written in chart format!

There, I've said it. I think some of it is cultural - charts used to be a very uncommon way of writing patterns in the UK, and so it is something I've never learned. Some of it I think is how my brain is wired - reading things in different directions and relating them to a two sided project ... it's just not like cross stitch! And thirdly - I am a reader. I like things to follow in a logical order, I can find my place in a written pattern easier than in a charted pattern, and I don't have to do a mental conversion. With cross stitch my poor brain can remember that a dot means a particular colour, but with knitting, if a dot is "purl on one side, knit on the other" by brain just goes "waaah!"

2 comments:

Jane said...

I'm with you on this one, I find charts really difficult, they really slow me down. I will avoid them if I can

craftybegonia said...

Reading the charts takes a little learning and patience to learn all the symbols but it is worthwhile, because whn you learn them, then you can knit (or crochet) any pattern, even from an Italian, German or French magazine, or the beautiful Japanese magazines. So I think it is worthwhile learning!