Tonight, I learned that the two books I checked out from the Lacemakers of Puget Sound The guild library has unique ways of communicating through knitting abbreviations. Books: The Art of Shetland Lace by Sarah Don & Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller.
Sarah Don’s book, The Art of Shetland Lace, only provided written instructions for the 30+ stitch samples and 8 patterns. I became a bit concerned when I couldn’t find the abbreviations page (on page 23) because I wasn’t familiar with some of the knitting terms.
A few of the abbreviations:
O = wool over
2P = pass two slip stitches over
PT = purl two together
T = knit two together
T3 = knit three together
T4 = knit four together
U = make one stitch by picking up loop between stitches
Now, at some point, we have all performed these stitches. Once you read the descriptions, they completely make sense.
Maybe I should look into the universal knitting symbols chart. You know, the one that lets us read any pattern in any language as long as there’s a chart. Does one exist? Ah, more research.
Charting out a written pattern is quite, well, fun. At least for me. I gain more from visualizing it than just reading. I guess something just clicks, and that good old lightbulb above the head gets brighter.
Tonight, I charted the Cat’s Paw. Quite simple, though I used my own charting symbols.
I think I need to knit samples of the lace patterns for my notebook. It will provide a good reference and help me check my handwritten charts. Maybe I should write in pencil, silly me.
Give it a try: If you’re interested in creating a beautiful lace scarf with the Cat’s Paw lace pattern, take a look at the Cat’s Paw Scarf by Elizabeth Lovick, a free PDF accessible online.
Happy lace knitting to you.
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