Fundamentals of knitting

Amy's personal stitch dictionary collection 

Stitch dictionaries

You already know I love swatching. I wrote about it here: Swatching: Not just for getting gauge. Intrinsically linked to my love of swatching is my ever-growing collection of stitch dictionaries.

Some of my knit swatches to test stitch patterns

I think if I could do one knitting task over and over, it would be to knit swatches of a multitude of stitch patterns and imagine them as new designs for knit garments and accessories. I wouldn't really even have to do anything else - just knit the swatch, draw up the inspired design, and store them all in a beautifully bound journal. And then I'd look at them - that's how much I love swatching and stitch dictionaries. 

Even though knitting is more than 1,000 years old, it really isn't until the mid-20th century that we saw both innovation and abundance in the publication of knitting technique books and magazines. Barbara G. Walker was an early author of such books. In her 30s (the 1960s), Barbara began knitting but quickly became bored with the stockinette stitch that dominated knitting pattern books. She began exploring, researching and collecting stitch patterns. Her obsession resulted in A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1968), A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1970), A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1972), and A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns (1973). Undoubtedly, these books inspired the stitch dictionaries published since. Each dictionary holds something different, a new pattern, a tweak on an old pattern, another inspiration. Each one is a valuable reference for knitters.

Of the four volumes, I have the 2nd Treasury in my library.

Charts

I think knitting from charts is the bomb. Charts are a visual representation of what's to be knit. A chart gives the big picture without tedious lines of directions. I love to knit from charts. There's no fumbling with multiple pattern pages, just a single page image I can keep by my side while knitting. 

It turns out that Barbara Walker got tired of writing those tedious lines of text for her own patterns and found a way to put symbols on graph paper that would visually resemble a knitting pattern. As a result, Barbara published Charted Knitting Designs which later was renamed A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns. Now charts are a part of pattern writing for most designers. When I write my own patterns, it's a no-brainer for me that they will include both written text and charts. I did not realize that I had Barbara Walker to thank for this.

Top-down knitting

Many knitters are devotees of the top-down approach to sweater knitting. I'm a piece-and-sew garment gal still (possibly because I work with cashmere and camel and I like the extra structure I think seams give) but I absolutely see the appeal of top-down knitting and will knit a sweater in this way some day. Barbara's ground-breaking book, Knitting from the Top (1972), gave modern knitters the hugely-popular, go-to sweater method of the top-down sweater. 

Mosaic Knitting

I love slip stitch knitting for colorwork. I have used it for cashmere in part because it does not waste yarn, something I keep in mind for knitters since cashmere is expensive. I also like the combination of colorwork and texture that it produces. And because you're not carrying floats like you do in traditional colorwork, you still get a fabric that drapes nicely. All of this is beneficial when designing with cashmere and we have some lovely patterns and kits using this technique that you should try. I've designed the Tweel Brim Hat, Shed Some Light Cowl, and the Sparrow Mitts using slip stitch colorwork knitting. If you haven't seen or made one of Tayler Harris's cowls using the technique, you are missing out! Nebo and Alpine are the so, so comfortable and fun to wear!

Barbara published her book Mosaic Knitting in 1976, using as the book title the same term she created for her geometric slip stitch colorwork. All of the stitch patterns in the book are her own creation. I have several of the pages earmarked as stitch patterns to explore. 

Mosaic Knitting from my library.

Thank you, Barbara G. Walker

While I was well aware of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries and mosaic knitting contributions, I admit I did not realize her connection to charts and top-down sweater knitting. Her body of work contributes so greatly to modern knitting that conventions like charting and knitting top-down truly are fundamentals in today's knitting, taken for granted that they have been part of knitting tradition forever. Perhaps others before Barbara Walker engaged in similar techniques, but we can thank Barbara for her innovative thinking and for writing it all down.

I got to know Barbara Walker a bit more through her own words in the article she wrote for Piecework: My Knitting Life. In the article, Barbara offers a photo of the tiny garments she knit for Barbie dolls. That photo struck me. I had Barbie and Barbie-knock-off dolls that I played with earnestly. The way I played with them was by sewing and designing clothes for them and then creating a shopping mall so the dolls to purchase the designs. In elementary school (4-H), I learned to knit. I think the first 'garment' I ever made was a tiny knit hat for the Barbies. 

Learning more about Barbara Walker after her death has made me realize that her interests and mine are quite aligned when it comes to knitting. I simply did not know how much she impacted my own knitting, let alone her impact on how we all knit today. So truly, thank you, Barbara G. Walker!

Until next time, may you find joy in knitting with our yarn. Warmly, Amy

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