I am really hung up on a pattern called Black Death. I found it on Ravelry but the designer also posted it as a freebee on her website.
I knit the large shawl and ended with the correct st count. I started the lace section which reads as follows:
Row 1: K2 (yo, K2, SKP, K2, yo, K1) to last st, K1
Row 2: K2, p to last 2 st, K2
(same until row 9)
Row 9: K2, (YO, K7, YO, K1) to last st, K1
Row 10 is same as row 2
The designer says that the st count remains the same until row 9 but doing the odd # rows, I am adding a st for each pattern repeat. There are 2 YO and only one SKP per pattern repeat so how can the st count remain the same???
It looks like the designer sacrificed clarity for brevity. See the definition for SKP:
SKP - Slip the first stitch, [U]knit the next two stitches together[/U], pass the slipped stitch over
So that makes it 2 yo’s and a double decrease. I don’t know why a designer would unnecessarily complicate a pattern this way.
As far as I know SKP is NOT a standard knitting abbreviation (SSK is). A quick look at the listed abbreviations would/should have solved the problem without confusion (not a diss of the OP).
I had even looked on the standard abbreviations list to make sure I wasn’t going nuts. SKP stands for slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped st and SK2P is slip, k2tog, pass according to the craft yarn council. She meant the later in the pattern.
She did write the pattern when she was ill with a deep tissue infection so I’m not being too hard on her.
The designer chose to make the points not line up with the end but I decided to have a pointy end so I remade the lace to line up right. When I’m done, I will post my revisions to make the lace pointy at the end. :knitting:
I still think it will look lovely. I am using mostly acrylic yarn so I am going to steam block a swatch and “kill” a swatch to see what it will look like.
I would argue that while a “standard” per the Craft Yarn Council, SK2P could easily be misinterpreted as Slip 1, Knit 2, Pass (or purl).
In any event, it clearly isn’t a common enough abbreviation (like SSK) to be truly “standardized,” IMO. Personnally, if I was writing a pattern, I would write it SK2togP.
There really is a Craft Yarn Council. http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/
It includes an attempt by the industry, publishers and designers to promote uniform standards for yarn, needle size, abbreviations, etc and you can see how useful such things are. [I]But[/I], designers still use abbreviations in different ways and usually give a glossary of terms in the pattern. These may not be standard but they do operate for the given pattern. (If only vintage patterns were so clearly defined!)
The CYCA (Craft Yarn Council) also provides suggested lists of abbreviations for knit and crochet patterns so that yarn-workers and designers don’t have to start from scratch each time.
