My grandmother taught me how to knit. None of the videos I’ve seen is the way my grandmother knits. She does wonderful sweaters but does not know how to do gloves, hat etc… I know how to cast, knit, purl, etc… but I do not understand the complicated language of knitting. My husband bought me the knitting book 400 knitting stitches by potter craft. The stitch that im stuck on is the moss stitch because i have no idea what the following means:
“For symmetry, work on a multiple of 2 + 1 sts, + 1 edge st on each side. Ist row right side of work : k1, p1; repeat from * to* to last 2 sts, k1,then k1 edge. 2nd row: as for 1st row. These last 2 rows form pattern. Alternate the sts on each row; that is knit the purls sts as they appear, and purl the knit sts.”
I have done reaserch and I just confuse my self more.
To top it off my grandmothers english isnt that great.
she tries to help but just can’t.
Want to make her proud.
Just need a translation of that paragraph.
I have quite a few stitch guides but have not seen that one. The directions for how many stitches to start with have me confused too. Here is the thing with moss stitch…Forget the directions. :lol: You can work over any number you want. Work the first row k1, p1 and repeat that across (k1,p1,k1,p1, k1,p1, etc.). On the next row (and every other row) work the stitches the opposite of what they are as they come up to be worked. If the stitch at the tip of the left needle is facing you as a knit stitch, purl it, if it faces you as a purl stitch, knit it. If you are unsure of what I mean there is a sticky thread at the first page of the “how-to questions” folder that is called something like knit the knits and purl the purls. That will help with that.
That sounds more complicated that it is. I don’t know how much detailed information you want, but here’s some basics.
To make the pattern come out correctly when you increase or decrease it’s size you work with multiples of a number. In this case moss/seed stitch require a multiple of 2 because you knit 1, purl 1 to do it. The plus one is only to make it come out right and you only add it once no matter how many you cast on. For a multiple of 2 plus 1 you’d end up with an odd number.
4 + 1= 5 stitches
6 + 1= 7 stitches, etc…
The edge stitches are often there for seaming.
You alternate what stitch you start with on each row because in order for seed/moss stitch to come out you have to knit the knits and purl the purls. (each stitch has two sides, one a knit and one a purl…I’ll add picture in case you don’t know what they look like) So your rows would look like this assuming the last stitch is knit on both sides. That I’m not sure of as it doesn’t say on your post.
Row 1 - k1, (k1, p1 across to last two stitches), k1, k1
Row 2 - k1, (p1, k1 across to last two stitches), p1, k1
It doesn’t matter how you knit really. There are lots of ways to do it.
Thanks so much for the help the two people gave me.
Things are becoming much clearer and who knows maybe one day I can teach my grandmother a few things…
Here is the thing with moss stitch…Forget the directions. :lol: You can work over any number you want. Work the first row k1, p1 and repeat that across (k1,p1,k1,p1, k1,p1, etc.). On the next row (and every other row) work the stitches the opposite of what they are as they come up to be worked. If the stitch at the tip of the left needle is facing you as a knit stitch, purl it, if it faces you as a purl stitch, knit it. If you are unsure of what I mean there is a sticky thread at the first page of the “how-to questions” folder that is called something like knit the knits and purl the purls. That will help with that.