knitnuggets

We’ve looked at whole rows of knit or purl, and creating texture by using knit, purl, and slipped stitches together within a row.

Next let’s look at single increases and single decreases.

SINGLE INCREASES

At present you can do any of the following increases:

m1 // generic knit increase
m1p // generic purled increase
m1a // make 1 away (put backwards loop on needle with tail facing away)
m1t // make 1 towards (put backwards loop on needle with tail facing towards)
m1l // make one left (insert left needle front-to-back between sts, knit through trailing loop)
m1r // make one right (insert left needle back-to-front between sts, knit through trailing loop)
m1lp // make one left purled (insert left needle front-to-back between sts, purl through trailing loop)
m1rp // make one right purled (insert left needle back-to-front between sts, purl through trailing loop)
kll // knit left loop (insert left needle into left loop of st two rows below last worked st, knit through trailing loop)
krl // knit right loop (insert right needle into right loop of st below next st, put on left needle, knit through leading loop)
pll // purl left loop (insert left needle into left loop of st two rows below last worked st, purl through trailing loop)
prl // purl right loop (insert right needle into right loop of st below next st, put on left needle, purl through leading loop)
kfb // knit front and back (knit through leading, then trailing loop of next st)
pfb // purl front and back (purl through leading, then trailing loop of next st)
moss // knit through leading loop, then purl through leading loop of same st
decorative // knit into strand between sts
yo // bring working yarn in front and wrap it from bottom to top around the needle

This list appears in the XML schema ( http://www.knitml.com/schema/pattern-0.5.xsd as of this writing.)

Here’s an example using m1 increases:

// A simple garter stitch triangle
co 3
Instruction 'triangular-shawl' flat {
  Row rightSide: k1, m1, repeat to 1 before end { k }, m1, k1
  Row: k to end
}
repeat 'triangular-shawl' until desiredLength
nextRow: bo all sts

SINGLE DECREASES

Here are the currently available decreases (as with increases, they are
listed in the schema.)

ssk // slip-slip-knit (slip knitwise, slip knitwise, knit the 2 slipped stitches together through their now leading loops)
k2tog // knit 2 together (knit 2 stitches together)
ssp // slip-slip-purl (slip knitwise, slip knitwise, purl the 2 slipped stitches together through their now leading loops)
p2tog // purl 2 together (purl 2 stitches together)
skp // slip, knit, psso (slip 1 purlwise, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over knitted stitch)
k2tog-tbl // knit 2 together through their trailing loop
p2tog-tbl // purl 2 together through their trailing loop

Here is an example using k2tog decreases. If you have made a hat before you are probably familiar with the math: at each decrease row we always have the same number of decreases which means that the number of stitches between decreases keeps getting smaller. In this example there are 14 decreases in each decrease row.

 // A simple hat.  The brim will roll up since it is just stockinette.
co 98
joinInRound
Instruction 'roll-brimmed-hat' round {
  Round rightSide: k to end
}
repeat 'roll-brimmed-hat' until measures 7 inches
InformationalMessage withLabel "Try on the hat to make sure it is the length that you want."
Round: repeat until end { k5, k2tog } // We will do this 14 times.
State 84 sts // We should have 98-14=84 left.
Round: k to end
Round: repeat until end { k4, k2tog }
State 70 sts // I think you can see where this is going.  Subtract 14 eah time.
Round: k to end
Round: repeat until end { k3, k2tog }
State 56 sts
Round: k to end
Round: repeat until end { k2, k2tog }
State 42 sts
Round: k to end
Round: repeat until end { k1, k2tog }
State 28 sts
Round: k to end
Round: repeat until end { k2tog }
State 14 sts
Round: repeat until end { k2tog }
State 7 sts
// I'm not sure how to say what to do next, so for now, I will just ask
// KnitML to print out some literal text with the English instructions.
// Note to self: Come back and fix this when I know what to do.
InformationalMessage withLabel "Break the yarn, run it through remaining sts,
 draw up, and knot.  Add pompon if desired."

In this example you can see two other useful commands.

“State sts” will print out the number of stitches left. This is a very handy thing for the person who will be knitting the pattern. Even handier for you, by including a number in “State 14 sts”, you are asking KnitML to make sure that there really are 14 stitches left at this point. I have caught errors in my patterns this way and find it very worthwhile.

“InformationalMessage” is really used to clarify things for the knitter who is reading your pattern. KnitML can’t understand what you are saying in an InformationalMessage and can’t translate it into other languages for you, so in the long run you should not use it to stand in for something important. But in a pinch you can sometimes use it to substitute for something that you don’t know how to say yet. Always leave a comment that you can search for (such as “fix this”), come back later, and improve the hole in your pattern when you know how.

UNTIL N STS REMAIN

When you are increasing or decreasing it is useful to be able to repeat until some number of stitches remain.

repeat 'my-decrease-instructions' until 20 sts remain

Save your work before rendering things that use this command, in case you got the math wrong and wedge KnitML.
** (future versions may be able to outsmart this – update the section then.)

EXERCISES:

1. Make a triangular shawl in the same way (casting on 3 sts and increasing twice in each RS row) with yo increases instead of m1 increases. First, use “until desiredLength” or “until measures”.

2. Change the repeat in exercise 1: instead of length, keep going until there are 183 stitches. Please be sure to save your files and be familiar with how to end a task (kill a process) in your operating system before rendering this exercise. Now put in an error (if you haven’t yet): change the number from 183 to a number that will never be reached (in this case, any even number, such as 180.) What happens when you render it?

3. Make a triangular shawl by casting on 183 stitches, then decreasing two stitches in each right-side row and knitting each wrong-side row, repeated 80 additional times. Use “state sts” to show how many stitches are left before binding them off. Use two different decreases within your right-side row (a left-leaning one on one side and a right-leaning one on the other side.)

4. Experiment by changing the number “80″ in your shawl in exercise 3. Try to find a number of repeats that leaves you only 5 sts left at the end. Then change your “state sts” to “state 5 sts”. What happens if you change “80″ repeats to “100″? What happens if you change “5″ stitches left to “3″?

5. Measure your head and calculate how many stitches you would need for a worsted-weight hat with your usual gauge. Make it a little smaller if you want negative ease. Fudge the number until you have one that is evenly divisible by 10, 11, or something like that. Redo the hat example for your own head size. Put in a math error on purpose (if you haven’t already) and see what happens when you try to render it.

ANSWERS:

1.
// simple yo shawl
  co 3
  Instruction 'shawl' flat {
    Row rightSide: k1, yo, repeat to 1 before end { k }, yo, k1
    Row: k to end
  }
  repeat 'shawl' until desiredLength
  row: bo all sts

2.
  co 3
  Instruction 'shawl' flat {
    Row rightSide: k1, yo, repeat to 1 before end { k }, yo, k1
    Row: k to end
  }
  repeat 'shawl' until 183 sts remain // change to 180 to practice debugging!
  row: bo all sts

3.
// simple top-down shawl
  co 183
  Instruction 'shawl' flat {
    Row rightSide: k1, k2tog, repeat to 3 before end { k }, ssk, k1
    Row: k to end
  }
  repeat 'shawl' 80 additionalTimes
  state sts
  row: bo all sts

4.
  co 183
  Instruction 'shawl' flat {
    Row rightSide: k1, k2tog, repeat to 3 before end { k }, ssk, k1
    Row: k to end
  }
  repeat 'shawl' 88 additionalTimes // change 88 to 100
  state 5 sts // change 5 to 3
  row: bo all sts

5.
(Answers will vary.)

TERMS

Each chapter will contain a (rather hasty at present) list of the terms in Appendix B. Knitting Expression Language Reference that have been introduced in that chapter.

bo
decreases: ssk, k2tog, ssp, p2tog, skp, k2tog-tbl, p2tog-tbl
increases: m1, m1p, m1a, m1t, m1l, m1r, m1lp, m1rp, kll, krl, pll, prl, kfb, pfb, moss, decorative, yo
informationalMessage
rightSide (in Row or Round)
repeat (after Instruction): until desiredLength
state sts, state __ sts