Math Monday: Counting - Part I - Stitches

Before I became an elementary school teacher, I always thought that counting was the first thing you learned in math. It’s not! The first thing you learn is saying the numbers in order, really just chanting … 1 comes before 2 comes before 3, etc.

But … the second thing you learn in math is definitely counting which is really just one-to-one correspondence.

In knitting, counting can be tricky, but it’s critical to knitting. You’ll need to count stitches to make sure you’re on track in your pattern.

This week we’ll count stitches.

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This piece of knitting shown below is just plain Stockinette stitch — knit on the right side of the work, purl on the wrong side.

Each V represents a stitch.

In this picture, I’ve counted out 4 stitches.

Counting Stockinette stitches.

If you count carefully across the entire row, you will see that there are 22 Vs. I sometimes use a knit selvedge — knit the first and last stitch of every row — on my swatches, so you can see at the very beginning and very end something that looks like a knot. Those knots are actually a single stitch, so this swatch has 24 stitches — a selvedge stitch at the beginning (knot) + 22 stitches + a selvedge stitch at the end (knot). Go ahead, count the Vs. I’ll wait.

Things can become a bit more complicated in lace (where you’ll need to count the yarn overs) or cables (where some stitches disappear behind others), but the same basic principle applies. Count the Vs!

An example of counting stitches in lace.

I usually try to find the simplest (or the least complicated row), as in this lace example above, to count my stitches. For example. I’d never count the stitches in the row with the bobble. You can see that the row I’m counting bends a bit because of the first double decrease (Stitch #1). Stitches #6 and #12 are yarn overs, but you’ll need to count those too!

An example of counting stitches in a piece with cables. This swatch has Stockinette AND garter (knit every row), along with reverse Stockinette (purl on the right side, knit on the wrong side).

The cable example above is a bit more complex because it contains different kinds of stitches. They all won’t look like Vs. You can see the 3 Stockinette Vs at both ends of the cable (Stitches #1, 2, 3 and 9, 10, 11), but in the middle of the cable are 5 garter stitches (Stitches # 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) that present as bars, although if you look carefully, you can see the Vs above the bars. You actually need to stretch out the cable to find Stitches #4 and 8 as they get covered up by the cable moving inward. Stitches #12, 13, 14 & 15 which are reverse Stockinette, also present as bars, but unlike the garter stitches, you cannot see the Vs above them.

Next week we’ll tackle counting rows and rounds.

Designer Insider: Inspiration

Caumsett is a comfy piece in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter which makes it cozy, yet very light.

I’m often asked where I get my ideas. The unsatisfying, but truthful answer is - everywhere. It can be the yarn, something I’ve seen on the runway or in a store, what I see people wearing on the street, something in my closet that is so comfortable and well-fitting that I have to make one like it, a stitch pattern, nature, art, or an idea that someone brings to me.

For these two sweaters, it was definitely the cable that I first fell in love with.

A snippet of my “secret” cable board on Pinterest.

I often go to Pinterest, just to browse around. It’s kind of like a rabbit hole or a “time suck,” but often I find interesting things to explore and catalog. It gets my brain working. Some of my boards are public, and some of them are “secret.” I like to collect cable patterns and lace patterns, especially.

When I found this cable pattern, I knew I had to use it. I wanted it to be center stage, so I designed the Greta Cardigan for Knitscene magazine. The cable’s only on one side and runs up one shoulder and down the back.

After this one came out in the autumn of 2018, I knew I had to do it again. This time as a pullover! And so I took the basics of the design and reimagined it…same yarn, same shape with a bit more ease, same great cable. You can see I really liked this one because it’s the only time I’ve ever used a stitch pattern twice.

Now that I’m looking at both of these together, it’s given me another idea - maybe I’ll take some of my many pullovers and turn them into cardigans!

See??? Inspiration can come from anywhere.