Tag: barbara walker

Elizabeth Knits Barbara January 2017

On By elizabeth kay boothIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I know you all probably think I forgot about this project, although after my last post, you can see why I got a little sidetracked. But Elizabeth is still knitting Barbara, and I hope to make alot of progress on this in 2017. Hope you enjoy the latest installment!

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 12
Broken Rib Pattern (top)
Double Broken Rib (bottom)

Yarn Weight: DK
Needles: Size 6

Notes: I got a little curl along the sides, as you can see, but I think these are both beautiful options for a project like a sweater, where there is a seam on each side.

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 13
Roman St (top)
Roman Rib St (bottom)

Yarn Weight: DK
Needles: Size 6

Notes: Definitely nice patterns, but would definitely need a border if you want to avoid curl.

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 13
Ripple St

Yarn Weight: DK
Needles: Size 9

Notes: I wasn’t sure if this would curl or not, so I started out with a garter st border, and ended without a border. It doesn’t curl and as you can see at the top, it makes a pretty curved edging. I happened to use a variegated yarn, but I probably wouldn’t again with this pattern, as I think the variegation hides the beautiful texture of this stitch pattern.

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 14
Ripple Rib St

Yarn Weight: Worsted
Needles: Size 9

Notes: This is a beautiful teal color, which turned out to be difficult to photograph well, so my apologies. But this stitch pattern gives a thick, plush fabric and seems to work very well in a solid-colored yarn. It gives no curl at all, so you can use it as a stand-alone stitch pattern.

Advertisement

Elizabeth Knits Barbara Swatches

On By elizabeth kay boothIn Uncategorized1 Comment
elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 11
Seed Stitch

Yarn Weight: Worsted
Needles: Size 6

NOTES
Seed Stitch is such a great texture, and I’ve already used this in my designs quite a bit for edgings and borders. I ran out of the brown yarn, which is why it is topped off in aqua. Have to say, I like this color combo, and I love it when “happy little accidents” teach me something new!

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 11
Double Seed St (also known as Double Moss St)

Yarn Weight: super bulky
Needles: Size 13

NOTES
I had a feeling this stitch pattern would look awesome in super chunky yarn, and I was right! It’s also reversible (both sides look the same), and if I didn’t live in Los Angeles, I’d love a sweater in this yarn with this texture.

elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 12
Sand Stitch – Right Side
treasury1_p12_sandstws
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 12 Sand Stitch – Wrong Side

Yarn Weight: DK
Needles: Size 6

NOTES
Love this texture on both sides, and it would make a great alternative “background” if you want something with more visual interest than Stockinette. It does curl, so it is definitely not useful for a border or edging unless you are intentionally incorporating curl.

ElizabethKnitsBarbara – First Swatches

On By elizabeth kay boothIn Uncategorized2 Comments

My first follow-up post to the challenge I laid out for myself. I will be linking all these posts to the hashtag #elizabethknitsbarbara, just so all the posts will be in one place. I hope you all find my photos and notes helpful. Feel free to post to the hashtag if you knit any swatches.

barbara walker, elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 10
Crossed St st
Twisted St st

When I said I was going to do EVERY stitch pattern in these books, I wasn’t kidding. 🙂 However, if you’re a knitter for 5 minutes, you know very well what regular Stockinette stitch is, so I chose to knit the two variations for this swatch instead.

Yarn Weight: fingering.
Needles: Size 6

NOTES
Crossed Stockinette is done by knitting through the back loop on right side rows. Everything else is the same.

Twisted Stockinette is done by knitting through the back loop on both sides.

Hopefully my photo is clear enough for you all to see the variation. My favorite of the two is Crossed – it dresses up Stockinette St a little. When I started, I was wondering why you never see these variations used much. Now I know – both are a MAJOR PAIN! I think I’d pull my hair out trying to make a whole sweater with endless rounds of Stockinette where you have to dig into the back loop for every single stitch. However, I think I could live with it as some added interest on a Stockinette section in a shawl. A small section. 🙂

barbara walker, elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 10
Garter St with sample of plain St st

Since we also know Garter st, I chose to knit this sample in boucle yarn someone had given me. I have never made anything in boucle, so I figured this was a good opportunity to swatch it. I did a small plain St st section in the middle just to see if you could see any difference in how it knit up, and obviously, you can. However, as expected, boucle gives VERY little stitch definition, so if I made anything in it, I’d probably just keep my life simple and stay with Garter.

Yarn Weight: DK.
Needles: Size 10

NOTES
I did a small plain St st section in the middle just to see if you could see any difference in how it knit up, and obviously, you can. However, as expected, boucle gives VERY little stitch definition, so if I made anything in it, I’d probably just keep my life simple and stay with Garter.

barbara walker, elizabethknitsbarbara
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns – p. 11
Moss St

Yarn Weight: DK.
Needles: Size 10

NOTES
Nothing much to say about Moss St except that this is absolutely my favorite so far, and I don’t know why I haven’t used it more in my projects. Beautiful texture with some openness when done on these larger needles, but would be great on smaller ones too!

So now that we’ve done some of the basics, stay tuned for more updates with Barbara’s tougher stuff coming soon!

 

A Test – Because I Like to Challenge Myself

On By elizabeth kay boothIn Uncategorized13 Comments
barbara walker stitch patterns
My set of Barbara Walker stitch pattern volumes

I have decided to put myself to a Test – both in terms of expanding my knitting skills and in terms of testing my ability to finish a true challenge.

I realized when I started a new design recently, that even though I own the entire Barbara Walker collection of books, I always end up back at the same collection of stitch patterns. This would not necessarily be a bad thing if it were my “thing”, but I realized the real problem is that I haven’t taken the time to work through the books and swatch out the less familiar patterns. And to be perfectly honest, I am completely intimidated by the volume with all those complicated cable patterns!

I’m sure my fellow designers out there are all familiar with Barbara Walker, but for those of you who aren’t, check it out. Each of her books have hundreds of stitch patterns – pretty much all the reference material any knitter needs. She is truly incredible, and pretty much any stitch pattern you see most likely originated out of one of her books.

Now that you know the extent of Barbara Walker’s material, you can appreciate the test I’m setting up for myself. I am going to knit a swatch of every single pattern in her stitch volumes. I have wanted to make myself a swatch book for a long time, and since all the photos in her books are a bit small, and in black and white, I would love to have a tangible sample of all of them. This will be a huge investment of time and a very difficult thing to see through to the end, but I know it will be invaluable to my work in the future. I will be learning how to do techniques I’ve never done, and since we’re talking about thousands of stitch patterns, it will be tough to get through all four volumes plus the Mosaics book.

So, my self-inflicted rules for this test:

  1. Each swatch must be big – 10″ x 10″ at least.
  2. I must rip out if I make a mistake. The swatches need to be perfect so they can be used for future reference.
  3. I will post photos of swatches here for all of you as I complete them.
  4. I will knit the swatches in the yarn weights that relate to the pattern. For instance, no bulky yarn for lace and cable patterns.
  5. And yes, I will knit a swatch for EVERY single stitch pattern. No skipping.

I am going to try to link all the posts and photos to #ElizabethKnitsBarbara. Please let me know in the comments if you have her books and would like to do this with me. Company and fellow contestants welcome! 🙂 If not, I hope you will enjoy all the upcoming posts and hopefully find my full-color large photos helpful.