I'm the Hannah who sews in your ends and finishes the seams.
Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. I'm Hannah. I'm here with knitting natter
to help you learn to knit the easy way. Let's talk about reading patterns today.
It is a real joy to read patterns and also reading patterns can feel confusing sometimes,
mainly because the language you use across the world for knitting patterns and even in one
country for knitting patterns can vary so greatly - abbreviations, words that we use for different
techniques, can be so different, wide and varied that we just cannot pin down a universal language.
Knitting has been done for so many centuries and it's built up in so many different places
in the world that we just use different terms for different things, so that's
one thing we need to get to grips with as a knitter. Let's start from the very beginning.
You start with the method. No you don't! I'm sorry, what? You don't start with the method.
OK? Who are you anyway? I'm the Hannah who sews in your ends and finishes the seams.
But what about the method? It's like i always say: remember the big picture and the details
one step at a time. Let's talk about that shall we? The method does not come first. Do not put
the stitches on the needles until you've read the whole pattern through, like you would do
with a recipe, and also like the teachers told you at school when you were doing an exam.
Read the whole paper through because you then can predict what's going to happen,
have a much better idea of how everything is going to flow, and the way in which you're going to knit,
or indeed pass that exam. Of course we're going to have the title and the photo first. Yeah that's
right! That's going to give you a great idea and that could well be what prompted you to say "I'm
knitting this," but that's not all the information you need. Then we could well have the technical
bits and pieces - what level of knitter needs to be able to knit this? It's likely to come in stages
as beginner, easy, intermediate, advanced, so that's the skill level you're going to find. You'll also
possibly also have suggestion of the techniques that you might use. So the skills used
could be cable knitting, it could be lace knitting it might be intarsia. So many different things
as simple as increasing and decreasing, or if you are a very beginner it could go even further into
depth as cable cast on, casting off, knit stitch, purl stitch, that kind of thing, so just
be aware of that too. The technical skills used and skill level could really help you
decide whether or not you knit this pattern. Then we get the materials. So the materials
very simply say what yarn you need, or similar yarn you need, and what needle sizes you need.
There may be one more than one size of needle for each pattern so that's one thing to note.
There could also be a tools list: do you need a cable needle, do you need stitch markers?
So many different things that you could need as you're knitting - make sure you've got those ready
to go as you're knitting. It can be really helpful to have everything that you need for a particular
pattern right in front of you, so you don't get to a certain point. It could be row three where
you suddenly need to use more tools and because you thought "oh I've got ages before i need that,"
it could just end up sitting there in a box and you've only just started knitting it before you
can get hold of the tools, then I really do suggest you read the description or introduction from the
designer. Not all patterns will have this but a lot of them will. It will give you the inspiration
quite possibly for the pattern in the first place. It could also give you some little details about
'please note if you do this then that might happen', or 'please note I suggest you use that instead of
this.' The kind of knitting instructions that you'll get in the description or in the introduction
from the designer will be more of a conversation piece rather than a strict line of instructions -
do this step, then that step, then that step, and it can be really, really helpful part of the knitting
pattern, so i do suggest you always read that. Then you're going to have the abbreviations list.
The abbreviations list may also be at the back, or if you're reading a pattern from a
book or a magazine, there may be a collection of abbreviations that you use across the whole book
or across the whole magazine, and that may well be near the index at the back of the book or magazine,
so just be aware of that too. If you can't see an abbreviations list specifically for the pattern
is it somewhere else? It could be. Go and look for it. I've done this with a magazine before. I have
photocopied the abbreviation section, cut it out and used it as a bookmark, kind of paper clipped it to
the top of the page that I'm knitting from. You can also do that in a book if you like, or just write
out the ones that you need on a post-it note and stick them on the page that you're knitting from.
it can be really really helpful just to have them close to hand so you don't have to keep flicking
backwards and forwards. So now we get onto the juicy bits the method, OK? That is next isn't it?
Yes it is. There you go, you read the method. No you don't. You look at the method and you think "oh that's a
place to start," but the method is then broken up as well. There could be so many different parts of the
pattern that you will move through in stages. You also need to remember that if you're knitting a
larger item and you're sewing components together to make the final piece that those sections will
be different parts of the method, so you'll have, for example, back of the jumper, front of the
jumper, first sleeve, second sleeve or left sleeve, right sleeve. As you're working through the method,
I find it really helpful to know what's coming next and to just recap what I've just done. I
will look at what i've just knitted and read that part of the pattern. I will then look
ahead and say "OK, so what could I possibly be doing in this knitting session? What is coming
after how much I could possibly fit in this knitting session?" So I know what I'm likely to knit
in the next 10, 20, 30 minutes or two hours, and then where that's leading to. It can be really
helpful in life to know what is the next step of the journey. You take one step so that you know
you've got somewhere else to go, so the method for the knitting, for reading the knitting pattern
is broken up. It's one step at a time, and you don't have to look so far ahead that it confuses you,
but I do suggest you read the whole pattern through before you start knitting because there
may be massive parts of this pattern that do look far too confusing for your knitting
brain right now. Attempting to knit a pattern that's written so that you feel like a failure
isn't going to help anybody. You may need to come to back to that in six months time or even two
years time, and then it will feel easier, or it may just be someone who's written a knitting
pattern and it's confusing to everybody, so don't feel that you have to understand every single
knitting pattern that's out there. If you've tried one knitting pattern and you go "oh no!
I can't read knitting patterns because I couldn't read this one," there's a very high chance that
there will be knitting patterns out there that you can read and you can knit from very easily.
Just take it one step at a time. Write out the different components if you want to and just
make yourself aware of what's coming next, and yet make it easier for yourself. Use the post-it
note with abbreviation on it. Get to know the knitting pattern as you're knitting. Look ahead
as you're knitting, so that you know what's coming next and the knitting will feel a lot easier.
OK, there are videos here on the Knit With Hannah channel about knitting language. There
are also lots of videos in the Masterful Knitter and Intuitive Knitting, the two knitty knowledge
courses that i have over in the Knit With Hannah Academy. Those two courses take reading
patterns just to that a little bit more detail and encourage you to learn a bit more as you keep
knitting. Also be aware that every single knitting skills course that's in the academy takes a look
at knitting step by step. I will read a pattern with you and I will knit from that pattern,
and as we go we're knitting one stage at a time, so it can be really helpful if you just still
feel confused by knitting patterns to probably go through one of those courses because I'm
following the knitting pattern. I'm also giving you lots of different tips here and there across all
of those different courses about how I read the pattern and how a few of those tricks can really
help you read more knitting patterns too, so the Knitting Knowledge courses as well as the Knitting
Skills courses can really help you. If you want to learn more about reading patterns and you still do
find it quite confusing, I will be back next week talking more about the step-by-step path
of knitting. I do hope you're ready for that. Bye for now. Happy knitting. Bye for now. Happy knitting.