Learning the Ropes

Yesterday I wanted to cook a Lebanese meal of stuffed zucchini and eggplant on my own.  I could follow the recipe out of a special cookbook Paul has had for years.  But I also know he doctors the recipe.  I can saute onions and brown ground beef; I can add allspice and a pinch of cinnamon.  The quantities are something though are things Paul knows from years of experience of cooking the recipe.  So several times I would carry a teaspoon of what I had for him to taste to see how I was doing.  My downfall was when he recommended more tomato be added.  I added too much and we agreed I made a version of Sloppy Joes with allspice seasoning instead.  I was well out of my own cooking element and it showed.  Recipes of foods made often are like this; guidelines to be sure, but it is not unusual to play up certain ingredients and downplay others.  A seasoned cook familiar with the end product can do this easily.  And sometimes exactly the same thing is expected in a knitting pattern.

For example, I am knitting the Upscale Baby Sweater designed by Kathleen Sperling from Ravelry.  It assumes I have a functioning head on my shoulders and that this knitting project is far from my first.  Although the chart is easy enough to follow, the written instructions need to be closely attended to.

For instance:

Row 11 (RS): (K1, P1) twice, K3, *, reading row 1 of chart right-to-left, work sts 39-66, *, then sts 1-66, *, then sts 1-28, *, K2, (P1, K1) twice, P1.  
Row 12 (WS): (P1, K1) twice, P3, reading row 2 of chart left-to-right, work sts 28-1, then sts 66-1, then sts 66-39, P2, (K1, P1) twice, K1.

It goes on to say follow the pattern as set.  This means one should pick up the fact that stitches 39-66, then 1-66 and finally 1-28 series are completed on all knit rows reading the chart from right to left and that 28-1, 66-1 and 66-39 are done in succession on purl rows reading from left to right.   One has to be paying attention to get this because the pattern instructions don't clearly point it out.  The designer assumes the knitter can figure out that much.  (And BTW I did succeed at this.)

During the decreases for the Yoke the pattern says:
.

Right Front Yoke Row 2 (WS): P3, work chart pattern as set until 7 sts rem, P1, (P1, K1) three times.

Right Front Yoke Row 3 (RS): (K1, P1) twice, K3, work chart pattern as set until 3 sts rem, K2tog, K1. 

What the pattern does not mention is that as the number of stitches decreases the starting point for the purl rows must move to the right one block at a time to keep the design element correct.  (I learned this the hard way managing to figure it out after 2 rows had been decreased.)  Again the designer assumed the knitter could, or in my case would eventually, figure it out.

Below is a photo of my chart for this sweater all marked up to help me remember where to start and stop and which rows are purled and which are knit.

I added all the coloured lines to help myself.

Just as a cook is expected to figure out or just know how to follow a recipe, so too a knitter is expected to do the same.  In my failed attempt at making the stuffing for the zucchini, I was unclear about the details and thus the end product was not quite what it was supposed to be.  With the Upscale Baby Sweater I am more familiar with how it should turn out and can move forward with it.  Both cooking and knitting require a certain learning the ropes which really means knowing when you know what to do and knowing when you have to get help.  I still need help with the zucchini, but I've got this one for knitting the Upscale Baby Sweater.