How To :: Counting Rows

I was so happy to get a How To request over on my FaceBook wall from an old classmate of mine:
“Hey kristin, I LEARNED HOW TO KNIT ! AND HOW TO PURL! AND HOW TO DO CABLES! all from youtube! I’m so excited because now i can make really pretty scarves and no longer feel completely inept at knitting. Except I have no idea how to count rows. MAKE A CRAFT LEFTOVER BLOG ON HOW TO COUNT ROWS! DO IT!”

I love requests like that! What a great idea for a how to post. I think I will! So here we go!

When counting a row, the tip of your knitting needle is the best tool out there. The thing to remember is that Knit stitches look like a “V” and Purl stitches look like a dash “-”.

When working in garter stitch, a pattern will often say “10 garter ridges”. Well, garter ridges are the purl rows and the little valley is the knit. If you pull the ridges away from each other, you can see the knit row hiding down there. I knit this swatch at a very loose gauge so you can see them pretty easy.

Seed Stitch is simply a knit, purl and then a purl knit.

Anyway, so with a cable, put your needle at the hole of your cable (where it twists) and that is your cable row, from there you can count up rows or down rows to figure out where you are in your pattern.

Sorry this photos is a little blurry and the others look so funky colorwise, I tried several times and just couldn’t get the picture to turn out. It’s one of those nasty cold overcast days all day yesterday and today. No good light at all. I need to get a tripod and start using that now that it’s overcast all the time.

Now today is the last day to get your hands on a Holiday Craft Leftovers Monthly Issue. There is a great buy one get one 20% off sale going on too, so make sure to pick one up for yourself and a crafty buddy too! It’s a great Christmas gift for under $20.