Meandering

 Not all who wander are lost.  - J.R.R. Tolkien

When my sister and I were kids we explored the woods behind our cabin.  We would lose ourselves in thickets and a sea of green leaves and forest plants.  We knew when we hit the road that was as far as we should go and we would turn around; easily finding our cabin again after trudging through the dense undergrowth.

Hidden out of sight was a stream that bordered our property.  We could hear it even when we couldn't see it and used the meandering water as a touchstone on our journeys.

I've been immersed in these memories today as I knit a new kind of pattern.  I'm calling it Thorny.  This isn't very original since the stitch pattern is called 'thorn" but it is meaningful to me.  I remember those thorns we walked through on our journeys through the woods.  I got caught in a thicket or two and wondered if I would ever get out.

As I knit this swatch, I can hear my sister laughing.  If I close my eyes I can see the leaves and hear the brook babbling through it all.

Much like those pricker bushes in my youth, Thorny has me caught in an intricate puzzle.

I always find translating stitches from straight knitting to the round very interesting.  Sometimes it is easy, and other times it is quite challenging.

Today, it was challenging.  I have a technique that I use that borrows stitches from the right-hand needle and moves them to the left-hand needle in some cases: I call this meandering.

This has allowed me to translate many straight knitting patterns into the round that might be overlooked.  It is my touchstone if you will for keeping my knitting on course.

Here is my swatch:

This is such a great stitch; I really enjoyed working with it.

Here is the chart and some notes:

ATTENTION:  There are two rounds that have additional steps because of the conversion into the round as well as the color sequence for each row.

Round #3 Meander:

• When starting the round, remove the marker.
• Slip the first unworked stitch of the new round to the right-hand needle.
• Replace marker

Round #7 Meander:

• When starting the round, remove the marker.  
• Slip the last worked stitch to the left-hand needle.  
• Replace marker.

Make sure to take the new color under the old color at the start of the round to avoid holes.

Color Sequence

Round 1: Color A

Round 2: Color B

Round 3: Color B

Round 4: Color A
Round 5: Color A

Round 6: Color B

Round 7: Color B

Round 8: Color A

CO -  in multiples of four loosely in the round - I used a cable cast-on.  Join your stitches without twisting and place a marker.  Follow the chart or the written pattern until the desired length.

BO - loosely - I used a bind-off where you knit two stitches, then take the first stitch and place the needle as if you are purling through the back thus turning the stitch around.  Pass the 2nd stitch over the 1st.  Repeat until all stitches are bound off.  This makes a nice BO that matches the cast-on IMHO.

Written Pattern

Round 1: Color A    Knit 3, (K1, YO, K1) in one stitch

Round 2: Color B    K3, slip 3 purlwise with the yarn in the back

Round 3: Color B    Meander, K1, K2tog, slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in the back, SSK

Round 4: Color A    slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in the back, K3

Round 5: Color A    (K1, YO, K1) in one stitch, K3

Round 6: Color B    slip 3 purlwise with the yarn in the back, K3

Round 7: Color B    Meander, K2tog, slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in the back, SSK, K1

Round 8: Color A    K3, slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in the back

I really want to make one of these with a color-changing yarn and a solid.  But for now, I am happy that the concept works and that I like the swatch.  It feels good to take my notes and chart them and write them up.  It is so easy to lose touch of things.  

I have a bunch of ideas to make this pattern more presentable, so I will play with those.  To me, a swatch is like a seed.  It contains the blueprint for my inspiration and if I give it enough love and attention it might grow into something amazing. 😀 

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I did get to do something out of my sandbox and I had fun. It wasn't perfect but I had never done it before.  And...I am really proud of it.

Because of the pandemic, Knitter's Day Out has converted its event to an online format.  I made my first actual video.  I did some editing and it was really fun.  My son helped me film and I was ever so grateful to him.

So, you will be able to find that here, along with a bunch of amazing classes by some awesome teachers who all rose to the challenge this year.  The sign-up date for Zoom classes may have passed but the videos that I and my fellow crafters created this year will be put up on YouTube during the event on September 25th-26th.

I hope to get the link up as soon as it goes live.

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Safe socially-distanced hugs  🤗

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Sending love and light to everyone being affected by this virus.  

May you be safe.  

May your loved ones be safe.  

🙏
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Sending love and light to everyone facing discrimination, hate, prejudice, inequality, or racism.
🙏🙏💖💖🙏🙏

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Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions regarding this or any of my other tutorials, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Happy crafting!

Ruinwen

😀