Not too long ago I did a rambling post on cabling without a cable with the intention of discussing Twist stitches. This, I suppose, is the continuation of that post.
I had felt it was important to bring up cabling without the 3rd needle primarily because Twist stitches are typically 1 over 1 crossings and I just don't see a reason to fumble with a 3rd needle to cross one stitch.
One other thing I want to mention is that, though I highly respect Barbara Walker, Twist stitches are one time I leave her methods behind. Though there is certainly nothing wrong with her short-cut "knit 2 together, leave them on the needle then insert the right-hand needle between the 2 stitches just worked and knit the first one again then slip both stitches off the needle together" method I found that I could get a better grasp of what I was doing by manipulating one stitch at a time individually. It also makes better sense just because sometimes stitches are crossed and ultimately one of them must be knitted while the other is purled. Moving the stitches one at a time and taking pause to look at them and ask yourself what needs done next is a large part of learning to read your stitches.
Twist stitches are sometimes referred to as traveling stitches because they do just that... the "lead" stitch travels across the background leaving a meandering trail of raised stitches behind it. It may, on occasion, meet up with other lead stitches and cross their path. Sometimes they twist around each other and sometimes one appears to sink into the background while the other travels on.
Twist stitches are traditionally done in the round because often there are stitches that need to be worked or twisted on almost every row which means that some of that working and twisting would be on the wrong side if it were knit back and forth. Now anybody that knows me knows that I'm a big advocate of knitting in the round and I would never suggest you tackle an entire Twist stitch sweater or other large item flat even if you can. That said... I want a flat knit scarf with Twist stitches on it. Just because I want one. That's what started this whole thing and off I went rambling about Traveling stitches and 3rd needles and playing with swatches and chart software until I had the perfect scarf chart.
But while I was designing said scarf I thought about knitters who haven't learned to cable/cross/twist yet and wondered what they would think of it. I remember when I thought that working cables on wrong side rows was pure insanity but really working the stitches on the back side of a piece of knitting isn't all that different from working them on the front. They still need to be crossed in the proper direction and they need to be either knitted or purled.
Reading charts is essential to being able to work more complex things like cables and traveling stitches without pulling your hair out. I know there are lots of knitters who hate charts but I really think its just another learning curve like double point needles or cabling without a 3rd needle. Its one of those things you need to force yourself to do until you "get it".
Being a visual knitter I just don't know how I'd survive without charts. Being able to look at a chart panel and see that I have 4 background stitches before I need to work a crossing is such a clear way to see what I'm doing. Sometimes I find it helpful to use a colored pencil to lightly color in all the background stitching squares on a paper chart. This makes the lead stitches and their paths "pop" a bit more and help me keep track of where I am.
One thing to remember when working Traveling stitches is to always knit the knit stitches in the back loop. This means that on the wrong side rows those stitches will need to be purled through the back loops. Also, don't forget to read the wrong side rows of the chart from left to right.
I often think of crossings as "opening" or "closing" rather than just moving right and left.
Here are some lines of Twisted stitches on a background of purl stitches...
On the next few rows these stitches are crossed and then begin to "open" or move further apart...
A few more rows and they begin to "close" or come back together...
Thinking of the crossings this way often helps in more ways than one. If I'm talking or otherwise just not concentrating as I'm trying to knit I can glance at my chart and even on wrong side rows I know where my stitches are going. On wrong side rows I can just peek over the top of my knitting to see the lead stitches on the other side and a glance at my chart tells me if they are opening, closing, or crossing...
Learning to read your knitting and learning to read charts go hand in hand. I can still remember looking at patterns I really wanted to knit but passing them up because they were charted rather than written out line by line. Deciding to stop fearing charts and instead learn to make sense of them was a very important moment in my knitting history.
I'll admit that some charts make more sense than others. Some symbols look more like hieroglyphics than knitting symbols and that just makes it all the more confusing. If you're trying to read a chart and keep having to look back at the key to figure out what *this weird symbol* means its frustrating at best and slows you down.
Here's where I give a big fat plug to Knit Visualizer.
Here's the disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Knit Foundry or Knit Visualizer other than being a satisfied customer. In fact I sort of doubt they even know who I am.
Anyway, KV is by far the best charting software I have used and it is MAC compatible (Yippee!). Its easy to use, has nice symbols for cables and crossings that actually look like cables and crossings and if by chance I don't like a particular symbol I can make my own. Case in point... there really aren't instructions within KV for working the wrong side rows of twist stitches but I was able to write in my own and save it to my custom library. The software isn't perfect but no software is and I find all the great things about it far outweigh the few fiddly things.
So... that scarf I wanted is done... and has a matching hat. I need to double check some charts and counts and get some nice photos and then I'll make it available here. I had planned on having it ready to go for fall but ya know how that goes. It will be the first new pattern in quite some time and I'm just hoping you'll like it as much as I do.
