Letter From The Editor
The scoop from the Editor
photo: Amy
Just how hard is writing a pattern?
Hard.
A lifetime ago, back at the end of 2013, I was writing a review of Melissa Leapman's excellent The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook for Knitty. And in reading the book, I found two stitch patterns she'd designed that got me excited enough to do something I rarely do...I pulled out pencil and graph paper and designed a shawl. I called it Birdhouse in Your Soul, after the They Might Be Giants song (a delightful earworm).
My notes got adjusted and changed as I knit the sample, and the final page looked like this when the sample was done. I translated this sketch into what I thought was a good base document for my tech editor (Kate Atherley, bless her) to work from and sent to her, along with tons of pics of the actual sample, so she could check my work.
It's now 2026. 13 years later, and the pattern is finally ready for your eyes. In the interim, I got divorced, went through menopause (the importance of this cannot be overstated), lived on my own, found out I had AuDHD (both ADHD and autism), got medicated for the ADHD bit, and then remarried.
The brain I had in 2013 is not the brain I have now. One cannot understand how important estrogen is to a human brain until one no longer makes any. As a result, this pattern required the help of two tech editors (thank you, Joanna Fromstein!) to make it intelligible for y'all.
As you work through the pattern, should you choose to knit it, I hope you'll fall into the rhythm I intended when designing it. It's based on the same technique as the legendary (for knitters of a certain age) Charlotte's Web shawl (Ravelry link) designed by Maie Landra – the matriarch of Koigu who we lost earlier this year. Let us proclaim her the modern un-ventor of the fade concept, as the key design element to a good Charlotte's Web was the choice of 5 skeins that perfectly blended from one to the next. Indie Dyers (also a new thing at the time) and LYSOs were selling bundles of 5 cherry-picked skeins just for this purpose. On the young internet, we all ogled the possibilities and shared our own versions. This one (<- Ravelry link) is typical of what we were all trying to achieve – a perfect fade from one color to the next with no hard lines.
The key to these types of patterns is the choice of lace chart. If the number of stitches is the same as the number of rows, and you increase every other row, by the time you finish one chart repeat, you have built enough new stitches on either side for two new repeats. And so the triangle grows.
I didn't know when I knit my first Charlotte's Web back in the early 2000s that I understood it so well because I was neurodivergent; the rhythm of the pattern locked itself perfectly into my brain, freeing me from ever looking at the pattern doc until it was time to bind off. Exactly my kind of joyously mindless knitting. I hope I've achieved the same kind of freedom for the knitter with this pattern. And I thank both Kate and Joanna for helping me translate my undiagnosed neurodivergent notes into something everyone can follow.
ABOUT THE FIRST FALL ISSUE
This issue, our theme was No Dropped Shoulders, calling on designers to share patterns that use more elegant techniques in their garments. You'll find a whole bunch of different options if you like a little more shaping in the sweaters you wear. Some things for truly hot weather, some for the cooler weather we know is coming when summer begins to fade.
In columns, Kate Atherley makes brioche so much easier to understand! Julia Madill walks us through a few different options for crocheted seams on knitted garments...with pics and video!
Off you go, then, to check out all the goodies on our front page. And a little note here: 90% of the time, the designers choose their own yarn and colorway for designs they submit to Knitty. This time, a sort of mid-bottle green has captured three designers. I'm amused.
HEY, WE’RE 24!
I registered the domain name in June 2002 sometime, and on June 6, 2006, I quit my last full-time day job to do Knitty full time. So I figure June 6th is our anniversary.
24 years of providing knitting and crochet patterns to the people for free, and 11 years where our primary source of funding comes from our Knittyguild. I'm so proud of the people who have stepped up to support something that's important to them so that everyone can have free access. It's a pretty cool thing they do.
Knittyguild members get rewards for their support, like early access to every new issue. At the Sock level and up, they can use our super-cool feature, knitty+! It lets them customize Knitty patterns showing only the size they're going to knit, so the pattern text is leaner and easier to follow! There are other benefits to knitty+, and other benefits to being a Knittyguild member, too. Check it out here, and see if you'd like to join us!
How else can you help Knitty stay strong and stick around without spending a penny? Here are some suggestions:
- tell your knitting and crochet friends about us!
- Tag them on our Instagram or Facebook posts
- Tell your fiber group, guild or meetup about Knitty or a Knitty pattern that you're working on
- Share your Knitty pattern WIPs and FOs on social media and let people know where to find the pattern
- follow us on social media! Bluesky | Facebook | Instagram | Quips on Patreon (follow us for free!)
Thank you for being a Knitty reader! More people don't know about Knitty than those that do, so when you share us with your fiber friends, you're doing a great thing!
Here's how you can keep in touch with us:
Bluesky | Facebook | Instagram | Quips on Patreon (follow us for free!)
Amy Sadler
[editor, Knitty]