Week Six....of the Super Stitches Knitting Project

This weeks challenges were:
1) Horizontal Dash Stitch
2) Stockinette Stitch Check
3) Basket Stitch

Sorry, I didn't realize how bad this picture was!

I worked all three swatches this morning while watching the second half of The Pianist. All three were incredibly easy to do, and I actually quite liked two of them.

SWATCH 1: Horizontal Dash Stitch
My least favorite of the three, this pattern was boring to do and had an unpleasant effect. Kind of like my knitting has little wooly worms sticking out all over the place. I can't think of a place where I would want this effect deliberately, and because it is based in stockinette it rolls considerably. I'm not a fan of this stitch although it was easy to carry out and could break up the monotony of a stockinette sweater without adding too much yarn consumption.

Horizontal Dash Swatch

SWATCH 2: Stockinette Stitch Check
I actually quite liked this stitch. It was incredibly simple:  I didn't lose my place once. I ended up liking the way the first knit before and after each purl section seems to pop out causing a sort of gridline. There are only 8 rows to repeat, and all the even rows are purled. Despite the fact that it is based on stockinette there is no curling, which I am a big fan of. I can't say off the top of my head what I would use this for, but I will keep it in mind for hats.

Stockinette Stitch Check Swatch

SWATCH 3: Basket Stitch
This stitch pattern has a 12 row repeat, but as with the Stockinette check it was nearly impossible for me to lose my place. I really ended up liking this pattern. Both the knitting experience and the finished look were appealing to me. It's unfortunately not reversible, but I did note that it looks equally nice sideways.

Basket Stitch Swatch

As I was knitting this final swatch, I nearly kept going just because I liked the effect so much. Looking at it sideways, I could envision a very nice headband or cowl.

Basket stitch as seen sideways

The two rows of stockinette in between each change reminds me a bit of entrelac with nowhere near as much effort. I ended up really liking this stitch and may end up designing a hat with a bit of sideways basket stitch wrapping around like a headband and then the stitches picked up circularly around the top to create the crown.

Coming next Sunday:
1) Andalusian Stitch
2) Waved Welt Stitch (reversible)
3) Pennant Stitch



Oh, also I got into the Kool-Aid last night.

From Left: Pink Lemonade, Black Cherry, Grape

Each skein was 110 yards (Knitpicks Wool of the Andes) and I used 3 packets of Pink Lemonade, 1 packet of Black Cherry and 1 packet of Grape. The grape wasn't powerful enough to dye the whole skein so I added six or seven drops of "neon purple" food coloring. Kool Aid dyeing was shockingly easy, and it made my hands smell good  too. :D
Happy knitting!