I try not to worry about knitting instructions. I know, I know – that’s a grand and great statement, but the truth is that at this point in my knitting career, it’s been a good long time since an instruction knocked me down and left me bleeding in an alley while it partied with its skanky friends. (I admit it hasn’t been that long since one slapped me around a little, but that’s normal.) Part of this is experience, and part of it is that I have lots of resources, but most of it that I am frankly so stubborn that I make the mules the other mules hate for being obdurate look weak-willed. 
This means that if I want to knit something, I don’t usually worry about it being too hard. I’ll figure that out later. If there’s something I don’t know how to do? I’ll look it up. If there’s something tricky – I’ll get the hang. Most of the time, I look at a piece of knitting, compare it mentally with what I imagine the study of statistical thermodynamics is like, and then sort of think "How hard can it be?"
Obviously, the answer to that varies. (See reference above to getting slapped around a little by yarn and it’s friends.) Knitting, I feel like I can handle. Knitting and me, we’re square. It’s with this in mind that I tell you the following. The little sweater is not done. This is because the last instruction on this knitting pattern is a hard one.
It says "Embroider." The first time I saw it it took a couple of minutes to hit me that it wasn’t knitting at all. It’s totally embroidery, which (while I admit to a brief but intense period of cross-stitch) is not exactly something I know a ton about – so we’ll see how it goes. If you need me, I’ll be the one cursing in the corner with McCall’s Needlework Treasury open to "chain stich."
I know they’re famous last words, but really…how hard can it be?
(PS. I knew I was saving a needlework book from 1964 for a reason. I am now officially vindicated in my decision to also save " Creative Hands" from 1966, which contains this lesson: 
Some day being able to tell the difference between those two could be critical. I’m glad to have pictures.)
How hard can it be? Probably not that hard, but there seems to me to be some sort of philosophical difference between knitters and embroiderers. The set of the former only barely intersects with the set of the latter and mostly seems to result in things like felted mittens with to-die-for embroidery garnishing the tops. Good luck!
I can’t be first but I’ll proceed as if I am. That sweater is lovely and I think the color will be gorgeous on a baby. Gorgeous.
I love the views of your antique craft books, but “purled garter stitch”? Does that mean purl every row? Crazy talk.
I’m moving house, I wouldn’t have kept that book, but I am sure you are right – don’t quite know when but ‘it will be useful someday’! Bizarre, both photo and caption – who’d a thunk it.
You can do it! I have every faith.
Also, I am sure the pictures are most helpful.
Embroidery I can handle… It’s the whip stitch to put the pieces together that makes me nervous (but still less nervous than thermodynamic engineering, to be sure). How does one anchor the yarn at the beginning of the seam??
Call your local chapter of the Canadian Embroidery Guild. They are there to help.
First, that sweater looks great to me as is. Second, because that is not what has been in your imagination, I checked the pics at Ravelry. Embroidered chain stitch is looking a lot like Kitchener without the joining of two pieces. You got this. Eventually.
Hey. It looks nice the way it is. So it says “embroider.” Does that mean you have to embroider? Clearly not. It can be your own personal creative touch not to embroider. So there.
Seriously? There is a difference between knit and purl garter stitch?
That garter stitch thing is perplexing. Purl every row for the exact same result? No thank you!
I’ve taken Thermodynamics. And Statistics. Although, not together that I recall. They are hard, but for brain-twisting you really have to go to Quantum Mechanics (everything you thought you knew is a lie! With math!).
You’re right. Knitting is wicked easy compared to that – and you can always pull it out and start over. The real challenge is the space-time continuum that needs that sweater done yesterday. The Quantum Mechanics are still working on that one.
I feel the same about knitting (though not nearly as experienced as you) but embroider – it makes me cry. I have tried duplicate stitching a few times, but I’d really rather not!!!
Just this morning I was thinking of knitted garter stitch and purled garter stitch as an example of things that are totally, exactly the same thing. (It was in regard to the question of whether “ssk” and “k2tog tbl” are exactly the same thing or not, which no one has been able to tell me.)
If there is a difference between those two garter stitches, my musings of this morning are meaningless. Say it ain’t so.
Embroidery on knitting always seems to take me forever. I don’t know why, because I don’t have problems embroidering onto linen.
The sweater looks beautiful!
I’ve had a sweater or two that called for embroidery as well, and while it wasn’t my favourite thing, it wasn’t all that bad. I found the key to chain stitch is tension. Make sure you give yourself enough slack as you create each loop that it looks like a loop and not just a line.
I know you can do it! Just a little bump in the road 🙂
The purled garter stitch is looser, in the photo.
Pat D at 4:06 PM: “ssk” and “k2tog tbl” are not the same thing, because “k2togtbl” twists the stitches, and “ssk” doesn’t twist the stitches.
“Knitted garter stitch” vs “Purled garter stitch”
I have to ask: was that book published on April Fool’s Day?
Forget that other chain stitch and look at this one! Totally easier (IMO)!
You just blew my mind with that bottom picture.
BTW where are the Easter eggs?
Clearly, due to space restrictions, they dropped a few key words. The original instructions said: “Optional: Embroider. Or not. It’s totally your decision.”
I had to go back at look at the link to the pattern that you included in your Shades of Grey posting. While the embroidery is futzy,I do admire how it take a masculine geometric star pattern and turns it into feminine soft flowers (yes, I know that’s not politically correct, but it’s true).
It’ll be a good day in hell before I do purled garter stitch. Agree with you onthe embroider instruction!
Very pretty sweater! Good luck with the embroidery. I learned to embroider long before I learned to knit; it’s pretty logical, so I know you will catch on.
What is the problem with purling for so many knitters? I read a lot of knitting blogs, and there are many knitters for whom purling is a nightmare. I don’t understand this; for me, purling is as easy as knitting. I thought this was because I knit Continental and many knitters knit British/American, but my best knitting friend is yarn-in-the-right-hand thrower, and she doesn’t mind purling. She’s says purling is as easy as knitting. Do you know the answer to this question?
Sometimes you gotta do that purl garter stitch. Really, folks. Usually I have done it if I find myself in a tricky situation with switching from stocking to garter and start on the wrong side… somehow. It’s at least good to know it can be done, and is EXACTLY the same!
Having followed your blog and read your books , you aren’t going to be happy unless you do the embroidery but also having followed your blog and read your books know you can do it even if the air is a little blue to begin with ! Lol
As for the purl vs knitted garter stitch you interest me…. there is a slight different in how the “bumps” lay in the pictures as far as I can see… must .. do .. some.. samples! ( my purl is tighter than my knit so will be interesting to compare the results.
Cheers and happy stitching
You’ll get the embroidery thing; of that I also have no doubt. As for the “knit garter” vs “purl garter,” as someone pointed out, many knitter’s purled stitches are looser than their knit stitches, so it could very well look different if you chose to purl every row instead of knit every row. I would sooner stick pins in my eyes than to purl every row, but for someone who knits Portuguese style, purling is easier to do than knitting.
Chain stitch is just duplicate stitch without the knitting first. Easy peasy.
I do a ton of embroidery on knitting to embellish my colorwork, and once you get the hang of chainstitch you’ll be fine. Few words of warning: Don’t try to fight the spaces in between the yarn and act like you’re embroidering on a felted piece. Make your stitches match with the spaces between knitted stitches and you will be happier. Second, be sure to keep it stretchy – you can take away the stretchiness of the knitting by embroidering it to within an inch of its life – put some stretchiness into your stitches. Good luck, and may the force be with you!
Someone who loves finishing as you do will be just fine. Here: http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/06/basic-embroidery-stitches-chain.html Or here’s one actually demonstrated on knitting, which should make you feel right at home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo2lMDd4nP0
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of adulterated knitting, i.e. adding lace, embroidery, cross stitch etc. Having said that, it’s not hard and I know you can do it. Arm yourself with some wine (or beer) and some good pictural instructions. Cheers!
I am not a fan of adding anything on but buttons. I just don’t feel like it when I’m done. I also change all of my patterns to in-the-round. I’m lazy like that. But you got this girl!
Embroidery (without patterns, no less) is actually something I mastered as a teenager. That would be the least scary direction for me! Pretty much everything else, from ‘cast on using 2nd Mongolian temporary cast on’ to ‘insert darts, pick up 408 stitches TBL and use Scandinavian circulars to reverse knit these stitches’, would have me up against the ropes in no time. I’m sure you’ll handle it just fine!
Re the garter stitch. Maybe it was to illustrate how the different sides of the knitting will look when finished (assuming you don’t produce knitting that looks machine made perfect). Another possibility is that it is to illustrate a concept we seldom consider, which is nap. Like a pair of corduroy pants where the legs were not cut as mirror images and one looks darker than the other – same thing with suede). Finally, given the publication date of the book, that was before the “stitchual” (like sexual) revolution and one did things the way the experts said to do it or else!!! I can just see my fire and brimstone, de-merit and punishment issuing grandmother insisting they are different.
Chain stitch is easy-peasy. It’s just a single verticle row of stitches. I always loved doing chain stitching. Good luck. Beautiful sweater. I know you thought you were looking for more color, but this is a beauty.
Hmmm…Knit vs. Purl stockinette question on April 1st? C’est un poisson d’Avril? Actually, stitch tension may vary. Speed, too. It all depends on your knitting style. I knit Continental, so purling’s easier and faster than knitting for me. I can use my left thumb to scoot the newly-made purl stitch off of the left needle by giving a little shove to the end of the yarn that’s held in front. Doesn’t work as well with knit, ’cause the yarn’s in back, but my thumb isn’t.
Chain stitch can actually be down as a chain…a crocheted chain worked through the fabric…
Hold working yarn under fabric. insert hook, down through the fabric, where you want the base of your chain (notice, a chain looks like a knitted V…). grab the working yarn, and pull up a loop. Keep loop on hook. Insert hook down where you want the base of the next V. PUll up a loop, and pull loop through previous loop. Tighten to pleasing tightness…NOT too tight. Continue. Easy! Easier than embroidering on knitted fabric, actually. Technique was called tambour in the 18th C. Done finely on fine fabric, in a hoop…
Embroidery is like knitting: take it one stitch at a time. 🙂
just roll with it. Read what you can then just roll.
how hard can it be….
BWAHAHAHAHAH
how many times has that line gotten me in over my head?
sweater is fab
Knitted vs purled garter stitch: clearly, one is orange and the other is blue.
I have 2 sayings I very commonly use. The first is “How hard can it be?” This is, unfortunately frequently followed by, “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!”
Hope all works out well for you!
I just try to appreciate my live-in Thermodynamics consultant, even when he questions exactly how much yarn is needed to keep up suitably warm and happy. I do try to avoid using the phrase, “How hard can this be?”. Life tends to like to demonstrate the answer for me.
Chain stitch is far easier than figuring out why there are pictures of knit garter stitch and purled garter stitch together in a book. The top drawing of chain stitch is really what you need to know. Study it, practice it, and you will be golden. (Is the picture to show that you can start creating garter stitch with either the knit or the purl stitch and it looks that same?)
There’s a difference between knitted and purled garter stitch? I think the sample knitter just had looser tension on the purled one.
I love old knitting books. Even the very dated ones. I found one from the ’70’s last week.
http://pdxknitterati.com/2013/03/28/treasures-in-the-attic-70s-edition/
And you know, I think the knitting looks very nice, even without the embroidery. Your choice on whether to include it…or not!
My sister insists on purling her garter stitch, because she hates knitting! I suppose it only matters if you are trying to match up two pieces with their “right-sides”…
There is nothing that says that you must use embroidery on your sweater. Yours could be sewn up and finished as is and it would be absolutely lovely!!!
That book was totally written for me, age 11, as I purled and knit swatches of garter stitch to compare them because I was SURE someone was putting me on about them being the same. I can’t possibly be the only one who did that, right?
Perhaps our thermodynamics consultant (or some other scientific person) can tell us who decided to map the globe so that the half with Canada, the US, Europe and much of Asia were at the top. Who made that call? There’s really no logical or physical point of reference in space to give us this particular direction. For all we know, the south pole is “up.” Or the equator is vertical.
And if you find out that answer, you also have the knit garter vs purl garter answer: “because.”
HAHAHAH! vindication for ALL of us with our own collection of important books, notes, patterns and documents older than we are! can’t wait to see the final product.
Well, would you look at that! There IS a difference between knitted garter and purled garter. I stared at that picture for quite some time, awed that there is a difference and that I had no idea there would be! Life and knitting are both full of surprises.
I’m loving the comments in this thread! I am really a lazy knitter. if it sounds really tricky, I tend to think it’s not worth it. I don’t ask my knitting to challenge, I ask my knitting to calm me down, relax and soothe me. I’m so glad you saved the old craft books. I’m saving a few of my own.
I don’t see the difference between knit and purl garter. The difference I see in the pictures is the cast on. but, I promise, I’m not going lose any sleep over that one! Cheers!
Happy the Blog is back to knitting. Thank you.
Dear Steph. Chain stitch works best if you move thread alternately eftl then right. Practice on a spare tension square, till you get “pull” right.
Thanks for the laugh.
Upon careful scrutiny, I think those photos got reversed.
You are so awesome in attending to the details in the baby sweaters! I would’ve declared that the designer was out of his/her rocker when adding the frivolous embroidery. And then I would have decided that my mod is actually better with its minimizing, 21st century effect. LOL.
While I haven’t read all the comments, couldn’t you just use a crochet hook and chain stitch around to make the flowers? I’ve done it on other projects to help add stability, vertical stripes, etc. I sure as heck would find away to make it work because I need the finishing of a project to go much faster than embroidery!
I have that book. I got it from my grandmother. Now I have to check this out!!
What a beautiful sweater! I’d be afraid to embroider on it, for fear of undoing some of the lovely, but I’m sure you’ll manage only to enhance it.
Exactly. I love embroidery.
The purled garter stitch looks like a knitted one but “upside” down….hmm
LOL!
What I don’t understand is why you’re embroidering a gray sweater with the same shade of gray.
Maybe I’m just used to embroidered details being used to add a different color, usually in a way that would be difficult or exasperating to do by knitting (say, a few little daisies on a baby’s sweater or the pocket of a small child’s cardigan).
So, what is the reason for the chain stitch embroidery? And how is the big gray gansey coming along?
The last time we saw you you were fighting Easter deadlines. How did that all work out? Nice Easter as usual?
I made hot cross buns as a result of reading your post. Yummy! Added walnuts and dried apricots. Did not do any eggs,….yet. We had dinner in the mountains among the lilac bushes. Rong Branch Cafe in Julian. Yummy apple and mixed berries pie.
Currently knitting socks for my son out of Berrocco comfort sock, 100% nylon. He does not like wool socks.
Hope you had a lovely Easter.
Julie in San Diego
OMG. I have that McCalls book too! I remember learning the afghan stitch from it way back when.
I’d do the embroidery for you!!
Embroider?!? The sweater looks great! What the devil does it want you to embroider?
From one mule to another- happy Easter!
And I am (of course, stubbornly) of the opinion that if you can sew seams on your knitting by hand, chain stitch is a piece of cake.
I look at all your knitting in awe, but for the first time I have actually made what you are making. I found the embroidery easy, so hang in there, it really does make it look better.
Whoooaahh. There’s 2 kinds of garter stitch?
You will easily, I promise, get the rhyme and rhythm of embroidery on that lovely little sweater! Just have a cup of tea and take your time.
Speaking of purl and knit: I just finished preparing three start up kits to teach younger co-workers how to knit during our first Brown Bag of Knitting lunch time tomorrow. I always teach the PURL stitch first. Get it out of the way. Then teach the KNIT stitch and the newbies are off and running. BTW – 2 young ladies and 1 young man. We will be in the lunch room so I have packed extra needles and yarn – cotton for dish rags. It’s a museum and I am anticipating a few lemmings-to-the-sea reaction.
The difference between knitted and purled garter stitch is so obvious that I’m surprised I never noticed it before! The former is blue and the latter orange.
In the US the creative hands books were called Golden Hands. My mom used to get them when I was a kid one at a time as magazines first. Then she got them as bound books. I have an almost complete set. I still like looking through them for inspiration. They were published lat e60’s early 70’s. They really look dated but that is part of the charm.
t
Who knew there was two ways to do the garter stitch? Is this knowledge necessary? My advice is to use artistic licensure and do whatever you want to do! 🙂
There’s totally a difference. One is orange, and one is blue.
And further, I think the printed the photo of the orange upside down 😉
I’m sure this has already been mentioned in the eleven billionty comments before mine but…you don’t HAVE to embroider. It’a a free world, and you can decide that You Are Not Going To Embroider.
If you do, you have daisies; if you don’t, you have snowflakes. Which is more Norwegian? ‘zactly! IMHO, no embroidery is better.
As for the purl v. knit garter, the only difference I can see is that the knit garter twists (or at least maintains the twist) in the yarn, whereas the purl garter untwists it.
Wow… I have that same book.
If I were on the same continent as you I would totally help demystify embroidery. As it is, all I can do is cheer you on.
Go, Steph!
Hm… knitted garter stitch vs. purled garter stitch. Whomever made the samples for your book was probably a picker-style knitter. The loops in the orange sample are larger and less even than the blue knitted sample. So yeah – for them the two styles look different, even if the actual stitches are the same in the end.
Many years ago I did a great little workshop with the Australian Patons sample embroiderer and learnt more than I could have possibly imagined at the time.
Apparently it’s important to use a sharp needle and make sure you split the yarn while embroidering on knitwear. Both things will help stop any embroidered stitches disappearing between the knit stitches. I’ve done it ever since and it works a treat!
Purl garter versus knit garter; English style purl seems to be tighter, continental style looser than knit, but maybe it is just me. To Pat at 4.06 and Tamar at 4.23 I would like to say this: I have tried both Continental and English style knitting and I would say: stick to ssk in Continental or picking style, to k2ttbl in English or throwing style. I found using ssk in English and vice versa delivered twisted stitches, so maybe each style needs its own proved through ages style of de- and increasing stitches. Purl stitches just seem to take a little longer, say 10 seconds per 100 stitches, so maybe that is the reason so many knitters like knit better, but then again, I am a thrower. If you throw with the thread between your thumb and first finger, dropping the needle every stitch, please watch: Irish cottage knitting with Yarn Harlot and try learning to knit like that, it is so much faster and easier (I have the thread over my first finger, otherwise it is just the same, so I know and I learned this 59 years ago, when I was six, so it can not be too difficult to learn, I even learned picking aged 52, so it can be done).
Haha, your post ánd all the comments made me LOL. Love it! And very curious how you procede.. embroider or not embroider, that’s the question!
I’m sure you’ll manage fine with the sweater, and it will be adorable.
Isn’t ‘purled garter stitch’ an oxymoron?
I’m just wondering how much masochism it takes to do purled garter stitch. The only justification must be something to do with transition to an adjacent section, and maybe a color change?
Re your book, at last it all makes sense to me! I’ve been struggling with garter stitch for years. The old ways are the best.
Reading you is always a pleasure.
I loved the garter stitch pics. I needed a laugh today!!
My husband came in from the other room to see what was so funny, but when I told him he just gave me one of those looks that says “too many yarn fumes” and walked out again.
I’m less likely to ask “how hard could it be?” and more likely to wonder “does this sweater really need embroidery?”
I know exactly what you mean! I am about to slash my wrists over some German short rows done on Magic Loop. I always pick the hardest patterns and then jump right in, because knitting isn’t knitting until you are mired in complications apparently! And, of course, how hard could it be?
Biggest tip about doing embroidery on a finished knitted sweater………keep referring to the photo of the project. It is sooooo easy to make your embroidery stitches too large on the knitted material. Sometimes you really have to scrunch it down a bit. Check out this Wheat sheaf sweater
http://media.photobucket.com/user/storye_book/media/Ravelry/Wheatsheafsweater.jpg.html?filters%5Bterm%5D=Wheatsheaf%20sweater&filters%5Bprimary%5D=images&filters%5Bsecondary%5D=videos&sort=1&o=0#/user/storye_book/media/Ravelry/Wheatsheafsweater.jpg.html?filters%5Bterm%5D=Wheatsheaf%20sweater&filters%5Bprimary%5D=images&filters%5Bsecondary%5D=videos&sort=1&o=0&_suid=1364906788069060042910013801
You have to embroider that whole baby on the front of the sweater! Aack. Did that one quite a few years ago when I was young & stupid. Didn’t realize either that it was embroidered on after you had finished knitting! LOL
Chain stitch in embroidery…I will describe it to you.
Thread needle, hide end in the back of work. Poke needle through where the point of the first “teardrop” is and draw thread up. *Return the needle through the same hole to the back until you have a little “loop”, and then bring the needle back up where the opposite part of the “teardrop shape” is. Repeat from *
Another way is to bring the yarn through and then down through about 1/4 away, then when you come back up, split the plies on the first stitch.
Practice makes perfect with embroidery.
I have that same McCalls book on needlework! Oh, Lordy, I’m going to have to go back and look at that again. I remember there was a pattern for a pair of men’s gloves in it that I tried even though I didn’t understand the directions at all. (My Home Ec teacher suggested I try a pattern for mittens on two needles — it went much better.) 🙂
Thank you so much for the pics of garter stitch.
I laughed so hard that dh came in to see what was wrong.
I probably shouldn’t have told him, though. He got a really strange look on his face and walked out shaking his head slowly….
OMG — I found it: Golden Hands, Part 3, page 43. “If you purl every row, however, you don’t get such a smooth, even fabric as when you knit every row. This is because all knitters knit more regularly than they purl. So, whenever you come across insturctions referring to garter stitch it is intended that you should knit every row.”
Anyone else still using Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework?
Anyone need some back issues of McCall’s Needlework & Crafts circa early ’70s?
No matter how much we progress, no matter what goodies appear on Ravelry, a book you can open & keep is worth it’s weight in gold.
Thanks for the good memories & fresh inspiration!
So funny and so typical of magazines from that period.
To Tamar at April 1, 2013 4:23 PM — question for you: I’ve recently been following an English pattern that tells me to slip 1, knit 1, and then pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch. I’m trying to figure out how this differs really from an SSK –only thing I can come up with is that I think the tension is a bit tighter than an SSK.
Purlers of the world unite! I’m a continental knitter and when I purl for long sections I put the yarn on my left thumb and basically throw the yarn with my left thumb. Thus, I am super fast this way and my tension is good. I actually prefer purling to knitting. Of course, when I’m doing only short sections of purling, I use my left index finger and continue to ‘pick’ because it’s easier to switch back to knitting that way. Still, I don’t see why everyone is so against purling.
Recently attended a talk on the history of knitting at our local art center. A woman arrived in her Norwegian sweater knit years ago. She pointed out the embroidery on top of the Fair Isle knitting. It added depth and texture to the design. Go for it! You will learn something new besides making the heirloom sweater even more special.
Just made this for a friend: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ducky-onesie
The embroidery directions are less than forthcoming, but, fortunately, I once spent a bit over a year hand embroidering machine knit sweaters for a designer. You’ll do fine, I’m sure.
“compare it mentally with what I imagine the study of statistical thermodynamics is like”
This amuses me. I took a graduate student class at Vanderbilt University during my Master’s program on thermodynamics. It is the hardest most difficult topic/set of concepts ever invented on the face of the earth. It is the only class I have ever taken where I couldn’t even grasp the basics, let alone understand anything about thermodynamics. Anything you compare to thermodynamics will look as simple as writing the alphabet. I’m also glad to hear that there is someone out there who can use thermodynamics in a sentence. 🙂
Lin at 10:50, I still have and use the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. However, often it’s easier to look it up online than go upstairs and get the book. Guess I need to keep my knitting books closer at hand.
Wouldn’t a crocheted chain work? It might be quicker.
Do you need to embroider on top of what is already there? It’s already exquisite.
Yes, yes, yes! Funny how something we saved “just because” can come back and save us eventually!
Love the statistical thermodynamics line!!
For me, it is just a simple “repeat from the established pattern on previous row 21 until desired armhole size is reached” on a pattern with 343 rows…not just a simple “Embroider”. THAT I can do easily…but remember a pattern?
I tried embroidery a few times. I even helped my daughter do a little embroidered picture as a gift for her teacher. But I really don’t like it; it doesn’t make me happy and so I would take one of two paths, were I in your shoes. Either the sweater would have no embroidery on it, or I might find someone to do the embroidery for me, if I thought the garment really needed it. My mom is pretty good at stuff like that so I might try to persuade her to help me out. I might be able to pull it off, but it would look sloppy and unprofessional, and then I’d want to pick it out and start again, and the area of the sweater which I’d been picking at would then look as if the cat had been having it’s way with it and… no. Just no.
I don’t know anything about embroidery so good luck there! But, isn’t the purled garter stitch the back side of your project if you knit one row (right side) and purl one row (wrong side)?
Although I love the look of embroidered knits and have done embroidered many, I think that sweater looks a lot better without it…
Mind you, this is only my opinion! 😉
Ok, so maybe I’ve been the recipient of too many paint fumes this week (redecorating my office) but I sat here and stared at the knit garter and purl garter swatches for a long time feeling really stupid because I couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Thank you, fellow commenters, for setting me to right! The sweater is perfection, Stephanie!
I can’t comment on the knitting or the embroidery as I am a hooker but I must say I love that you used the word obdurate in a sentence!
ob·du·rate
/?äbd(y)?rit/Adjective
Stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action.
Synonyms
obstinate – stubborn – headstrong – dogged – pertinacious
The parts you show are lovely and I can’t wait to see the final result.
FWIW, I hated classical thermodynamics and dreaded taking statistical thermodynamics, which I needed to graduate (BS in chemistry). Lo and behold, statistical thermodynamics made perfect sense when paired with quantum mechanics.
I loved it so much, and was so good at it, that the professor requested me as his teaching assistant for two years in a row for those classes. So, you never know. That sweater might be easy and make perfect sense to someone else. Maybe.
The difference between knit garter stitch and purl garter stitch is an Aptil Fool’s joke, right?
I have the McCall book. Purloined it from my sister’s bookshelf when I was 20 and, apart from a second’s guilt, have never wanted to give it back. (She knows I have it, too. Or, at least, she should do – it is in the bookcase in my spare room where she sleeps when she visits me.) Well worth whatever-it-cost to ship it around the world with me. I’ve even knitted from it, the sweater with the colourwork yoke. (I’ve always wondered whether it was an early Elizabeth Zimmerman design, possibly one she was forced to write “flat” before she rebelled.)
Beautiful knitting, Steph. Can’t wait to see it finished.
– Pam
The only difference between knit garter and purl garter is the way you create them. Sometimes it’s useful to know different ways to create the same thing. For example:
If you are working flat, knitting every row produces garter stitch. If you are working in the round, knitting every round produces stocking stitch. So what do you do if you need garter stitch when you are working in the round? You just purl every round until you get the number of ridges you need. Ta Da! Purl garter stitch!
Wouldn’t purling every round give you reverse stockinette?
Obviously, knitted garter stitch is turqoise. Purled garter stitch is orange.
Silly patterns.
LOL!!!
My mother taught me how to embroider, and I did any number of dishtowels as a child. Eventually I realized I much preferred knitting and crochet, but my memory tells me that chain stitch is the chocolate-covered cherry of embroidery. Meaning, I like to do it. Enjoy!
I love your “how hard can it be” philosophy. It’s very similar to mine, which is “I’m too stupid to be afraid to try.”
Good luck with the embroidery. You got this!