Say it with knitting!

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knit writing

Whether it be on your clothes, a cushion cover or a patchwork blanket – you can say it with knitting!

First of all decide what you want to write.  Then make a plan.

You’ll need some squared paper which you can buy or make yourself.  Each square on the paper will represent one stitch on your needle.  So number the squares and then mark out whatever you want to write in knitting.  Once you’ve worked out how many stitches wide your whole piece will be you can cast on in your background colour, and have your contrasting colour ready to use when you come to the stitches mapped out on your plan.  As you change colours you just string the other colour across the back of the knitting ready to use next time that colour is required by your plan – you don’t cut – just keep changing between colours while keeping all yarns attached until you’ve completed your design.

knit plan

It’s important to make sure you’re counting from the right direction so that your writing comes out the right way round.  Look what happens if you don’t:

knitting word backwards

This should read NEVER TRUST A MAN IN A SUIT but the words A MAN have come out backwards because the stitches were counted from the wrong direction – ie On your plan, on a purl row the stitches should be counted from the left and on a knit row you count from the right.  Let me show you what I mean.

knit plan 2

In this picture the purl rows are indicated in purple and the knit rows in red.  When you want to produce an image or writing on your knitting you have to remember you’ll be building from the bottom right.  So, if you’re following your own pattern, starting the bottom line of your words with a knit row, you need to count from the right.  For example, the first stitch for which you’d use a different colour in this example would be the 21st stitch of a knit row which is the tail of the G.  Then, on the next row, the first purl stitch for which you’d use a different colour would be the 6th, for the bottom of the V.

Does that make sense?

So that’s it.  Be a crafty activist and make your own outspoken jumpers, hats, scarves and blankets 🙂

Oh, and if you don’t know how to knit but would like to learn, here’s a really good video to get you started:

For the right handed:

For the left handed:

31 thoughts on “Say it with knitting!”

  7. What wonderful, peaceful ideas. You’re so talented. I do knit but don’t know how to use different yarns within patterns, like in knitting the letters of your blanket. I’ll have to add a class on that to my “bucket list.” Love the upstyled purses, too. I wish I knew how to do it all…lol

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