Where's the design?!?

[RooGirl]

Helllllllllp!!!

It seems like every time I try to knit something with a design it never works! For example, I'm knitting the sailboat washcloth and I'm not seeing a sailboat.

Any suggestions about what I might be doing wrong?!?

Thanks for your help/advice!!

[Ingrid]

A picture is worth a thousand in a case like this.

The design will stand out if it's knit in garter against a field of stockinette, and then it will show on the knit side.

What stitches are you using?

[RooGirl]

It's just a standard knit, purl.

[Ingrid]

Well, usually you'd knit across all the stitches on the front, and on the back, you'd purl across the 'non-design' stitches and knit across the ones for the design. The back of the previous rows' knit stitches should pop up as purls on the front.

[RooGirl]

Hmmm.. I'm a fairly new knitter.. maybe I'm not purling correctly? Would that do it? I know I'm knitting correctly....

[Ingrid]

It could be. Is there any way you can post a picture?

[RooGirl]

Unfortunately, I unraveled it.. I was just watching the video that Amy has up showing how to Purl... I don't think I was doing it correctly.. But, now I'm even more confused.. I might be a hopeless knitter.

[suzeeq]

It may also take until about halfway done for the pattern to really show up; until then it looks like a bunch of random sts.

[RooGirl]

Thanks guys. I'll give it another go and see how it pans out. I'll let you know. Thank you for all of your help!!

[Debbie]

I think you are probably right about not purling correctly. The first time I did a dish cloth like that sometimes the purl bumps showed and sometimes they didn't. It was because I was getting confused about how to purl ... as in not remembering to put my yarn in front ... or not remembering to slide my right needle down the front of the left needle and into the yarn. If you practice ribbing ... knit two, purl two, it will help you get the hang of switching back and forth.