Introducing myself and Illusion Knitting question

aussiecleopatra · 04-01-2009, 09:15 PM

Hi - this is my first post on this forum. It's great to see a community of knitters helping each other out! I live in Sydney, Australia and I've only been knitting for a few years but I love it and I'm a bit addicted :-)

My question relates to illusion knitting. I've never done it before, and I've also never followed charts before so I'm a little bit lost.

My boyfriend is a Linux fan and I want to knit him the Linux illusion scarf for his birthday. The problem is - the full english translation of the pattern is really hard to find so I am trying to do this using a combination of an english translation without charts, and looking at the charts which are on a website in finnish!

Here are the 'words' from the english site: http://www.clipclip.org/clips/detail...carf-from-ulla

Here are the 'charts' from the finnish site : http://www.ullaneule.net/0205/ohjeet_tux.html

My question is: When I start knitting the penguin, it says to follow the chart from the bottom.up. Do I start at the bottom right corner or the bottom left corner? I guess this is on the right side (not the wrong side)?

When I start knitting the word 'Linux', it says to follow the chart from the top down. Do I start at the top right corner or the top left corner? Is this the right side or the wrong side?

I'm confused!

If you would be able to help me out with an answer, I'd be ever so grateful.

ittybittypretty · 04-02-2009, 02:57 AM

"My question is: When I start knitting the penguin, it says to follow the chart from the bottom.up. Do I start at the bottom right corner or the bottom left corner? I guess this is on the right side (not the wrong side)?"

When you look at a chart you are looking at it from the right side. So you will begin the first row starting at the bottom right of the chart, and read the first row right to left,(and all subsequent odd rows), the 2nd row (and all subsequent even numbered rows), you will read from left to right.

This isn't the case when knitting in the round, in which case you read every row from right to left.

This is where I found help the first time I read a chart: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...-knitting.html

aussiecleopatra · 04-02-2009, 04:16 AM

Thanks so much ittybittypretty!.

So I start the penguin at the bottom right corner.

So the only other question remaining is where to start the word chart? It's extremely confusing because the chart shows the word 'backtofront' and upside-down. Also - the 'L' (in the word 'linux') is at the end of the scarf, yet at the top of the chart, it seems to infer that I also start this chart at the bottom right corner (even though the english translation page says to start from the top). Help !

I really don't get how to make this word come out like the piccy!

Thanks!

ittybittypretty · 04-02-2009, 04:27 AM

Well, I've never done 'backtofront' chart, and I'm not familiar with illusion knitting, so I'm not sure if that changes the way you would work the chart in this case. If no one else here can help, another site I use is http://www.allexperts.com/el/2228-9/Knitting/ And they are honest to goodness knitting experts, not just a forum goer like me

and it's free. Good luck!

gargoylelib · 04-02-2009, 06:49 AM

Hello!

In my opinion the english translation is wrong. The original Finnish pattern does not say anything about reading the Linux chart from top to bottom it just says "knit following Linux chart". If it was me, I would start at the bottom of the Linux chart. Or if you want a definite answer, email the designer of the pattern. I believe contact info is listed on the Ulla website and most Finns speak English

Libbie

aussiecleopatra · 04-02-2009, 06:56 AM

ittybittypretty and gargoylelib - THANKYOU SO MUCH! I totally appreciate your help.

ittybitty - thanks for the link to allexperts! I've never seen that site before and i'm sure it will come in really handy!

gargoylelib - wow, you are from Finland so you can read the original pattern! That's really exciting :-) thanks so much for your information about what the original pattern actually says. It really helps. It seems logical that this chart would be read the same way as the other chart (i.e. from the bottom right) so I agree with you in that regard. I may email the designer to make sure!

Thanks so much to both of you.

OffJumpsJack · 07-29-2009, 09:34 PM

I thought I'd answer why the chart for the word Linux appears upside-down. I realize the author of the thread is likely done, but I found this thread when looking for information on illusion knitting. Others may benefit from an complete answer.

You knit both charts from the bottom up. The scarf turns acorn around your neck and while you knit Tux from bottom to top you will be knitting the second half from shoulder to torso (top to bottom or X to L in mirror image). The word "Linux" will end up hanging upside-down so your knitted rows start at the right end of the word and finish with the left end of the word. Unless you want a mirror image of the word.