Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Using Hi-Liters on Graphs

I just posted this onto the Mystery Stole Digest but wanted to put it here to remind myself of the tip for the future and for any new lace knitters who are pulling their hair out and are too bleary eyed to read those loooooong MS3 digests.

Remember we were told at the beginning of the mystery that each new row was related the the previous row and that we should watch how the yarn overs and decreases related to the row below to help keep on track and make lace knitting fun?

Did you have trouble following the row all the way across, finding yourself knitting part on the wrong row (yes, I did this), so you got a yellow hi-liter and hi-lighted the row, but then that did not work because the rows below were also now the same color. Then you got sticky notes to block out the row underneath, but now you could not see the pattern emerging on the graph and were in essence knitting the first row of a brand new project every time? THAT was not fun, either. The stress built.

I knew there had to be a way to make this easier and I am too stubborn to quit trying. Then I remembered someone on the MS3 list briefly mentioning that she used DIFFERENT COLOR hi-liters, but did not elaborate. I remembered my daughter being so excited about finding RETRACTABLE hi-liters. I bought a package of four colors and I use a different color for each row as I go up the chart. Not only can I now see the row I am on properly, but I can double check the current row with the last pattern row to see if I am on track. Oh joy.

Since I switched to a cool tencel yarn and discovered this little trick I am actually ENJOYING this project! The yarn is knitting up soft and silky.

1 comment:

turtlegirl76 said...

I suppose highlighters would be a better choice. I've been crossing out the completed rows with a colored pen when I'm finished with it (and know I didn't screw it up) and that certainly helped me to keep my eyes on the right row.