Japanese Efficiency - Kit-70 New Gauge
It's always fun to learn something different, a new perspective or way to 'interpret' a pattern...
Today, I found that I really love the efficient 'beauty' of the Japanese knitting patterns.
For instance, my Habu Kit-70 instructions consist of just a few key elements:
Today, I found that I really love the efficient 'beauty' of the Japanese knitting patterns.
For instance, my Habu Kit-70 instructions consist of just a few key elements:
- a suggested gauge
- the schematic
- a few written directions
- and a series of numeric 'sequences'
It contains the same information as a 'western' pattern, it's just conveyed in a different manner, by the use of numeric 'sequences' to instruct the knitter.
For example, this numeric sequence:
6-Straight
6-1-3
4-1-1
(+4)
∆
(read from the bottom upwards)
6-1-3
4-1-1
(+4)
∆
(read from the bottom upwards)
Means:
(+4) = Increase a total of 4 stitches in this sequence
4-1-1 = * (Knit 4 rows, increase 1 stitch on the 4th row) *repeat this process 1 time
6-1-3 = * (Knit 6 rows, increase 1 stitch on the 6th row) *repeat this process 3 times
6-Straight = Knit 6 rows in pattern (no increases)
It's very compact and efficient :)
Since these sequences are so different than what I'm used to working with, I decided to 'map out' the whole thing in Excel (I love my spreadsheets, plus Kirsten and a few other knitter's kept mentioning the irregularities in this pattern and I was scared to jump right in).
After inputting everything for the sweater's back panel, I zoomed out and noticed how wide it looked.
It was alarming!
Somehow, the shape was horizontally 'skewed', as if it were stretched lengthwise:
Since something was visibly wrong, I double checked the Habu schematic. All the measurements looked good, and the illustration was drawn like it was supposed to fit a 'normal' adult human (not an orangutan with really long arms that drag on the ground).Then, I decided to break out the calculator and dig deeper...
The instructions note that you should get a row gauge of:
18 rows = 4" (4.5 rpi - rows per inch)
On the schematic, they want you to achieve the following measurements WITH that gauge:
162 Rows = 26" (6.24 rpi)
100 Rows = 16" (6.25 rpi)
140 Rows = 22.4" (6.25 rpi)
Does anyone else see a conflict here?
It seems like the only way to get those measurements is to use a row gauge of 6.25 rpi or 25 rows per 4", making the correct gauge for this pattern 25 rows and 16 stitches per 4" square.
Here's what it looks like with the row gauge corrected:
At least now, I feel more confident casting on.Hopefully, this is the only bug in the pattern?
