Knitting Needles etc.

I love to knit. Do it every day. I can do hats, scarves, mittens, cat toys, and slippers. I want to move on to socks and sweaters, but I have a very hard time reading knitting directions. I have slight dyslexia and they are so confusing to me.

I have a kit called the knit knack kit which is amazing for anyone like me. It comes with a little book with all the stitches and everything so in case I forgot how to do something or what it is, I always carry it with me. They have a bunch of projects on easily portable cards and it spells out everything for you.
i.e.
Row 1: Knit it stockinette stitch
Row 2: Incease first stitch by knitting through the front and back of the stitch, and knit the rest of the row.
Rows 3-6 Knit in stockinette stitch
and so on and so on.

Any tips or tricks on how I can either read patterns better or maybe a website that has simpler patterns?

hi there!

I am a knitting teacher, and when I am teaching my students who have similar challenges, I encourage them to highlight their patterns in a certain way.

for example, all the knit stitches, highlight in pink
all the purl stitches highlight in yellow
all the increasing stitches highlight in blue
all the decreasing stitches highlight in green

and so on
that way when it comes to reading your pattern, your eyes see the colour first, and then the number following the colour is the amount of times you need to do that particular instruction.

We find that helps a lot, especially if you are using a chart. It makes for much easier and quicker understanding, once you have determined which colours will always be allocated to each particular stitch.

for all your yarn craft questions, there is a free online Crafting Clinic – use the link below

Tracey

2 Responses

1. Maria Says:
   November 13th, 2009 at 1:59 am

   Generally, only the very beginning level patterns will have instructions written out. After that, the instructions are written in shorthand (such as *K1, P3* for knit one, purl three, repeat this pattern) so they take less space, and are easier to read than a whole bunch of text.

   Why not write the pattern out in plain english when the dyslexia isn’t bothering you? You could have a knitting buddy or someone at a yarn store double check the instructions if you like. Then follow your english instructions when knitting the item.

   Or you could translate the patterns to charts, if that works for you.
   References :

2. Pippy Says:
   November 13th, 2009 at 2:39 am

   hi there!

   I am a knitting teacher, and when I am teaching my students who have similar challenges, I encourage them to highlight their patterns in a certain way.

   for example, all the knit stitches, highlight in pink
   all the purl stitches highlight in yellow
   all the increasing stitches highlight in blue
   all the decreasing stitches highlight in green

   and so on
   that way when it comes to reading your pattern, your eyes see the colour first, and then the number following the colour is the amount of times you need to do that particular instruction.

   We find that helps a lot, especially if you are using a chart. It makes for much easier and quicker understanding, once you have determined which colours will always be allocated to each particular stitch.

   for all your yarn craft questions, there is a free online Crafting Clinic – use the link below

   Tracey
   References :
   http://the-crafting-clinic.blogspot.com

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