Using Stitch Libraries

Do you have a favorite plain sweater or dress pattern? Dorothy Reade suggests using it as a palette to decorate with a panel of lace from one of her books or from your favorite stitch library, thus converting a basic garment shape into your own unique creation.

I used this idea to add a wide lace panel to a simple design for the Broadway Diamonds Cardigan.

Dorothy Reade also had suggestions for yarn selection and substitution: 

Fiber. Choose your yarns with care, taking two things into account. First, the use to which the piece will be put, and second, what sort of pattern stitches you want to work with. If you are looking for a delicate lacelike effect, you do not use a 4 ply worsted. On the other hand, if you are attempting an Aran Island pattern, a fine 2 ply sock yarn does not do the work. In other words, if you already have your wool, the pattern must be picked to fit the material, and if you see a design that interests you, fit the material to the design. It is extremely discouraging to find when you have completed a piece that the intricacy of the pattern is completely lost in the yarn you have used. For instance, if you fall in love with a yummy shade of turquoise in a fuzzy mohair, be cautious about a lacy pattern; using one of the cable variations might be much more effective. When you have arrived at the point of understanding how these charts work, and you want to try out unusual effects, it is an excellent thought to locate a weaving supply shop and experiment with some of the fine weaving yarns. Perhaps some of you will do what I did. Not finding what I wanted in a commercial material, I experimented with my spinning, and now do all my knitting in handspun, from bulky yarns to mile-an-ounce thread, in all sorts of fibers, from cotton to cashmere. Most exciting!

Pattern. As a general rule, the more lacelike ones are the most effective in one or two ply, and the Aran Island type in 4 ply or bulky yarns. When you are working out the design you have chosen, dig into your scrap box, and try using different kinds of wool and different sizes of needles. Then, when you have decided which one is irresistible, make a small swatch and fasten it (with a piece of tape, or staple) to the pattern chart. This accomplishes two things. First it shows you exactly what you intend to do, and second it is nice to have a sample in case you ever want to use it again. Here let me remind you to be sure to keep your charts on file. How simple to merely run through a folder of designs, with perhaps a knit sample attached, than it is to rummage through a pile of knitting books, muttering, “I know it must be in here somewhere.”

Color. Here again the business of choosing your design. Grey, for instance. Unless you are trying for a very gauzy effect, about the best things that show up are cables, twists, and bobbles. Black is in the same category, only worse, because it is so difficult to see what you are doing. (With lace designs dark colors can show up if knit on larger needles, as you have light open spaces to bring out the pattern.) In general, however, lighter colors can take more elaborate designs than the dark.

Here’s a very plain sweater that Dorothy Reade made:

Here’s a similar sweater made by Dorothy Reade, decorated with cable panels:

Dorothy Reade’s booklet, Decorative Panel Designs,
is featured in Stories In Stitches 2.

When you buy the book or ebook directly from me,
you also get a PDF of Dorothy Reade’s booklet.