FAQ and technical advice for Eris
Contents
- Why is this pattern rated "experienced"?
- What yarns were used in the models?
- Why is the pattern so long? Do I need to print out all these pages?
- Why don't you provide chart instructions in text format?
Why is this pattern rated "experienced"?
I'm personally not a fan of difficulty ratings on patterns, but I think they're a necessary evil. Many knitters read these ratings as prohibitions, and won't knit a pattern that they think is above their current skill level. Other knitters read these ratings as challenges, and rise to the occasion.
The reason I think they're a necessary evil is because there needs to be some description of what you'll encounter in a pattern, and because in some formats, you can't explain everything at length and need to rely on shorthand descriptions like "beginner" through "experienced" or "advanced". On a website, there's space to explain at length all the skills you'll need (or the skills you'll develop) while knitting up a pattern, but there isn't necessarily the same amount of space available in print media.
So, in Eris, here are the features that resulted in the "experienced" rating:
- closed-loop cables worked at the same time with short-row shaping at the collar
- short-row shaping around the garment yoke, while working raglan increases at the same time
- short-row shaping at the hem
- closed-loop cables worked at the same time with short-row shaping, while picking up stitches at the hem
If you detest working short rows, then this may not be the pattern for you--you've been warned! You could actually avoid the short rows at the hem of the garment if you chose to work a plain hem (in other words, just knit straight until the garment is long enough, then finish off the edge however you please). The short rows in the collar and around the yoke are unavoidable.
Now, to be fair, there are parts of Eris that are easier, or that make life easier:
- top-down raglan shaping makes it easy to customize the size of your garment
- plain stockinette sleeves and body (with optional cabled waist shaping on cardigan) provide a relatively mindless interlude
- relatively plain body makes lengthening, shortening, and short-row bust shaping easier to work in
- front band facing on cardigan allows you to sew in a zipper without stitches showing through on the right side
- the garment edges practically finish themselves
The bottom line is that if you're prepared to meet a challenge, and if you can read and count, you can knit anything you want. The ratings aren't there to discourage you, but just as an alert: you need to pay attention when knitting this design!
What yarns were used in the models?
pullover: Adrienne Vittadini Eva in military green. Alpaca and wool--quite soft and a little spongy feeling, and very pleasant to wear in a pullover. The texture obscures stitch patterns a bit, but it shows 2x2 cables quite well.
cardigan: Dunnose Head Farms aran weight yarn in natural white (no longer available for sale). 100% wool, Polwarth x Merino--not very soft, but not too scratchy and great for outerwear. The yarn is smooth enough to show off cables very, very well.
short-sleeved top: (not finished!) Artfibers Papyrus in a steely-purple colour. 100% mercerized cotton in a very fine ribbon, shows cables quite well (not so easy to photograph because of the yarn's sheen).
Why is the pattern so long? Do I need to print out all these pages?
If you've knit Rogue, you'll have probably guessed that the pattern is lengthy because the instructions are detailed. I've tried my best to avoid cryptic directions and the type of instructions that say "repeat for other shoulder, reversing shaping." This is a luxury that can be afforded in patterns delivered electronically, and rarely in print patterns--yes, you're going to bear the cost of printing and paper with your home printer, but at least you're not paying the markup that's incurred with each step in the publication of a printed pattern.
Eris involves a lot of cable charts, which is one reason there are a lot of pages. Since larger symbols make reading easier, the charts were sized to be as large as possible. Many of the cable charts are nearly (but not quite) mirror images of each other, because they run down either side of the neck. The charts for both the left and right sides are provided, so you don't have to mentally flip the cable twists while reading a single chart.
Also, you're not just getting a pattern for one garment--you're getting two, and in a range of nine sizes! Eris can be knit as a zip-front cardigan or as a pullover. The pattern was written so that if you decided to knit the cardigan, you could simply print out the pages that you needed, and not any extra pages of unnecessary pullover instructions, and vice versa. The pattern could have been written to condense the pullover and cardigan instructions, but at the expense of clarity--so it wasn't written that way.
You'll see that there's some text running vertically on the right-hand side of each page (except for the cover, abbreviation and chart key pages) that tells you which sizes and styles that page covers, so you'll know at a glance if you need to print and/or take along that page.
Here's a breakdown of the pages of this pattern:
General information for both the cardigan and pullover: pages 1, 2, 3, and 4
Instructions and charts for the pullover, smallest three sizes: instruction pages 4-11, chart pages 22-24, 27-29, 31-35
Instructions and charts for the pullover, all other sizes: instruction pages 4-11, chart pages 21-23, 26-28, 31-35
Instructions and charts for the cardigan, smallest three sizes: instruction pages 12-20, chart pages 22-25, 27-30, 33-36
Instructions and charts for the cardigan, all other sizes: instruction pages 12-20, chart pages 21-23, 25-28, 30, 33-36
Abbreviations and chart key for both the cardigan and pullover: pages 37, 38, 39, and 40
You only need page 35 (the cabled raglan increase) if you choose to work this type of raglan increase, instead of your preferred, plainer method. You only need page 36 (the cabled waist shaping for the cardigan) if you want to work that particular type of shaping, instead of the plainer method of waist shaping. And once you're done the collar, you don't need to carry around the collar chart pages anymore, making the pattern a little more portable for the more "mindless" portions of the design.
Printing was tested on a Mac G5 running OS X with 512 megabytes of RAM, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0.5, and an Epson RX600 inkjet printer. The 40 pages of Eris took six minutes to process in preparation for printing. The printing took approximately 35 seconds per page in standard mode (printed in colour on plain paper). Depending on your own computer, printer, and network setup, processing and printing the pattern may take more or less time.
Why don't you provide chart instructions in text format?
Yes, some people prefer reading cable instructions as words rather than as symbols. It's possible to do this for any cable design, but quite frankly, it's not practical--especially in a design with as many charts as Eris. The number of pages of instructions would probably double.
Plus, imagine the nightmare if there turned out to be an error in the text. Yikes.