YOUR VIEWSTRANSATLANTIC TROUBLES
As an American knitter, I sometimes
struggle with the British way of expressing
patterns. Do you know of any books that
might help with the language barrier, or do
you have any advice that would help me to
understand them better?
Marilynn Massé-Torri,
West Chicago, Illinois, USAI am sure many of us can relate to this
question. Who hasn’t at some time fallen in
love with a design only to be put of at the
irst hurdle because we are not sure what
the symbols or terminology are referring
to? It certainly doesn’t stop at converting
English to American. We now have access to
patterns from all over the world and there
are often small but signiicant diferences in
the way that Dutch, Russian and German
patterns are written. Japanese designs are
really popular, but only available in charted
form. Although I haven’t been able to ind a
speciic book that answers this question, I
have come across some useful websites and it
has certainly got me thinking about some of
the more subtle diferences that occur when
“translating” patterns for diferent readers.
We may share a common language, but
when it comes to knitting and crochet, the
diferences can be signiicant. Most patterns
start with sizes or measurements. In the
UK these tend to be in table form, whereas
US patterns have a linear approach. UK
patterns list the number of balls of yarn
required for your project, US patterns often
only list the yardage. I always ind it curious
that Americans use imperial rather than
metric units of measurement for knitting,
crochet and sewing. All this before we even
get started on tension and gauge! I am not
sure whether it is just me, but more and
more people seem to be using gauge as a
generic reference for tension. Something I
have learnt while researching my answerYOUR QUERIES ANSWERED BY SARAH HAZELL
ASK SARAH
while the US moss stitch translates back to
the UK as double moss stitch or corn stitch.
I am scratching the surface here, but it
helps to give us some idea of how complex
translation can be.
Lace knitting can be particularly prone
to misinterpretation. US patterns simply
refer to any increase as yarn over. I have
come across knitters at workshops who
have taken this instruction literally and
carried their yarn in an anti-clockwise
direction over the top of the right-hand
needle, when in fact they need to bring the
yarn forward to the front of the right-hand
needle. The yarn over instruction fails to
take into account the type of yarn over
that is required. If the increase is to take
place between two purl stitches then the
yarn is already forward and needs to be
taken around the needle in order to make
a stitch (yrn). If the increase is preceded
by a knit stitch and followed by a purl, theSTARLETTER
46 knittingmag.comfor you is that American knitting tends to
be worked on a larger needle than we might
use in the UK. This explains why I have
looked at US patterns and wondered why
the recommended needle size for a DK or
sport-weight yarn was 4.5mm, rather than
a 4mm or even a 3.75mm needle.
Fortunately, many patterns now come
with a diagram or schematic which goes
some way to explain visually what you are
aiming for.
Charts can also help to break down any
language barriers, but you need to be clear
about how they are to be read. I remember
coming across German shawl charts for the
irst time and it taking me a while to realise
that only the “pattern” or right side rows
were charted. It was assumed that I would
know to work the stitches on the wrong side
row as they presented themselves. Many
German patterns also assume that you will
knit a selvedge stitch at each end of the
row, but this is not always charted. Charts
may also rely on the reader having slightly
more than a basic knowledge of knitting.
For example, increases and decreases can
be illustrated by the addition and removal
of squares, but how to achieve the right
direction for the shaping – k2tog, ssk, m1R,
m1L – is often left to the knitter.
The main way in which UK patterns
difer from their US equivalents is in the
names of some of the stitches, terminology,
measurements, needle sizes and yarn types.
We are all familiar with stocking stitch,
which is called stockinette in the US, but
things can get a bit trickier with moss stitch.
In the US this is referred to as seed stitch,PHOTOGRAPH: JESADAPHORN/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM