In an earlier post I described what happens at a typical Woolly Thoughts workshop about modular knitting and why these foolproof methods work.
Begin with a garter stitch square, knit diagonally:
- Make a slip knot
- Increase by knitting into the front and back of the loop
- Increase at the end of every row until you have the size you want
- It is very important to remember the number of stitches at the widest point
- Decrease at the end of every row by knitting two together, until all stitches are worked off
To add shapes to the square
Use a calculator to divide the number of stitches at the widest point by 1.4. Round to a whole number. This tells you how many stitches you need to pick up along the edge of the square.
The simplest form of modular knitting is in garter stitch and creates angles of 45, 90 or 135 degrees. There are only a few different things you can do to add shapes onto the square. Each side of the shape can lean to the left, go straight up, or lean to the right. The simplest is to just keep knitting straight but it is not very exciting. The other possibilities are:
Some shapes work off all the stitches and come to a point, others could continue as far as you like. You can even swap between the different angles and end up with a zigzag or other eccentric shape.
If you plan to add more shapes, you need to think carefully about how tall the shapes need to be so that they can fit together. It is often best to make them the same height as your starting square, or half that height.
To be continued …
Continued in Modular Knitting 3