One of the most difficult things when working a pattern that contains repeats, either within the row or round or as a set of rows or rounds, is figuring out how many times to work them.
A set of directions can feel clearly written and even make it through tech editing. If a pattern is tested though it is usually caught there but not always.
I was working a pattern recently where this came up. I honestly don’t know if the pattern was tech edited or tested, I recommend to designers putting each pattern through both of those processes. I know if you are a newer designer that putting money into a pattern that hasn’t sold yet is hard. I am a tech editor who loves to work with newer designers and I offer discounts to them as well.
Anyway, I will not be sharing what the pattern is or even what it is for as that doesn’t matter, we are talking about the wording of the repeat.
Step one for this particular piece is to choose a stitch that you will increase one stitch on either side of and place a stitch marker on either side of this stitch. Then on an increase row, when you reach the stitch marker, move the stitch marker, increase, work to the next marker, increase, slip the marker. That’s all well and good.
After the first increase row, there will be 3 stitches between the markers. Directions then say how many rows or rounds to work in-between the increase row or round. Great. Then…
Repeat increase row every second row, 9 times until you have 21 stitches.
This is fairly clear and I’ve seen worse, but it still leaves room for misinterpretation. I took it as working 9 increase rows. When I got to the end of my 9th increase row however I didn’t have 21 stitches. Which makes sense when you do the math. Increasing 2 stitches on each increase row, 9 times, is 18 stitches increased, plus the one I had, makes 19 stitches. So I decided that it should say “10 times.” It wasn’t until I sat down to write this that I really understood what the designer was saying. I have made this pattern more than once and am always surprised when I come up “short.” I’ll share what I realized in a minute.
How the directions would have been clearer is if they were written as follows…
Repeat increase row every second row, 9 times more, then you’ll have 21 stitches. Or…
Repeat increase row every second row, until you have 21 stitches. Or…
Repeat increase row every second row, 9 times more.
Writing repeats gets tricky when putting 2 numbers into the directions. One number is the number of times the repeat needs to be worked and the 2nd number is the number of stitches at the end of working all the increases. Having both numbers is great because it’s like a check for the stitcher to see if the did it correctly. The designer needs to be crystal clear when they write a direction with both numbers in it. I advocate having both numbers to the designers I tech edit for, but help them to fight for clarity. Ask someone how clear it is when they read it if you aren’t sure.
So what finally clicked about the pattern directions as I was reading them again to write this post is that the first time the pattern has the increase written, the designer was counting 9 times from there. So that would be set up row of choosing your stitch, the increase row, followed by “repeat increase row every second row, 9 times until you have 21 stitches.” I’ve seen other patterns that have the increase directions written so that you know what to do and then give you the number of times and how often to work it.
Being too clear is never a bad thing. Use as few words as possible but be as specific as possible as well.
Happy making!
Azariahs Fibre Arts 