Technical Twists: The Mischievous Middle

In this occasional series, I talk about tech editing issues I’ve encountered as an example of issues to look out for in your own pattern writing/knitting adventures.  All cases are anonymized  – the patterns and their authors will not be identified and I will give as few details about the pattern as possible to explain the issue and how to fix it. See other posts in this series.

This is a story of a mistake I almost made when checking a pattern.

I was working on a very simple shawl pattern with a 2x2 rib edging. Because the total number of stitches was odd and it was a triangle shape, the designer had put in a three stitch knit column at the point of the triangle, with the 2x2 rib in a set number of repeats on either side, like this:

(K2, p2); repeat between () to marker, sm k3, sm (p2, k2) repeat between () to end.

So I used the following formula to make sure the 2x2 rib worked in pattern:

(Total stitches – 3 center stitches)/4

The formula indicated it was divisible by 4 so I proceeded with my edit – and then while looking at the sample photo, I realized that formula was all wrong.

Can you spot my mistake? I’ll throw in a staff kitty Yuna photo while you think.

Looking at the sample photo reminded me – this shawl wasn’t one continuous section of rib stitches, it was two sections, separated in the middle by the 3 stitch knit column. The number of stitches that needed to be divisible by four was the number of stitches in one of those sections, or:

((Total stitches-3 center stitches)/2)/4

If you’re having trouble parsing the formula, that’s the total stitches, minus the 3 center stitches, divided in half (to account for the two sections), and then that number is divided by 4 to check the repeat.

Sure enough, while the total without the center spine was divisible by four, half of that number was not. There was an extra half repeat on both sides, which meant to get the rib columns to line up correctly the instruction had to be rewritten to account for those extra 2 stitches in each section:

[(P2, k2) repeat from () to 2 sts before marker, p2,] sm, k3; repeat between brackets to end.

Note: The pattern was designed to both end the first rib section and start the second rib section on a purl to maintain the rib, but once I discovered each rib section had an extra two stitches, both sections start and end on purls, which is why I could suggest the “repeat between brackets” for the second section. If the divided sections had been evenly divisible by 4, the mirror image rib from the original instructions would have been correct.

When you’re checking stitch repeats it’s important to remember that anything that interrupts that repeat in the middle (whether it’s an extra wide center column like this one, a faux seam detail, or some other design element) basically functions as an edge stitch. You’re no longer checking the total number of repeats in the entire row, you’re checking the repeats on the stitches between any edge stitch and that center detail.

This is also why I rely so heavily on sample photos when I edit; it’s a good way to double check not just the designer’s work, but my own!

Have you ever had a mischievous middle element throw off a repeat in a pattern you designed or edited? Tell me about it in the comments!