Sequence knitting: colour and classification

Last week, I have discussed sequence knitting and I mentioned simple knit and purl combinations to begin with. Then I very briefly discussed that you can obviously use the same concept and include more complex stitches, like twisted stitches (worked through the back loop), increases, decreases, etc. Lace patterns can be worked this way, but also textures more sophisticated than simple knit and purl combinations (after the set-up row, brioche stitch is a well-known example).

One other (pretty obvious) option that did not occur to me at the time of writing my post, but that is also explored in Campochiaro's book, is the use of colour. Well-known simple fair-isle patterns come to mind, but Campochiaro prefers the more interesting possibility of patterns obtained from knitting simple knit-purl combinations with one colour at a time (changing colours only on alternate rows or even only every two rows). This week's eye-candy will feature one of these designs.

Another subject that I mentioned last week but I want to develop further in this post is the classification of sequence knitting. There are three different possibilities that I can think of:

Straight sequence knitting

The sequence is repeated without interruption even when the work is turned.

One Row sequence knitting

The sequence is repeated until the end of the row is reached and is started over on the next row.

Two or more Rows sequence knitting

Different sequences are used in an alternate way. This is a generalization of the one row class.

One could argue that the last class is a bit of a stretch because almost all patterns can be knitted this way. Is all knitting sequence knitting? In a way this is true, even without this last generalization, because you can consider long enough sequences (as I did on the previous post, when I included stockinette stitch as a sequence that is two rows long). However, it is obvious that the concept of sequence knitting is only interesting to consider when you have simple sequences and looses its sense when you push it too far and consider sequences that are too long and complex.

For illustration, here are two simple stitch patterns that belong to the last class: broken rib (odd rows: k1, p1; even rows: knit); spot stitch (which I have already described in this post). The spot stitch is used in the Broken Seed Stitch Socks that you can see in the photo above. Here, an interesting effect is obtained by alternating two colours (one row each), so we have come full circle and returned to the subject of colour.



Disclaimer: I have not had the opportunity to read Cecelia Campochiaro's book, so everything I write here are my own reflections on this subject. I expect that Campochiaro approached it from a different perspective, but I do not know for certain.