March Square and Book

Hello knitters!  Sorry for the delay in this month's patterns.  We took a family vacation this past weekend and even though I had planned on having everything ready before we left, it was not meant to be.  As it happens, I was finishing the square as we were driving in the car.  I do think you will be pleased with this month's pattern though, as it is one of my favorite stitches!

But before we get down to business, it seems I owe you a book as well (Geez Louise!  I've really fallen behind this month)!  It is a pretty quick read (I finished it in a couple of days) and a very thoughtful story.  March's book is How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway.  The author's website is here.  There are reviews, excerpts, and even a neat interview video with the author talking about her inspiration for writing the book.  Here's a bit about the book pulled directly from the author's website:

HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE is about the strong pull of tradition, and the lure and cost of breaking free of tradition. Set in California and Japan, it tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI as a way of improving her and her family’s fortunes, moved with him to the States, and tried to learn how to be a proper American housewife; and her grown daughter Sue, who finds her own life as an American housewife is not at all what her mother would have wanted for her, or even what Sue had hoped for herself. When Shoko’s illness prevents her from making a long-awaited trip to Japan to be reunited with her brother, she asks Sue to go in her place, and the trip changes both women’s lives in unexpected ways. With beautifully delineated characters and unique entertaining glimpses into Japanese and American family life and aspirations, this is also a moving mother and daughter story. Interspersed with quotations from Shoko’s guide to being an American housewife, this is a warm and engaging novel full of surprising insight.

Sourced directly from the author's website.

Alrighty then, on to the main event!  March's square of the month is called Raindrops and it incorporates the drop stitch technique!

How do you drop a stitch?  I know, I know.  You have been trying to avoid dropping stitches since you learned how to knit.  And now I'm asking you to do this on purpose?  Have no fear!  We can do it, and make a really neat square out of it.  The thing you want to make sure when you're dropping stitches, is that the drop lines up with a yarn over.  Why?  Well that little eyelet will stop the drop in its tracks preventing it from running all the way down to your cast on edge.  And dropping the stitch itself is no big deal.  You simply remove it from your needle and watch it unravel down to the eyelet.  Let's take a look.

 

Knit in pattern until you get to the "drop stitch"

(in this pattern it is always the middle stitch of a P3 section)

See how it lines up with the yarn over a few rows down?

 

Remove the ''drop stitch'' from your needles.

 

Don't panic as you help that stitch unravel

down to the yarn over!

 

The drop stitch makes neat loops down to the yarn over, then stops!

Yea, you did it!

 

Raindrops

Cast on 42 stitches

Rows 1, 3, 5: K1, P1 across

Rows 2, 4: P1, K1 across

Set up Row: (You only do this row once.  This is so you have a yarn over to anchor your drop stitches)

(P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *K1, P1, yo, P1, K2, P2, K1 repeat from * across to last 5 stitches (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Pattern Rows:

Rows 1, 3, 5: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) *P1, K2, P2, K3, P1 repeat from * across to last 5 sts (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1)

Rows 2, 4: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *K1, P3, K2, P2, K1 repeat from * across to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 6: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *K1, P1, drop stitch, P1, K2, P1, yo, P1, K1 repeat from * across (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Rows 7, 9, 11: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) *P1, K3, P2, K2, P1 repeat from * across (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1)

Rows 8, 10: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *K1, P2, K2, P3, K1 repeat from * across (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 12: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *K1, P1, yo, P1, K2, P1, drop stitch, P1, K1 repeat from * across (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Repeat these 12 rows until approx 9 inches from cast on row ending with either row 6 or 12.  On your final row (6 or 12), omit the yarn overs.

(example- row 6 would be: (border) *K1, P1, drop stitch, P1, K2, P2, K1 repeat from *(border)

Border rows 1, 3, 5: K1, P1 across

Border rows 2, 4: P1, K1 across

Bind off all stitches loosely. 

Close up: Raindrops from the front

Close up: Raindrops from the back- 

looks pretty neat too!

In April we'll have two patterns!  Look for them at the beginning of the month.

Happy knitting!

~Lindsey

PS- If you haven't checked it out yet, we have a group on ravelry.com called Year of Swatches!

March Swatches

Here are your swatches for March!  Please email me (yearofswatches@gmail.com) if you have any questions!  I will be posting a tutorial on blocking sometime next week.  
 
BEGINNER:  MOSS STITCH

This pattern is very straight forward!  No borders to worry about!  Just repeat the one row of pattern until square!

Cast on 45 Stitches

K1, P1 across row (the entire pattern, including your border, is knit in moss stitch)

Repeat until swatch is square (equal in length and width).
Bind off loosely.

 Close up: Moss Stitch

EASY:  DOUBLE MOSS STITCH

Cast on 45 stitches.

Border rows 1-5: K1, P1 across

Pattern:

Row 1: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K1 *P1, K1 repeat from * to end (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 2: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P1 *K1, P1 repeat from * to end (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 3: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P1 * K1, P1 repeat from * to end (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 4: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K1 *P1, K1 repeat from * to end (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Repeat these 4 rows until approx 9 inches from cast on.

Repeat Border rows 1-5

Bind off (loosely so your edge isn’t too tight).

 Close up: Double Moss Stitch

INTERMEDIATE: LINEN STITCH

A COUPLE NOTES ABOUT LINEN STITCH:
~This pattern creates a very striking and pretty fabric.  However, it is VERY tight and dense.  This swatch will have to be blocked in order to make it a uniform square (as you can see, this swatch was not blocked before the pictures were taken).  It will pucker without blocking.  I will post a tutorial on blocking sometime next week.
~Note that you are ''wrapping'' stitches for this pattern.  Have no fear!  Just follow the instructions as they are written (you are slipping, not knitting, half the stitches for each row). 
~Also, it will take about twice as many rows to complete the block, so be sure to measure your square (make the square as flat and straight as you can for measuring) instead of relying on a row count for the finished product.

Cast on 44 stitches

Border Row (1, 3, 5): K1, P1 across

Border Row (2, 4): P1, K1 across

Pattern:

Row 1: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) *K1, move yarn to front of work, slip 1 stitch as if to purl, move yarn to back repeat from * across to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 2: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) *P1, move yarn to back of work, slip 1 stitch as if to purl, move yarn to front repeat from * across to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Repeat these 2 rows until square measures approx 9 inches from cast on edge.

Repeat border rows 1-5.

Bind off (loosely so edge isn’t too tight).

 Close up: Linen stitch

Don't like the linen stitch?  Flip it over, the back of this swatch (wrong side) is called Tweed Stitch.  It looks like a very dense Moss stitch!  Same pattern- two different results!

Close up: Tweed Stitch

The book for March is: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 

Amazon.com Review: It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities. But who can blame her? What else does an eleven-year-old science prodigy have to do when left to her own devices? With her widowed father and two older sisters far too preoccupied with their own pursuits and passions—stamp collecting, adventure novels, and boys respectively—Flavia takes off on her trusty bicycle Gladys to catch a murderer. In Alan Bradley's critically acclaimed debut mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, adult readers will be totally charmed by this fearless, funny, and unflappable kid sleuth. But don't be fooled: this carefully plotted detective novel (the first in a new series) features plenty of unexpected twists and turns and loads of tasty period detail. As the pages fly by, you'll be rooting for this curious combination of Harriet the Spy and Sherlock Holmes. Go ahead, take a bite. --Lauren Nemroff