I’ve looked at knits from upside down, from inside out, and still somehow, it’s yarn’s illusions I recall (sorry Joni).

Illusion Knitting – A Thing?

Using the advance search feature on Ravelry patterns, there are over 800 patterns listed that use the Illusion or Shadow knitting technique.  And I don’t mean pattern designs like tumbling blocks that have a 3-d effect:

I’m talking about garter stitch with embedded non-garter ridge sections that show up only when you look a the fabric from a certain perspective.  Similar to my current WIP:

Years ago, I tried doing one of these Illusion Knitting patterns, but I found that keeping track of the hidden pattern and when to purl versus knit was a painful process.  My current pattern is easy to follow given that it’s in 10 stitch increments, but even that took a while to burn into my brain.

I’m thinking that this free pattern on Ravelry might just be worth the effort…no?

I love the comment in the pattern description (which is no longer true, but still funny):

 “In the true spirit of the Trump administration, this has not been test knit. Sad!”

I’d be interested to hear about folks that use Illusion/Shadow knitting a lot…especially to make hidden pictures.

Current Knitting

My current foray into Illusion/Shadow Knitting is making steady progress.

Looks like I still have about 16 inches to go!

I’ve also been persistent with my attempts at getting proficient with the Gearhart CSM.  I had an exciting breakthrough with it yesterday when I was able to create a 3×1 sock, including the heel with virtually no hiccups.

I’m screwed up shaping the toe and I’m dissatisfied with how big the circumference of the foot is, so I’ll be pulling this out and re-doing it, but I’m thrilled with my progress…at least for today.