Most knitters if they heard the following knitting mantra:

“purl off, knit on, knit off, purl on”

They’d immediately recognize that someone was doing the Kitchener stitch.

Do You Use A Knitting Mantra?

The first time I use a repeating stitch pattern, I almost always speak the instructions aloud as I do them.  This also goes for color work.

It takes a while for my hands to memorize a specific stitch pattern.  My Cross Hatch Scarf pattern is a perfect example.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty simple stitch pattern.  The repeat is YO, SL1K, K2, PSSO 2 K sts.  Unfortunately, it’s close enough to other stitch patterns, that it took a while for my hands to not replace the 2 K sts with a K2Tog.

So I found myself speaking the repeat to myself as I did it.

I typically shorten the terms so speaking them doesn’t slow me down.  Yarn Over, gets shortened to Over. Slip One gets shortened to Slip.

It’s not often that I find knitting to be meditative or calming.  But I do find the incessant repeating of a stitch pattern to have that effect on me. In fact, I could watch this embedded video as an ASMR calming video.

Anyone else do something similar?  Any variations on the technique?

Current Knitting

Three things:

1. I’m bummed to realize I don’t have enough of one of the colors in the Ensign Brook DK yarn to finish the cardigan.  I could have sworn I had a ton of the tan color yarn.  I’ll consider un-knitting the sleeve ribbing to see if that will give me enough.  But for now, I’m annoyed with that project.
2. I’ve been doing a little work on the second Cross Hatch Scarf (see below).
3. Enjoying the stitch pattern for the Cross Hatch Scarf as much as I am, I started a new project on US00 needles.  If it works out, I’ll tell you more about it.

I may end up just contacting Karin at Ensign Brook to see if she has something similar in color. In fact, I may just wait until September when I see her at the North East Men’s Fall Knitting Retreat at Easton Mountain.