Knitwhattery? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Garter stitch

The same effect is produced by purling all stitches, but that is rarely done. While garter stitch is the first thing most knitters learn, and is considered a simple stitch, it is most effective once one has mastered the art of making all stitches the same size.

More advanced knitters may still choose to use it for effect. There is a type of yarn available that produces a thick fluffy effect when knit using garter stitch.

Answer: Stockinette

This is the technique most commonly used in knitting garments. It is produced by knitting and purling the stitches on alternate rows (or, working in the round, by just knitting all stitches). The smooth side is usually, but not always, used as the front of the work.

Answer: Rib stitch

To produce ribbing, you alternate knit and purl stitches, one or two of each, lined up to produce vertical ridges of stockinette and reverse stockinette. These ridges tend to shrink in. As well as being used to make sleeve cuffs have a snug fit, ribbing is also often used for the bottom and neck edges of garments, to give a nice finish.

Answer: Seed stitch

Like ribbing, seed stitch is produced by alternating knit and purl stitches, but without lining them up. The result is a pattern of "bumps". Variants include working two rows as if ribbing and alternating them, instead of every row, sometimes called double seed stitch. Another name for this stitch is moss stitch.

Answer: Lace knitting

Increasing by means of a yarn over makes a small hole; when it is desired to be subtle (as in shaping a garment), this is done near a seam so it is not obvious; sometimes it is exploited by creating them in a decorative arrangement. Of course, there must be concomitant decreases in the pattern to keep the overall number of stitches constant, or only varying slightly over the pattern.

Answer: Drop-stitch knitting

Usually a dropped stitch is a disaster, calling for intensive search-and-repair; sometimes it is used intentionally to create a visual effect. When a stitch is dropped, it unravels all the way down to its anchor row, leaving a "run". This can then either just create an airy effect, or another color can be worked into the remaining framework.

Answer: Cabling

The basic traditional cable involves placing 3-4 stitches on a spare needle so they can be placed either behind or in front of the work while the next 3-4 stitches are knit; the stitches on the cable needle then get knit, producing a twisted effect. There are endless variations, including the one-stitch cable, which is produced simply by knitting the second stitch from the left needle before then knitting the first stitch, and cabling that uses a mixture of knit and purl stitches to produce what look like diagonal stripes.

Answer: Shadow knitting

The trick to this technique is that knit and purl stitches have a different profile - purl stitches stick up a bit more - so when you look from an angle, the elevated purl stitches block the knit stitches immediately behind them. From the front, you just see colored stripes of somewhat varied textures; from the side the pattern worked in contrasting texture becomes apparent.

This is used more by textile artists than in garments, since it is more effective when the knit work is stationary.

Answer: Fair Isle knitting

Named after the small member of the Shetland Islands where the technique was developed, this technique originally described knitting with around four or five colors, of which only two are used in any single row. The patterns usually only involve a small number of stitches in any part of the pattern, which means that the color not in use can be carried along behind the work, twisting the working and carried strands every stitch to avoid long loops. Traditionally the stitch was used to make sweaters/jumpers/pullovers, which were knit in the round (using four needles or more recently a circular needle) so that every row was worked from the front, making the yarn twisting easier to manage. Recently the term is used more loosely to describe almost any kind of multicolor stranded knitting.

Answer: Mosaic knitting

The mosaic effect is produced by working two rows in each of the two colors, but carefully slipping instead of working certain stitches, which are therefore carried upwards in the color they had in the previous row. The selection of which stitches get carried in each color leads to the final pattern, whose effect is increased when the two colors are in sharp contrast (and more especially if their textures are different).