If you follow the Stitch Maps page on Facebook, you know that every now and then I stumble across an online source of heirloom * patterns. And “stumble” really is the right word – I swear, I’m not searching for these websites! Because when I do find one, it often turns into a rabbit hole of immense proportions, with entire afternoons vanishing into the urge the explore the resources and map their patterns.
But I’m not complaining.
Recently, I ran into The well-versed, elegant knitter by Nannette Höflich. Yes, it’s in German, but Silke has begun to translate the outdated German terms into more modern German and English terms. And a few patterns have been mapped, like Maria-Stuart-Tour.
Also: the Antique Pattern Library, a huge rabbit hole for all sorts of fiber pursuits. I’ve only poked around this site a bit, but I’d love to devote some more time to it. Check out pages 11 and 12 of Le Tricot IV, which illustrate a fascinating way to repair holes in your knitted fabric.
To keep track of these resources – in case I ever find the time to explore the fully – I’ve started a list. It’s incomplete and disorganized, but it’s a start. If you know of similar resources that should be added to this list, please let me know!
Heirloom, antique, vintage, Victorian – what's the right word?? You tell me. |
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Clearly, knitting resources come in all languages, not just English. Ditto the knitters who visit Stitch-maps.com. And so I’ve been exploring what it would take to translate the user interface at Stitch-Maps.com into more languages, to make the site usable for more knitters.
Note that, at least for now, I’m just talking about the user interface: the labels and menu options and messages and such that you see when you visit the site. I’m not talking about translating the patterns’ written instructions. That would be an entirely different can of worms.
Even with that specific focus, the hurdles come in three parts:
- One, modifying the site so its user interface can be translated: identifying all the scattered bits of text – from “Login” to “It's not possible to ‘k11’ over 12 stitches” – and replacing them with code that’ll pull up text in the right language.
- Two, making it easy for volunteers to provide translations of all these little bits of text.
- Three, finding and supporting these volunteers.
Lots of work remains! This isn’t going to be a quick task for anyone. But if you’d like to help out – with translations, or simply with suggestions – then please consider joining this discussion on Ravelry. |
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According to statistics gathered anonymously by Google Analytics, in the past month Stitch-Maps.com has seen visitors who speak 41 different languages, from countries all over the world. English was the preferred language for just 39.6% of those visitors. Whoa! Until I checked, I had no idea the percentage was that low.
In order, the top 10 languages for Stitch-Maps.com visitors are:
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| Percentage |
Cumulative percentage |
Language |
| 39.6% | 39.6% | English |
| 17.5% | 57.1% | German |
| 8.1% | 65.2% | Spanish |
| 7.6% | 72.8% | Russian |
| 3.5% | 76.3% | Italian |
| 3.3% | 79.6% | French |
| 2.4% | 82.0% | Dutch |
| 2.4% | 84.4% | Korean |
| 2.1% | 86.5% | Turkish |
| 1.9% | 88.5% | Portuguese |
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By the way, if you’re wondering how Google knows what language you speak: it’s a setting on your web browser. Websites use it to determine your preferred language. Just for fun, try setting your web browser to a language you don’t understand, then see how difficult it is to navigate a site that pays attention to this setting, like Instagram.
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Distracted by quilting
This past month, I admit, I haven’t done much knitting. Instead, when I haven’t been falling down rabbit holes or exploring translation options, I’ve been distracted by quilting.
It all started when a friend said she’d bought a second-hand long-arm quilting machine, and would I like to take a day-long class with her? Yes! I jumped on the opportunity. At the end of the class, I had a simple, whole-cloth quilt. The teacher suggested dividing the quilt into 6" squares and using a different quilting pattern in each square, just to get the feel for what was possible – and I had a blast, especially when it came to making daisies. All I have left to do is put the binding on.
That got me motivated to make a Cathedral Window potholder, something I’d been meaning to try for a while. Using fabrics left over from other projects, I loosely followed the instructions at 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks and Sweet P Quilting and Creation. It was a quick, spur-of-the-moment project, and totally fun.
And now I’m intrigued by paper piecing... which is odd. Paper piecing is supposed to be an excellent way to ensure precise piecing, but I’ve always had a fondness for a more “liberated” style of quilting, like the quilts of Gee’s Bend or Gwen Marston. Still, I figure I’ll give paper piecing a try, while this current “I wanna quilt!” phase lasts. If you want to try paper piecing too, I highly recommend Carol Doak’s books and tutorials.
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I would love to tell you about some new events on my calendar... but I can’t, not just yet. So let me remind you of what's coming up quick.
In January, I’m off to Madison, WI, for Sun Valley Fibers’ January Thaw retreat, where I’ll be teaching: And in February, it’s Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA. I’m teaching a ton of classes, including a bunch of 90-minute classes: |
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At both the January Thaw and Stitches West, I’ll be teaching Disaster Recovery, a grab-bag of tricks for fixing (and preventing!) mistakes. It’s one of the classes I’ve been teaching the longest, and I suspect that it’s always going to be popular – ’cause we all make mistakes, right?
In the class, we practice multiple ways of doing each of the “Big Three” disaster recovery techniques: tink, drop, and frog. For instance, to fix a split or twisted stitch, you may have dropped the stitch off your needles, unraveled past the goof, and latched the stitch column back up with a crochet hook – but have you ever tried dropping multiple stitches? Latching them back up one column at a time is a great way to fix mis-crossed cables; reknitting row-by-row lets you fix a section of complex patterning without having to rip back the surrounding fabric.
We also practice duplicate stitch (it’s not just an embellishment technique!), and discuss other fix-it approaches and prevention tactics.
Throughout the class, we cover ways to avoid frogging – or, if you have to frog, to make it as painless as possible. After all, even experienced knitters make mistakes. It’s just that they know how to fix ’em.
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