When Flat Knitting Isn’t

More than once a knitter has said to me that they accidentally knitted one of my patterns flat, with good results! At first I didn’t understand how that is possible, until I tried it myself: if the design is simple enough, the flat version just needs a little seaming to be very similar to the circular version, with the difference that a smooth stockinette stitch surface will end up as garter stitch if you knit every row.

With this in mind, I recently tried making a completely 3-dimensional design that only used flat knitting, with a little I-cord thrown in.

flatbugs

I was a little surprised to see that if I hadn’t know how it was made, my first guess would have been that it had been knitted on double-pointed needles. I know there are a lot of sophisticated 3-D designs that use flat knitting, but it was fun to try it myself!

So flat knitting doesn’t have to be simple or plain or really flat at all, in the end. I know lots of people prefer it, so I hope to do more “flat” designs in the future.

(By the way, I have no particular plans for the unnamed buggy guys pictured above. But I’m open to ideas!)

13 thoughts on “When Flat Knitting Isn’t

  1. So cute! My idea is that you give us the free pattern! (I bet you have noticed that I am int FREE stuff)

  2. Aw I love the “buggy-back ride” Hellen! That makes me want to keep this project around just for the name.

  3. LOL shows everybody is different, I loath sewing up and would much rather knit on DPNs

  4. Flat knitting isn’t “easier” really, it just depends on how you take to learning.

    I am learning how to use DPNS with Anna’s book, and well, she is right. “It’s not as scary as it looks”. I made the bed bug as my first since after reading all the patterns, it seemed the easiest. (My husband pointed out, that without the legs and ears… “it looks like a green peanut”).

    Since it was in a collect of books my husband got me for X-mas (I started to teach myself to knit in November), I used her tips for another book for knitting hats. Most of the other books I’ve found isn’t as useful for tips and such (well, when they have patterns as it’s main part).

    BACK TO TOPIC!!!! I think knitting either way would be fine depending on the person. You could always write the pattern in DPN, but if the changes are minor you could have a box with the pattern saying what changes to make in straight knitting.

    This little group is adorkable.

  5. How about an insect amusement park? On a flower or in a garden? Sounds like a new installation! Too bad I’m not a gallery owner.

    Thanks for displaying your new friends.

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