The old patterns say that you should work from right to left and from the bottom to the top. This assumes that you are right-handed. It also means that the company wanted you to point you needle away from your body and work upward across your work space. I'm here to tell you that's doing it the hard way.
Their directions make sense, in that your right hand will rest on the finished part of the work. That makes a softer place in the mesh. If you rub your hand across the empty mesh often enough, it starts to feel as rough as sand paper. Working over the yarn-woven section is much softer.
It is, however, MUCH easier to lay the mesh sideways in front of you so that you can work across the table from right to left, weaving the length of the fabric without having to reach forward as you weave.
If you are left-handed, then you should work the opposite way - from left to right.
As I worked the baby blanket in a diagonal chevron pattern, the mesh itself was barely visible and made no impact on the finished product. Working the length of the mesh leaves some of the mesh visible and that has to be calculated into your pattern.
Some people have more than one weaving needle. They can thread several at once and work a whole section of the mesh at the same time. If you do this, be very careful about how you start each needle so that your visible mesh will create the pattern you've decided on.
Two possible ways to place the needle:
Mesh showing up/up/up. Can continue in upward diagonal or make step pyramid down from here and then up every certain number of rows according to your choice.
More thoughts on using more than one needle. I think it would be harder to keep the mesh from rippling unless you stretch the mesh after pulling each needle through every time. I do that anyway using only one needle, but it would be critical to do this if you are using more than one needle. Each new row locks in the row before it. Keep a close eye on the ripple in the mesh as you weave.
I have been known to work in order straight across. But I am just as likely to do each side, then a section in the center to establish my pattern and then work the rest of the parts in between.
On my current project, I am weaving a lilac afghan with some narrow stripes of a complementary variegated yarn. There will be an odd number of stripes so that one stripe will be in the center of the afghan. It's tempting to make each of the stripes and then fill in the spaces between with the lilac color. The only thing that gives me pause about that plan is the pattern of the mesh that will be showing. It would be fearfully easy to mess up the up and down step pattern of the visible mesh if I traipse merrily across the piece without carefully figuring which way the mesh will appear.
All of these decisions are up to you. If the visible mesh is not a big deal to you, then you are free to weave any section of the work that you want to do. If it is important in the scheme of your pattern, then make sure to take it into account when you do the next strand of yarn or the next section up the way.
Thanks for visiting with me,
Kathi Linz
Their directions make sense, in that your right hand will rest on the finished part of the work. That makes a softer place in the mesh. If you rub your hand across the empty mesh often enough, it starts to feel as rough as sand paper. Working over the yarn-woven section is much softer.
It is, however, MUCH easier to lay the mesh sideways in front of you so that you can work across the table from right to left, weaving the length of the fabric without having to reach forward as you weave.
If you are left-handed, then you should work the opposite way - from left to right.
As I worked the baby blanket in a diagonal chevron pattern, the mesh itself was barely visible and made no impact on the finished product. Working the length of the mesh leaves some of the mesh visible and that has to be calculated into your pattern.
Some people have more than one weaving needle. They can thread several at once and work a whole section of the mesh at the same time. If you do this, be very careful about how you start each needle so that your visible mesh will create the pattern you've decided on.
Two possible ways to place the needle:
Mesh showing up/down/up/down
Mesh showing up/up/up. Can continue in upward diagonal or make step pyramid down from here and then up every certain number of rows according to your choice.
More thoughts on using more than one needle. I think it would be harder to keep the mesh from rippling unless you stretch the mesh after pulling each needle through every time. I do that anyway using only one needle, but it would be critical to do this if you are using more than one needle. Each new row locks in the row before it. Keep a close eye on the ripple in the mesh as you weave.
I have been known to work in order straight across. But I am just as likely to do each side, then a section in the center to establish my pattern and then work the rest of the parts in between.
On my current project, I am weaving a lilac afghan with some narrow stripes of a complementary variegated yarn. There will be an odd number of stripes so that one stripe will be in the center of the afghan. It's tempting to make each of the stripes and then fill in the spaces between with the lilac color. The only thing that gives me pause about that plan is the pattern of the mesh that will be showing. It would be fearfully easy to mess up the up and down step pattern of the visible mesh if I traipse merrily across the piece without carefully figuring which way the mesh will appear.
All of these decisions are up to you. If the visible mesh is not a big deal to you, then you are free to weave any section of the work that you want to do. If it is important in the scheme of your pattern, then make sure to take it into account when you do the next strand of yarn or the next section up the way.
Thanks for visiting with me,
Kathi Linz
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