think style errors aren't errors?

Style is everything in the writing world. How punctuation, spaces, words, phrases, terms all come together in how we present information or written content so that it is clear and accurate matters immensely, or the reader would be lost, confused, or pissed off. Maybe all three. Ensuring that style is consistent so it isn’t confusing is a big job for editors.

In a technical document like a knitting pattern, this need for clarity and accuracy is imperative. I’ve got style manuals on my shelf right next to all the knitting books. Not only does the written copy need to be clear and consistent, but so definitely do the instructions! There are a lot of ways to confuse a knitter in a pattern, and inconsistent style in the information and instructions is the most common way.

There are so many examples of where style choices need to be made, and where it can go poorly, and here I’ll share a simple and conceptual one (the non-words), and a specific one (material no. 1).

The one most people don’t think about.

Punctuation. It isn’t knitting. It isn’t the stitches or the design, or the method or the math, and it’s not exciting; but in a knitting pattern, it is essential that it be present and most of all consistent.

These marks are like background noise – we don’t really notice it, and it blends into the scenery, but when the sound is shut off, it’s really obvious. Same with punctuation – we don’t really notice it, but if it’s wrong, it’s very confusing, and that is especially true in a knitting pattern. In writing, if a comma is misplaced or a period forgotten, sometimes we can figure it out based on context clues. But in a knitting pattern, that isn’t always possible at all. It’s like that thing you don’t notice, but when it’s gone, you’re like, “Huh? What do I do now?”

Let’s try it.

For example, when placing commas between directions within a row, forgetting any can be confusing to the knitter: k1 p2, yo p2, k1. (“Huh?”) When there is ambiguity, knitters have to guess at what you mean. “So, did the designer leave out commas, or are there commas missing? Are commas that are there meant to be a repeat set, or something else entirely? What do I do?” Ack, you have a frustrated knitter. Beyond that, it’s even harder to easily read - also frustrating.

Do it your way.

Remember that in a pattern, there is a lot of room for individual style, so all designers use punctuation differently.

How do you use your commas, periods, semi-colons, colons, brackets, parentheses, dashes, asterisks, and even spaces? Some, most, or all of these are usually present in a modern knitting pattern and using them consistently will exponentially ensure that there is no confusion to the knitter.

So, however you choose to use them, and most any way is fine, be sure to use them in the same manner, and for the same purpose throughout the pattern. This is the consistency you hear me yammer on about all the time - it is a huge component in a clear pattern, and a clear pattern is what we want.

For example, if you are using an asterisk (*) in one line to denote where a repeat begins, then you wouldn’t want to use brackets for that function in another line, or the knitter may not know what you want them to do.

If you have your measurement in inches in parentheses, and then your measurement in centimeters in brackets, don’t reverse them later on in the pattern, or the knitter may end up with an interestingly-sized garment! Ack!

The powerful space.

Even how you use spaces makes a difference, and if it is the same throughout, it is easier to read, and that makes it easier to understand. Spacing within sections, line spaces, spaces within row instructions, abbreviation lists. How can you use spacing to your advantage to make your pattern clearer? Missing spaces or extra spaces within lines or sections can throw knitters off just as easily as any missing punctuation.

Having our patterns be easy to understand is definitely a top goal in writing them. We may not realize how important punctuation is in a pattern, but then if we work from a pattern where style and format are inconsistent, their importance becomes really clear.

The yarn requirements conundrum example.

One of the most important materials to include information for in a patterns is the yarn details. What fiber, what weight, what color, how much? Giving at least general information about this helps the knitter have success. How much do you say? How do you write it? Where is the line between giving useless information and not giving enough?

One way to present yarn information:

1. Dragonfly Fibers ‘Selkie Sport’ (70% Bluefaced Leicester/30% Silk Bombyx; 311m per 113g skein), 1 skein; sample uses color “Mad Love.”

This is one way. You can use any style of punctuation and capitalization, as long as the end result is clear and easy to read. What matters most is that all the information is given about that yarn:

• Company name
• Yarn name
• Fiber content
• #yds/#m skein/ball
• #oz/#g skein/ball
• # of skeins/balls
• Color(s)

Here is another example of how you could write it:

1. 1 skein Dragonfly Fibers Selkie Sport (70% Bluefaced Leicester/30% Silk Bombyx; 340 yds/113 g), shown in Mad Love

Here, the punctuation and placement is different, but all information is given clearly. One shows meters and one shows yards. What’s your take on that?

If the number of skeins varied, for a pattern with multiple sizes, you could put it this way:

1. Dragonfly Fibers ‘Selkie Sport’ (70% Bluefaced Leicester/30% Silk Bombyx; 311m/340yds per 113g skein); (1, 2, 3) (4, 5, 6) skein(s); sample uses color “Mad Love.”

or this way:

1. (1, 2, 3) (4, 5, 6) skein(s) Dragonfly Fibers Selkie Sport (70% Bluefaced Leicester/30% Silk Bombyx; 340 yd/113 g), shown in Mad Love

This example doesn’t have the color or the yarn name in quotation marks, but they are still capitalized. Some kind of way of setting those titles apart is what’s important, so that it is clear that they are names. Either way is fine, as depends on personal style.

And whether you choose to say:

• shown in Mad Love
• sample uses color “Mad Love.”
• colorway used: ‘mad love’
• 1 skein in colorway Mad Love (MC), 1 skein in colorway Big Apple (CC)

is all up to you and how you like it to look. All of those examples are easy to understand, and whether you like capital letters, certain punctuation, periods at the ends of sentences, is all up to you.

This is the kind of thing you just want to make sure you are consistent about, across all your patterns, and especially within one pattern, if more than one yarn is used. This is one of the things a style sheet is super helpful for. (More on those another time. - If you have questions about style sheets, lay ‘em on me.)

Most of these examples use either yards or meters to give the length of the skeins, and that truly depends on your audience, and what they need to know, or what terms they are most familiar with. If you are unsure about that, an easy fix is to simply give both; same for ounces and grams, like this:

1. 1 skein Dragonfly Fibers Selkie Sport (70% Bluefaced Leicester/30% Silk Bombyx; 340 yds/311 m per 3.99 oz/113 g skein), shown in Mad Love

If you don’t like the “per” in there, you could just use a semi-colon, or comma, or what feels natural to you. If you want a period at the end of the line, do that. No spacing between the numbers and the units? No problem. As long as it’s consistent with the pattern, it’s good to go.

The juicy details.

Offering more information about the yarn needed can be helpful, and if you can help the knitter substitute yarn (yes please!), make sure you mention things like:

• yarn weight
• amount of yarn needed (if you had very, very little yarn left, please mention that they may need an extra skein, or instead of saying 1 skein, you could say 1-2 skeins)
• color requirements (solid, tonal, variegated, striped, etc…)
• yarn attributes (soft, tightly twisted, lofty, smooth, drapey, sturdy, etc…)
• material, if it is pertinent to the design (wool, not superwash wool, superwash wool, cotton, silk, acrylic, etc…)

Sometimes it is enough to give the sample yarn, and that gives enough information. The example yarn info we are using here lets the knitter know how much of a wool and silk blend yarn they need, and that it is a sport weight yarn. But it doesn’t give all the information about the yarn. If you wanted to be sure, you could add something like this to your description:

Or 340 yds/311 m of sport-weight, tonal, plied, wool-blend yarn.

Not all yarn names are so revealing. So do take care to give the knitter details on what type of yarn they will need, if that is what you choose to do.

Maybe you want to include a whole paragraph about what type of yarn is best for your design, and why. Or maybe you just want to give the yarn weight and amount required. (Stick to the same punctuation and capitalization style that you used for the sample yarn info). Writing a lot or writing a little is fine, it all depends on your style, and how you like to present your patterns.

It can vary per design, and what each design demands in terms of yarn used. So don’t worry if you have one design that is very dependent on a particular yarn, and so no other info is given, but you have other designs where substituting is totally okay. What great variety!

You make the rules, but they’re still rules.

As always with style, while making it your own, the biggest thing to remember is that your other goal is to clearly communicate the needed information to the knitter. When the knitter has all the needed information and it’s easy to understand, the better their project turns out, and that is all the better for you!

Making sure they have the details straight on things like the yarn requirements is a much-needed step one. Making sure your careless (we all do it!) punctuation doesn’t seriously trip someone up is super important.

These inconsistencies that get knitters scratching their head and rubbing their eyes are mistakes. They’re not math errors, they’re not stitch pattern mix-ups, but in a document full of words and technical language, errors in writing style are definitely real mistakes. Personal style, and making all these little style decisions to be exactly how you want, not conforming to another’s ideal, choosing just how you want things to be independent of anything else, is establishing your style rules. So they are your own, but they still must be followed for a pattern to be clear.

TL;DR: Consistent, clear, and correct style in patterns is how we let knitters know they can trust us, they can trust our work. It’s telling them, "I’ve got you.”

I mean just saying, we all want to hear that.