12 December 2017

It's all about the 12's

Verwood Cushions by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
I have spent the day musing on the number 12. Today is the 12th of December and it's one of the twelve times in the year when the way I write a date is the same as the way my American pals do! Yesterday, for example, was 11/12/17 to me, but most of the folks around me would say that day was a month ago (Nov 12th)! However, today is 12/12/17 for both of us. 

So I started thinking about the number 12 and found some really interesting facts: Did you know that 12 is the smallest number that can be divided by 6 numbers? (ie 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12.)

Maybe that's one of the reasons we use 12 for so many things. It is easy to package half a dozen eggs, for example. Much harder to package up half a count of 10.

When we had 12 pence (12d) to the shilling in the UK, then sweets could be sold as so many per shilling so you could easily buy a quarter or half of the amount. So much harder with decimals…
Lots of Samples, Reversible Knitting Stitches by Moira Ravenscroft & Anna Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Twelve is one of those numbers that just seems easy to work with and to understand – a number that just comes "naturally". 

When we were looking through the stitch patterns for our Reversible Knitting Stitches book, for example, we sorted the samples into categories and very early on in the process found that we had 12 of them, so we went ahead and set up 12 chapters. 

So, over the next 12 days, I am going to post a series of 12 blogposts, each one featuring a stitch from the book and showing a knitting pattern where the stitch has been used. 
Crossed Rib from Reversible Knitting Stitches, Wyndlestraw Designs
Crossed Rib from Reversible Knitting Stitches, Wyndlestraw Designs
Today's stitch pattern is, appropriately, from Chapter 12 of the book and is called Crossed Rib. This has a really interesting structure, with the stitches on the front face being twisted separately from the ones on the back to give a beautifully smooth finish. Often reversible cables can be very bulky, but not here. 

The book includes two different versions. The double-sided version has cables on both sides, while the single-sided version has cables just on one face with a plain rib on the other. That one is marginally easier to work and a little flatter too.
Verwood Cushions by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
I used this stitch for the Verwood Cushionsand really like the way this has come. I modified the pattern a little bit so that the cables are separated by intermediate ribs. This gives a lovely result with the cables nestled down between the soft ribs, giving an attractive and very comfortable finish – just perfect for a winter cushion.

To read more about the Verwood Cushions pattern, please click here and for information about our Reversible Knitting Stitches E-book, please click here.

Until tomorrow – Happy Reversible Knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: 12 for 12  Series– Twelve Reversible Stitches and Patterns,
Book/Reversible Knitting Stitches, Patterns/Cushions,
reversible knitting, reversible stitches, knitting stitches, cushions, pillows. cables, reversible cables,

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