Rant 2011

Let’s get some stuff out in the open! For those real mk-ers out there who know and love (?) me, regarding my ‘contributions’ to Knit’nStyle....
Ya know, it’s not just the fact that reading is mandatory, but, you should be semi-conscious when you do read! And as for just looking at the pictures, don’t you think it’s kind of weird that there are no photos of the MAO version of the HAND KNIT PATTERN....that’s because I did NOT design that garment - I did NOT KNIT that garment - I did not even test knit that garment or that yarn - chances are, I’ve never seen the yarn!!!
I am given the hand knit pattern and a photo of it on a hanger and asked to re-write it so machine knitters might be able to use it! In most cases I do get to choose which patterns to CONVERT or REWRITE and that’s usually based on:
1. whether it can actually be machine knit EXACTLY as the hand knit one, providing the user is able to match the gauge given and the gauge is one that I think can be achieved on a machine with the specified yarn.
2. whether I think a mk-er would actually knit it - I may be able to come up with the translation of a lace pattern but are you going to do 400 plus rows of hand manipulation? - I think not - that’s why we have machines - we’re lazy!
3. the gauge of most of the hand knits are either mid gauge or bulky, which means hand transfers - not that I have anything against a few here and there (see previous post)  but if it’s going to take as long to machine knit as hand knit, why bother?
I have tried to add a few machine knitting techniques, like the use of shortrowing and waste yarn for shoulders, but due to space limitations, I’m not allowed to make too many changes - and why would I? I’d sooner start from scratch and give you a true machine knitting pattern, hoping to be able to inspire you to get outside of your comfort zone and learn a little something, expand your mk-ing repertoire...
Here’s a clue - if my name is at or near the top of the page in large letters or my picture is there somewhere, and it says, 'design by MAO' you can bet I did it all by my lonesome!