“The Knitter’s Bible - Stitch Library by Claire Crompton” has over 200 different types of stitch patterns. I wanted to learn how to knit different types of panels so designed a sampler afghan. I knit eight strips, each about 4” wide and about 40” tall (in sock yarn weight). I used sock yarn so I wouldn’t have a large afghan. You can use any weight of yarn and any size of needle.

It took about one hour per sample; I made it roughly a 4” x 4” square. i got tired of some of the patterns and tried to make the samples as square as possible before I decided enough was enough. The strips have at least nine or ten different patterns in them (separated by four rows of garter stitch).

First, I made an excel spreadsheet of the stitches with information about the repeats and extra stitches. For instance, if you’re working on a strip that’s 23 stitches wide, you can do the following charts:

a repeat of 4 (five repeats=20 sts)plus 3
a repeat of 19 sts plus 4
a repeat of 8 sts (two repeats=16 sts) plus 7
a repeat of 6 sts (three repeats=18 sts) plus 5

Knit three extra stitches on both sides of your panels. Drop two of the three stitches all the way down from top to bottom. These will be picked up when you crochet the strips together.

The strips were connected at the sides in crochet fashion to make a cozy that reached from my hip to the end of my feet. The final size was 47” x 42”. To join the panels, you won’t need to count rows; gather three stitches on each side and crochet up the piece. Count the crochet joins and finish when they’re all even. When I needed to add another panel to the top of one strip, I just held the crochet edge with the stitch holder that held stitches of the previous panel. Eventually I was able to bind off the whole afghan as one piece, adding a few chains where the edges were crocheted together.

Remember that the garter breaks between patterns won’t line up so it’s best to just knit until the pattern feels like it’s done. It was interesting to see how some patterns were elastic from left to right (like the mistake rib) and some were not elastic at all (like the linen stitch). It helped me immensely on my way to designing my own patterns.

Here are the stitches that I learned (in order of how they ended in the afghan):
1-01 (23st) mistake rib; 1-02 (23st) mock cable - 1; 1-03 (23st) bobble flower; 1-04 (23st) gingham check; 1-05 (23st) dimple stitch; 1-06 (23st) humber star; 1-07 (23st) quatrefoil eyelets; 1-08 (23st) cocoon stitch; 2-01 (19st) butterfly drop stitch; 2-02 (19st) pyramid; 2-03 (19st) mini horseshoe lace; 2-04 (19st) boxed bubble; 2-05 (19st) aran rib - 1; 2-06 (19st) leaf shadows; 2-07 (19st) woven fabric; 2-08 (19st) twin leaf lace; 2-09 (19st) smocked honeycomb; 3-01 (24st) knit; 3-02 (24st) honeybee; 3-03 (24st) bubble pattern; 3-04 (24st) vertical drop stitch rib; 3-05 (24st) oxo cable; 3-06 (24st) japanese feather; 3-07 (24st) bud stitch; 3-08 (24st) puff stitch; 3-09 (24st) scroll pattern; 3-10 (24st) cat’s eye; 3-11 (24st) double moss and rib check; 4-01 (20st) zig zag lace; 4-02 (20st) lamb’s tails; 4-03 (20st) six stitch cable; 4-04 (20st) lace rib; 4-05 (20st) tumbling blocks; 4-06 (20st) braid; 4-07 (20st) gooseberry stitch; 4-08 (20st) mock cable - 2; 4-09 (20st) ladder stitch; 4-10 (20st) woven cables; 5-01 (18st) dainty chevron; 5-02 (18st) fisherman’s rib; 5-03 (18st) twisted vine; 5-04 (18st) ridged feather stitch; 5-05 (18st) long garter stitch; 5-06 (18st) smocking; 5-07 (18st) veined leaf; 5-08 (18st) five rib braid; 6-01 (21st) bowknot stitch; 6-02 (21st) cluster stitch; 6-03 (21st) aran rib - 2; 6-04 (21st) horseshoe lace; 6-05 (21st) heart cable; 6-06 (21st) vine lace zig zag; 6-07 (21st) moss stitch rib; 6-08 (21st) field of wheat; 6-09 (21st) eyelet cable; 6-10 (21st) marriage lines; 7-01 (22st) zig zag eyelets; 7-02 (22st) openwork rib; 7-03 (22st) bobble diamonds; 7-04 (22st) trellis diamond; 7-05 (22st) cat’s paw; 7-06 (22st) bramble stitch; 7-07 (22st) braid cable; 7-08 (22st) two stitch check; 7-09 (22st) mrs. Hunter’s pattern; 8-01 (17st) brioche; 8-02 (17st) diamonds; 8-03 (17st) medallion bobble cable; 8-04 (17st) iverness diamonds; 8-05 (17st) ostrich plumes; 8-06 (17st) aran diamond and bobble; 8-07 (17st) garter stitch; 8-08 (17st) rib