The Landlocked Sailor

This red and black flag signifies a storm warning. One flag means Tropical Storm Warning, and two flags together mean Hurricane Warning. (The signals for Gale Warning and Small Craft Advisory are two red pennant (triangle) flags and one red pennant flag, respectively.)

I thought these marine weather flags would make kind of cool throw pillows, so I’m knitting up a couple of envelope-style pillow covers. I’m just making it up as I go along, but I know that if I don’t write it down I’ll forget how I did it.

What this means:

I just finished writing out my first ever knitting pattern. It is very simple– just a black square inside a red square, using very basic stitches (it’s only the front flag part, not the entire pillow cover), but it was HARD to write the pattern, and I’m still not sure it’s accurate and user-friendly. So, if you use the pattern, please help me out by leaving a comment about how easy or difficult it was to follow, and what I should do to make it better.

The way it’s written assumes you know how to make basic knit and purl stitches, as well as how to join a new color in an intarsia style. (It’s not as hard as it sounds! I learned it pretty quickly from YouTube– check out these videos for instructions: Intarsia Knitting Basics and Intro to Intarsia. The second video is by KnitPicks, and it features nautical flags, so yay! Perfect.

Click here to download the PDF pattern.

Thanks!

Sarita Li

Related articles

• For the Love of Nautical Flags (thelandlockedsailor.com)
• Nautical Flag Knitting: Letter B “Bravo” (thelandlockedsailor.com)
• Nautical Flag Upcycling: It is the East, and Juliet is… the Letter J (thelandlockedsailor.com)

I have an obsession with nautical signal flags and the International Code of Signals. I often find myself making jokes based on the signals, but I tend to be the only one around (lately) who thinks they’re funny. (It’s a whole different story when you live with a crew of 12 or so other sailors and everyone is sleep deprived from standing watch four hours on/four hours off.)

But anyway, I stumbled upon this comic called “Tragedy at Sea” by Tom Gauld on Sailor Made Goods‘ Tumblr blog today, and I can’t possibly be the only one who finds it funny this time!

Tragedy at Sea by Tom Gauld

Check out more of Tom Gauld’s work (and buy this and other funnies as jumbo postcards) at tomgauld.com

Related articles

• International Flags and Pennants (Say “I am Trying to Communicate With You” in 9 Languages) (thelandlockedsailor.com)
• Nautical Flag Knitting Pattern: B is for Bravo (and Dangerous Cargo) (thelandlockedsailor.com)
• Romeo and Juliet Nautical Flag Handbag (thelandlockedsailor.com)

I really love the many meanings of nautical flags. One of my favorite combinations is Romeo + Juliet.

One version of the meaning of Romeo, or the “R” flag (the red one pictured here) is “The way is off my vessel. You may feel your way past me.” Juliet’s response? “Fire on board. Keep your distance.”

This combination of Romeo + Juliet is made from up-cycled sweaters, and will soon be a handbag.

Whadd’ya think?