Chart vs written patterns

I have noticed a few changes in my knitting of late, one of which was called into the spotlight last night.

In the previous post, I mentioned knitting the Shimmer shrug from knitty.com (of which I have started a sleeve and it feels wonderful in that tencel blend yarn!)

Until I started on the alpine lace, I could not work from a chart. Perhaps because I'd never tried. I'd also used combined knitting. Post-alpine lace, I knit english style as it makes following the pattern easier. I can now also read a chart. Rather well, I think.

Anyway, I went to start knitting the shrug, and so I read through the pattern and noticed there was no chart, only a written pattern for the lozenge lace. And I realised why written patterns make no sense to me anymore, and why they barely made sense when I first started lace and kept making mistakes.

We read this way --------->
<------------- and you knit that way (unless you're knittng left handed)

And that would be why I had to sit down last night and draw up a chart. I used a chart thingy made by Jacquie, in this to make my life easier