Wednesday, December 31, 2008

1. Knitted Edging

Happy New Year to all!

Christmas knitting is done, holiday dishes washed and put away (well, almost), and I turn now to the sample book patterns.

Our first design is titled simply "Knitted Edging," a saw-tooth, garter stitch edge. The pattern is worked in a 10-row repeat, and the stitch count steadily increases from 12 to 16 before returning to the original number in the final row.




You can download the full-size chart, verbal instructions and notes here.

With this pattern I encountered my first anomaly of 19th Century knitting instructions. Row 1 of the pattern as written begins k2, yo2, p2tog. (This is the modern equivalent. I will cover Victorian knitting terms and notation in a future post.) When working my sample, I found I had one too many stitches for the second row. I kept going over the numbers-- how many stitches you end with on row 1, how many you need for row 2-- and the discrepancy always remained. Then it occurred to me: there wasn't a double yarn over at all, just a single followed by bringing the yarn forward again to purl. I looked at some of the other patterns I have transcribed, and found the same phenomenon. Although there never is any mention of yarn forward for k1, p1, add a yarn over between them and it invariably becomes "yarn over twice."

A note about my samples: I originally thought I would be using thread for the samples illustrating this project. I usually work knitted lace patterns in size 40 or 50 cotton cordonnet. It has a hard finish that gives a good definition, doesn't fuzz up with handling, and is sufficiently fine to produce "lacy" lace. However, the majority of patterns in the book are in garter stitch-- a good choice for edgings in particular, since it prevents curling, but one I find unattractive in fine thread. So although from time to time I may show samples in thread, most will be worked in fingering weight cotton.

Epilog
Oops. The photo originally illustrating this design showed the wrong side of the edging. Sheesh. With all these garter stitch patterns, I am really going to have to watch that. The download page has been updated to include both views.
Next up: Fence Row Insertion