In all my years as a knitter never have I attempted a ‘lace’ based project. For some reason, knitting lacey garments scared me. I could nail the hardest of cable knitting, create Fair Isle patterns with my eyes closed but show me a lace pattern and I would just freeze.
The silly thing about this aversion to lace knitting is I am, and always have been, drawn to the craft in a big way. I ooh and ahh with the best of them as I explore books, patterns, stitches and finished garments.
As you all know my health has not been the best these past few months and knitting and designing have been stuck on the slow lane. What I have been doing however, is swatching.
At the moment I am working with a New Zealand Merino yarn by Touch Yarns. Based in Clyde, a small township in the Otago region of the South Island, Touch Yarns specialises in Merino along with Possum, Alpaca and Kid yarn.
So far, I have swatched two colours using Touch Yarns Pure Merino 8ply (double knitting) and I am impressed with the feel of the yarn and the way it knits up.
Natural White is the colour I am working with at the moment. The more I looked at it and explored pattern options with it, the more I felt compelled to try something out of my comfort zone. In short, the yarn required a lace pattern and so began a shift in my attitude towards lace.
I began looking for patterns and found one I liked in The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches (Lyric Books, London 1983) called Diamond Eyelet Pattern. On knitting it up however, I was unhappy with the garter stitch break it had throughout and decided to play around with the pattern adapting it to suit the elegant cardigan design I had in mind.
The result is, I think, quite pleasing.
While I am sure this pattern must exist out in knitting-land somewhere as yet I have not found it. In the interim therefore I am calling this pattern Diamond and Lace.
Diamond and Lace pattern
Multiple of 6 + 3 stitches
1st row: *K4, yf, sl 1, k1, psso; rep from * to last 3 sts, k3
2nd row and every wrong side row: Purl
3rd row: K2, *k2tog, yf, k1, yf, sl 1, k1, psso, k1; rep from * to last st, k1
5th row: K1, k2tog, yf, *k3, yf, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yf; rep from * to last 6 sts, k2, yf, sl 1, k1, psso, k1
7th row: K3, *yf, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yf, k3; rep from * to end
9th row: As 1st row
These 9 rows form the foundation pattern. Thereafter, pattern begins at row 3.
Now all I have to do is to complete the design of the cardigan. Before I finalise this however, I have two other patterns that sorely need to leave home and go out into the big wide world via Ravelry and my website.
Comments
Thank you so much for this stunning pattern, look forward to seeing the cardi pattern when it happens
Author
Hello Christine, Thank you for your lovely comment.
Thank you so much for sharing the pattern . I am having problem with knitting row 5 . Somehow the other no of stitches do not add up to 9 ,but much more . Pl help
Author
Hello Zarina, Thank you for pointing out this problem with row 5. On my swatch of 33 stitches the pattern as written worked perfectly fine.
On a smaller swatch (10 rows only) the pattern obviously does not.
Here is my correction for a 9 stitch pattern only:
Row 5: K1, k2tog, yf, *k3, yf, sl 1, k2tog
I will have a closer look at the pattern as a whole later today and do further corrections if necessary.
Please let me know how you go.
Author
Correction #2
9 stitch pattern only
Row 5: K1, k2tog, yf, *k3, yf, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k1
Again, please let me know how you go.
Regards,
Linda
Dear Linda ,
Thank you very much . I will rework and let you know how I fare .
Regards
Zarina .
Dear Linda,
I don’t know what I am doing wrong but I am counting 10 stitches instead of 9 .
Regards
Zarina
Author
Dear Zarina,
I am doing a 9 stitch swatch to see what on earth is wrong with this. Will get back to you soon.
Author
Completed a 9 stitch swatch:
Row 1: K4, yf, sl 1, k1, psso, k3
Row 3: K2 k2tog, yf, k1, yf, sl 1, k1, psso, k1, k last stitch
Row 5: K1, k2tog, yf, k3, yf, sl 1, k1, psso, k1
Row 7: K3, yf, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yf, k3
Row 9: As row 1
All wrong side rows: Purl
Repeat from row 3
Dear Linda ,
Thank you very much . Will try it out today as soon as I can get back to the knitting . Sorry for any inconvenience.
Regards
Zarina
Dear Linda,
Thank you , finally worked out
Thank you
Zarina
Author
Zarina, I am so happy to hear this. I do hope you share a photo of what you make with this pattern.
Will do . I was planning on a scarf
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