Pride: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I’m encoding for this month is Pride, suggested over the last three years by Pia and Natasha on Patreon. It’s a day late for Pride month, but it was suggested during Pride month, so here we are!

(See the main post for a non-rainbow photo of the swatch; I couldn’t resist the overlay.)

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose this, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.

The charts are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Hawthorn: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I’m encoding for this month is Hawthorn, suggested by Catnach on Patreon. I really like the flowing curves in the vertical band and the way they intersect with each other.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose this, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.

The charts are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Tulip: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I’m encoding for this month is Tulip, suggested by Cathy on Patreon.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose this, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.

The charts are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Bergamot: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

The first word I’m encoding for this month is Bergamot, suggested by Natasha and Amy on Patreon.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. I make two of these into knitting stitches each month: the first is drawn from the collection of new words; the second is drawn from the collection of unused words. A random number generator helps me choose this, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.

The charts are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Ellerbe Mitts

You might have noticed that it’s a new year. So did I. Anyway, I’ve decided to start selling my designs again this year, and so here I am with my Ellerbe Mitts pattern.

Warm mitts, suitable for handspun or commercial yarn.

Ellerbe Creek runs near where I live in Durham, North Carolina. I love going for walks by the creek and will donate ten percent of my proceeds from these mitts to the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association.

The mitts are knit from the top down (from fingers to wrist). Most of the knitting is plain stockinette, with a motif from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury: Cornflower stitch. The motif makes a vertical stripe down the back of the hand and also decorates the thumb gusset. It resembles embroidery, but is actually elongated stitches pulled over the surface of the knitting. To enhance the effect, I recommend solid colored yarn, variegated yarn, or deliberately creating stripes using multiple different yarns.

Sizes:

Medium: hand portion is 7.2 inches (18.25cm) around and the cuff is 6.5 inches (16.25cm).
Large: hand portion is 8 inches (20.32cm) around and the cuff is 7.2 inches (18.25cm)
For this project, I would recommend treating the first mitt as a swatch; if it doesn’t work out, it’s not all that much knitting to redo it.

Materials needed:

~50 yards of DK (or light worsted weight yarn). I used handspun yarn to design the mitts.
Size 7 needles (double points or circulars, depending on your preferred method) or the correct size to achieve gauge; also a spare knitting needle of similar size (it doesn’t have to match).
Two cable needles or two pieces of scrap yarn. (optional)
A little bit of smooth waste yarn
Techniques:

You need to know how to cast on, bind off, knit, purl, yarn over, slip stitches, decrease, and knit in the round. The instructions are not written for any particular method of knitting in the round – you choose how to arrange the stitches for double pointed needles, Magic Loop, or two circulars. I provide both written instructions and a chart for the stitch pattern.

Now available on Gumroad.