Knitting Lace a Special Way

Lace knitting seems to be in vogue lately. I learned to knit lace edgings forllow cases from my grandmother years ago. I had forgotten the pattern, but after lots of books and lots of searching, I finally figured out something that is close to what she taught me. In 2003 I took a lace knitting class with Diane Willett at an I.O.L.I. Convention (International Old Lacers Inc.). I learned the joys of charted knitting. Having gone from painstakingly written out bobbin lace patterns to charted bobbin lace patterns, I knew that utilizing a chart for a knitting pattern would be really helpful. I no longer have to look through paragraphs of words to find my place in a knitted lace pattern. I could glance back and forth quickly, my eyes finding easily the place that told me which stitch to use.

A chart is a kind of shorthand for all the stitches that you need to make a lace pattern. They are generally set up in rows and are read as most people knit, from right to left and often from bottom to top. The rows are usually numbered, so it is easy to see where to start and the symbols for the technique are almost always supplied with the chart. Sometimes the pattern is also written out in words, which is helpful if you are unfamiliar with charted knitting and can ease you into its use.

Lace knitting is often accomplished through the use of yarn overs, knitting two together, or passing a slipped stitch over a knitted stitch. These increases and decreases form beautiful holes in an organized fashion in a piece of knitting. Understanding how to do it can be fairly simple. Adapting patterns to your personal knitting style can take a swatch or two, until you learn which way your decreases slant. But after you master that, it becomes fairly simple to adapt your eyes to the charted graphs.

My friend knows that I knit socks from the toe up. She saw a pattern for socks with a lace cuff in a magazine and thought that I should put some beautiful cuffs o my socks. I had a pair of socks ready to add the cuff, so I took her magazine home to give it a go. As I read the pattern, I realized that the cuff had been knitted first. I would have to make some changes to have the pattern work out for me. To have the scallop on the bottom of the cuff I would have to work the pattern from the top down, ending with row one.

Not only that, but to have the right side end up on the outside, I would have to change the stitches too. All of the stitches that were supposed to be knitted would have to be purled and visa versa. If it was a knit two together, I would have to purl it together, and the same with passing the stitch over. I had to be sure that any slanted decreases went the direction that they should.

This particular pattern also had a change of direction so that it would fold nicely at the top of the cuff. To accomplish that I purled a row, then knitted a row, and then began with the first row of the pattern which was a purl row. There was also a bobble involved in the pattern and I adapted those directions, by working the bobble in the row above the one it appeared on in the directions. This worked out fine.

The first pair that I did was in a variegated thread and didn't show off the lace well, but the second pair looks great with its contrasting cuff. In fact one of the socks is sitting at my favorite yarn store for people to admire.

If you have ever wanted to work a lace pattern in the opposite direction these directions might give you a basic idea of how to do it. It is at least a starting place. I think it worked out well. There are many lace kitting instructions available for you to admire or attempt. I hope this will increase their usefulness. Be brave, try to expand your horizons. You can always start over if you hate it. But you will have learned something in the mean time.