Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 17:10:58 -0500
From: jimbob@itchy.mi.net
To: Multiple recipients of list <knit@geom.umn.edu>
Subject: Knit: Cable needles and a cool new stitch

     I always use an 8" 3mm double-pointed needle as a cable needle. It
came about by accident, of course; I kept misplacing all my usual
crook-in-the-middle cable needles and finally grabbed a DPN in desperation.
It works really well, because it's long enough to hold onto easily (I used
to just drop the other kind and let it hang, and the I had to pick it back
up again, which slowed me down). I don't think I'd go back to using the
other kind, even if one of them showed up, which seems unlikely.

     A couple of days ago I mentioned a stitch which I apparently invented,
one which resembles filet crochet--which is to say that even though it's
worked with yarn-overs, the holes are perfectly square. Sally Pecor
mentioned something similar in one of the Mary Thomas books, but it's not
constructed the way mine is. So I guess maybe I really, actually and truly
invented something. And now, of course, I will share it with you. Do try
it; it looks really nice and is probably the most open lace you'll ever
see.

     Before I can give you the pattern I have to explain the technique that
makes it work. I call it "knit-through". To work this, insert the RH needle
into the first stitch on the LH needle _purlwise_; then knit the second
stitch on the needle as you normally would, pull the newly knit stitch
through the first stitch, and let both stitches fall off the LH needle. As
you can see, this is very similar to a slip one-knit one-pass slipped
stitch over decrease, but with an important difference; since you didn't
slip the stitch but instead worked inside it, there's no float in back of
the "slipped" stitch. This permits the rows to stretch open without being
bound up by the floats. It's also much faster to work than a sl1-k1-psso
decrease.

     Okay. The filet pattern is as follows:

Over an odd number of stitches;

Row 1 (RS): K2, *yarn over, knit-through*; work between *s to last st, K1.
Row 2 (WS): Purl.

     That's the whole thing. Remember that it opens up enormously, so you
must either cast on _very_ loosely or cast on twice as many stitches as you
need and then P2tog loosely across the row before you begin working the
pattern; otherwise, the cast-on edge will bind unattractively. Block this
very big and don't work it on over-large needles or the columns of knit
stitches will look gappy. It would make a very good summer pullover made in
two large rectangles with garter-stitch welts at the waist and armholes,
and it's so open that you could make it in a few days. Summer's not over
yet.

[...]

Robert Matthews

jimbob@itchy.mi.net

"I have been poked in the eye with an umbrella."
      Edward Gorey, "The Sopping Thursday"


---
This pattern downloaded from Wool Works: the online knitting compendium
http://www.woolworks.org/