#needleworkmonday | Top Down II - Lace Pattern
This week I started my next top-down cardigan, this time using some Rowan baby merino silk double knitting that I picked up in a sale.
I'm trying three variations on the original pattern:
- double knitting instead of chunky or bulky weight.
- a lower neckline.
- filling the panels with a lace pattern.
I found this free dictionary of lace stitches and chose St. John's Wort which is worked over six stitches and four rows. It looked very pretty and very simple.
Source One note of caution: it is important to work a purl row for every knit row to maintain the number of stitches. In the knit row, one stitch in each set of six stitches is slipped over the two knitted stitches following; in the purl row, there's a yarn over between these two stitches.
I did my swatchtape trying out double ribbing, stocking stitch and the St John's Wort lace stitch. I washed the swatch and let it dry naturally before using to work out the numbers of stitches I needed. In the pattern, I'm erring on the side of too few stitches rather than too many, as I'm sure my knitting rhythm will become even more relaxed than in the swatch. You can find out more about swatchtaping in a previous post.
This was my first experiment. This is for an ordinary round neck, transposing the calculations for bulky wool (72 stitches) to double knitting yarn (112 stitches). As this sample was just to check for size, I ddn't knit a neck edging, I just cast on the number of stitches I wanted for the pattern and started increasing with each knit row.
Straightaway, I hit two design questions:
- what kind of increases to use (kfandb; yarn over; M1) and
- whether and how to integrate increases into the pattern.
As it was a lace pattern, I thought I would try yarn over increases: interesting, but I didn't like them! I decided to stick with my tried and tested kfandb.
I couldn't make up my mind whether to keep the lace panel the same size for the length of the garment/sleeve, with stocking stitch as a border; whether to start the pattern repeats once I had six more stitches or whether to bring the increases into the pattern as soon as I could. In the end I decided I wanted the pattern to be all over.
Here's the final garment with the lower neckline, knitfandb increases and all over pattern. I used the previous sample to decide where to start the new neckline and how many stitches to cast on (192 stitches).
To give a bit more structure to the neckline, I cast on 180 pattern stitches (166 ribbing stitches and 14 button band stitches, 7 at either end, worked in garter stitch) and worked five rows in k2;p2 rib, with the first buttonhole worked in the third row (knit 3, yarn over, k2tog, k2).
In the sixth row, worked purlwise, I increased by 12 stitches, using the M1 method to make the 192 stitches to start the pattern increases. I'm interested how the increases will work out. At present, I'm increasing on every knit row.
I'm really pleased with how this is working so far. I was thinking that I would like to try a few samples with colour work - either in stripes, perhaps with fake Fair Isle patterning or intarsia. I've avoided intarsia until now as it looks complicated and I wonder how difficult it would be to maintain an even tension. On the other hand, Kaffe Fassett has made an art out of it:
![image.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/shanibeer/uov377ye-image.png)
Source Visit Kaffe's website for lots more gorgeous colour patterns.
The yarn colour is lovely, and it looks as if it drapes wonderfully. I think I have written it already, I mostly use M1 left or M1 right for the raglan increases, but I am not ambitious with my increases :-DDD
And I looooove the lace pattern. Your decision to integrate the increases into the lace pattern as fast as possible is great, as it keeps the rhythm better. I would imagine that knitting parts of the raglan lines in stockinette could be too busy (I am not sure if I used the right vocabulary).
Do you have a plan for the body? Will you knit it tailored, boxy or in A-line?
It was the colour that attracted me :)
I thought the lace panel with stocking stitch borders would look more formal - not my style!
Not sure about the body yet, I want to see how it feels when I get to that stage. Maybe A-line ... :)
I have done intarsia but not lace ...or fake fair isle. I haven't heard of that before!! How is it fake?
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Fake fair isle - it creates a pattern that looks like fair isle using slip stitches and only one colour yarn in each row instead of two.
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Huh! Sounds intriguing. :D
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The color and the pattern are so beautiful @shanibeer!! Now I want to have the same one :D
Thank you! It's very pleasing to make. We would look like schoolgirls with matching cardigans 😊
you are always so serious about getting started on a project !!! This is my most disliked moment, even more than removing the ends of the yarn after knitting is over :) because of this, most of my mistakes occur in calculating the required width of a knitted cloth and so on. I really like the color of the yarn - aqua
I agree!!!! I am much too serious :) I think I have learned my lesson that time spent at the beginning of the project is time well-spent ... although sometimes, I just run into things without thinking hehe!
I love that you are trying out different variations of the pattern! It’s so beautiful, I love lacey stitches! I too love that color. It looks like your experiment is going well. Your stitch work is lovely as always ;)
Thank you. I am beginning to feel more confident, especially when my experiments work hehe 😊 X
I bet you are! That’s wonderful!! 😄😉
All I can say is that you are doing a great job figuring out how you want to put that together. It is going to be SO nice! I like that lace stitch and it looks perfect for the piece.
Thank you, it's quite exciting!
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Thank you, that is delightful!
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