Saturday, December 12, 2009

Lace Twist-Stitch Argyle Pattern: Chart, Directions, Stitch Key

By Kind Request

One of my beloved commenters requested a stitch pattern for the "Lace Twist-Stitch 'Argyle' Pattern" (please, for the love of Pete, think of a better name). I created this pattern a while ago, and knitted it from a rough diagram whose mysterious symbols were known only to me. With this post and the accompanying PDF files (see below) I hope I've given the instructions in a shape that other people can follow.
Lace Image by fuzzyjay via Flickr
The goal in designing this fabric was to see if I could line up the twist stitches with the yarnovers in an interesting and pleasing way, using texture to give an argyle effect that's usually given with color. (Somebody, please, make some socks from this pattern!) To get the columns of stitches to line up right, I had to do some fancy twist-stitches and twist-decreases, so I made them up. I've actually used them for other fabrics, such as the Double Lattice Pattern, which see. In addition to using twist stitches of my own unvention, of course I use idiosyncratic charting methods. (What would the world be with only five thousand charting methods?) I use only one square for the symbol for twist stitches, since to me it shows better how the stitch columns line up in the fabric. Diagramming them this way definitely made designing the fabric easier.  If it helps to keep track, the stitch key's right column shows for all of the chart symbols the number of loops used from the row before and the number of loops that result from working each symbol.

Stitch-Pattern Diagram

Close-up Fabric Photograph

Lace "Argyle" pattern

Written-out Directions

Cast on a multiple of 12 stitches plus 1. Stitch count varies. Stitch abbreviations are explained in the stitch key below.
Row 1: (And all wrong-side rows.) Purl.
Row 2:LT, *k4, YO-k1b-YO, k4, LT3, repeat from *, ending last repeat with LT.
Row 4: K1, *LT, k1, k2tog, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, ssk, k1, RT, k1, repeat from* to end of row.
Row 6: K2, *LT-dec, YO, k3, YO, RT-dec, k3, repeat from *, ending last repeat with k2.
Row 8: K1, *k2tog, YO, LT, k3, RT, YO, ssk, k1, repeat from * to end of row.
Row 10: K2tog, *YO, k2, LT, k1, RT, k2, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, repeat from *, ending last repeat with ssk.
Row 12: K1b-YO, *k4, RT3, k4, YO-k1b-YO, repeat from *, ending last repeat with YO-k1b.
Row 14: K2tog, *YO, ssk, k1, RT, k1, LT, k1, k2tog, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, repeat from *, ending last repeat with ssk.
Row 16: K2, *YO, RT-dec, k3, LT-dec, YO, k3, repeat from *, ending last repeat with k2.
Row 18: K2, *RT, YO, ssk, k1, k2tog, YO, LT, k3, repeat from *, ending last repeat with k2.
Row 20: K1, *RT, k2, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, k2, LT, k1, repeat from * to end of row.
Repeat rows 1-20.

Stitch Symbol Key

Symbol Stitch name/Stitch operation Loops used from row below, loops resulting
image Yarn over (YO).
0-1
image Yarn over, knit-1-back, yarn over (YO-k1b-YO). 1-3
image Knit-1-back, yarn over (k1b-YO). 1-2
image Yarn over, knit-1-back (YO-k1b). 1-2
image Knit 1 (k1). 1-1
image Knit 2 together (k2tog). 2-1
image Slip-Slip-Knit (ssk): Slip 2 as if to knit, insert left needle into front of stitches just slipped, and knit the 2 stitches together. 2-1
image Slip 1 as if to knit, knit 2-together, pass slipped stitch over the stitch just made (sl1-k2tog-psso). 3-1
image Right Twist (RT): Knit 2-together, then knit again into the first stitch on the left needle before withdrawing left needle. 2-2
image Left Twist (LT): Slip 2 as if to knit, return to left needle, Knit 1-back into 2nd stitch from end of left needle, then Knit 2-together through back loops before withdrawing left needle. 2-2
image Right 3-3 Twist (RT3): Slip 2 as if to knit, then transfer back to left needle by inserting left needle from right to left into both stitches at once and withdrawing the right needle. (Counting from the end of the left needle, the stitch order was 1-2-3, and now it's 2-1-3.) Knit 3 together, yarn over, knit 2 together before withdrawing left needle. 3-3
image Left 3-3 Twist (LT3): Slip 1 as if to knit, slip 2 as if to knit 2-together. Return the 3 stitches to the left needle, then knit 2-together through the back loops of the 2nd and 3rd stitches on the left needle, yarn over, then knit 3 together through the back loops of all three stitches before withdrawing left needle. 3-3
image Right-Twist Decrease (RT-dec): Slip 2 as if to knit, then transfer back to left needle by inserting left needle from right to left into both stitches at once and withdrawing the right needle. (Counting from the end of the left needle, the stitch order was 1-2-3, and now it's 2-1-3.) Knit 3 together, then knit 2 together before withdrawing left needle. 3-2
image Left Twist Decrease (LT-dec): Slip 1 as if to knit, slip 2 as if to knit 2-together. Return the 3 stitches to the left needle, then knit 2 together through the back loops of the 2nd and 3rd stitches on the left needle, then knit 3-together through the back loops of all three stitches before withdrawing left needle. 3-2

PDF is a nice format. I like it.

If you'd like to preview the PDF file (better by far than this web page for printing), follow this link to view a preview on my Posterous blog. And if you'd like to skip a step and directly download the PDF file to look at or print, just download the PDF with diagram, instructions and stitch symbol key to "Lace and Twist-Stitch 'Argyle' pattern." (97k)  If you do make anything out of this, I would love to see it. So far, I've made only swatches.

Speaking of exotic charting methods

I've got a million of them. Here's one I posted before. Stop me if you've seen these:
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19 comments:

  1. Man, I love this! Thank you for posting!

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  2. Sock challenge accepted.  Though I may make a baby blanket first.  This looks like it would make an extraordinary baby blanket.  Will send pictures, though it might be a while.  Thank you for sharing!  Your work is beautiful.

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  3. Help! I love this stitch pattern but what do you mean by knit-1 back?

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  4. Never mind! Figured it out. :)

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  5. Kate Vanover2/28/2012 2:41 PM

    Truly amazing, thank you for sharing this!!

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  6. Beatle_Babe324/15/2012 4:47 PM

    By "knit 1 back", do you mean to knit 1 through the back loops? Or do you mean to knit one below? I tried searching the term "k1b" on youtube and the only thing that would come up was knit one below. 

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  7. Beatle_Babe324/15/2012 4:53 PM

    I'm also a bit confused with the number of stitches involved in the cast on. You say to do a multiple of 12, plus one. Well, looking at it for even just an individual set, that'd be 13, correct? Looking at row two (since 1 is just purling)...
    LT would take 2 stitches, then k4 (so up to 6), YO-kb1-YO brings us to 7, then another k4 (11), LT3 (14), and then another LT brings us to 16 stitches. Either I'm very confused on how some of these stitches are meant to work, or there's a mistake in the cast on number of stitches... I've tried approaching this pattern in a number of different ways and it doesn't seem to work, no matter what I do. :(

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  8. Yes, knit 1 back means knit 1 through the back loop(s). Here's a video for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjZl_aIMNmQ 

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  9. I suggest just casting on and trying it. I did say the stitch count varies. If you get stuck after actually trying to knit, let me know what seems off and I'll try to figure out what went wrong.

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  10. So pretty! Thank you for sharing.

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  11. How do you feel about designers using your stitch pattern with a note in the credits?

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  12. I love this stitch! If I turned it into a shawl and offered it on Ravelry for free, would you be okay with that? I'll definitely include a credit to you!

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  13. I am happy about that! Please include my name (Jay Petersen) and a link to the blog (fuzzyjay.blogspot.com is fine).

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  14. You can even charge for it, if you want. Please give credit as above (my name and a link to the blog, fuzzyjay.blogspot.com).

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  15. Lovely pattern! Can't wait to try it out. I'm a bit confused on how to proceed though, because I knit left-handed.  Lefties knit left to right instead of right to left, so would everything be reversed for left-handed knitters? Would a righty's left-twist be a lefty's right twist because it is coming from the other direction? 
    Thanks for sharing!

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  16. I think, no matter how you create the stitches, you would want to end up with the same result. A left-twist is a left-twist whether you work the _row_ from right to left, as a righty does, or if you work the row from left to right.

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  17. Amanda Clark5/30/2013 8:44 PM

    I just love this stitch pattern. I put a seed stitch border around it and I'm knitting myself a blanket

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  18. EXCELLENT! I want to apologize to everybody for the dead link to the PDF files. I forgot that Posterous went out of business and took my files with it.

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  19. Thanks for this lovely pattern!


    I'm having trouble knitting up a swatch. I cast on 13 stitches and ended up 3 stitches short on the second row. Am I correct that it takes 2 stitches to do the LT, 1 stitch to do the Yo-k1b-YO, and 3 stitches to do the LT3? I tried casting on an extra three stitches, but ended up 3 stitches over by row 4. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?

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