Wish: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

I’ve started being able to post another knitting stitch pattern each month, thanks to my Patreon supporters. For this mid-month post, I used a random number generator to pick a word out of what I call my word hoard: the list of words that supporters past and present have suggested for me to encode as knitting stitches. This month’s word for the middle of the month is Wish, suggested by Nim.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. A random number generator helps me choose the word of the month, 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.

Wish: a free lace knitting stitch pattern, by Naomi Parkhurst

Wish: a free lace knitting stitch pattern, by Naomi Parkhurst
click to enlarge

Notes:

  • This is a stitch pattern such as might be found in a stitch dictionary. This is not a pattern for a finished object. You will need to add selvedges or some other form of knitted stitches to either side.
  • Wish is a multiple of 16 + 1 stitches and 16 rows.
  • I’ve made a stitch map for it.
  • Designers, please feel free to use it in your patterns. I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
  • If you like my posts like this, please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating with my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. Thanks!

Abbreviations:

  • cdd: centered double decrease: slip the next 2 stitches as if to knit 2 together, knit the next stitch, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over the third.
  • k: knit.
  • k2tog: knit 2 stitches together as if they were 1. (Right-leaning decrease)
  • p: purl.
  • ssk: slip each of the next 2 stitches as if to knit, then knit them together through the back loop. (Left-leaning decrease)
  • yo: yarnover.

Row 1 (RS): *p1, k2, k2tog, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, ssk, k2; work from *, p1.
Row 2 and all WS rows: k1, *(p7, k1) x 2; work from *.
Row 3: *(p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 tbl, yo, ssk, k1) x 2; work from *, p1.
Row 5: *(p1, k2tog, yo, k1 tbl, k1, k1 tbl, yo, ssk) x 2; work from *, p1.
Row 7: *p1, ssk, yo, cdd, (k1, yo) x 2, p1, (yo, k1) x 2, cdd, yo, k2tog; work from *, p1.
Row 9: *p1, k3, yo, ssk, k2, p1, k2, k2tog, yo, k3; work from *, p1.
Row 11: *(p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 tbl, yo, ssk, k1) x 2; work from *, p1.
Row 13: *(p1, k2tog, yo, k1 tbl, k1, k1 tbl, yo, ssk) x 2; work from *, p1.
Row 15: *p1, (yo, k1) x 2, cdd, yo, k2tog, p1, ssk, yo, cdd, (k1, yo) x 2; work from *, p1.

Encoding explanation for the curious:

The first thing I did was to turn the letters of wish into numbers, using base 6: 35 13 31 12. (I picked base 6 because I liked the resulting charts.)

Then I charted them in various ways, and picked this one:

wish lace process 1

Here’s how I charted it, using my method 4. I start in the bottom right corner and work from right to left since knitting goes from right to left. (This is arbitrary, really, but I like to be consistent.)

The first digit of wish is 3, so I count three squares. Then I fill the next square with black to show that I counted 3 for the first digit. The next digit is 5, so I count 3 squares, and… oops! No more room on this row. However, I jump up to the right end of the next row tofinish counting 4 and 5, and mark the next available square with black. The third digit is 1 so I count one square and mark the next. And so on and so forth. The blank square in the upper left doesn’t matter for the code, since there’s not a black square at the end to indicate that it’s been counted.

wish lace process 2.png

Once I marked out this grid, I mirrored it along the vertical axis. To eliminate double YOs, and to make it a good set of proportions for certain kinds of designs, I added some purl columns as borders. Then I added wrong side rows, replaced each black square with a yarnover, and spent a lot of time swatching to figure out where I wanted to place the decreases required to make a standard rectangular stitch pattern from the charts. Finally, I added another repeat of the pattern vertically, but offset halfway to add visual interest.