Play with a Fun Lace Stitch Pattern

One thing I love about knitting is all the different ways that a relatively small combination of stitches and techniques can make so many different designs.

I have a long-running obsession with stitch dictionaries, even though I tend to use the same basic stitches over and over when I design. It’s still fun to have all those options and to think about how someone came up with all those different patterns.

This one is shared by Lilia on her blog Lilia Craft Party, where she calls is knitting stitch 18. I’m not sure where this one came from or if it has a more descriptive name. She also described it as being like dancing feathers, which is definitely a nicer name!

It reminds me a bit of candle flame stitch (which I used on a cowl a long time ago and the pattern is no longer available so I need to repost that somewhere!) with a zig-zaggy twist, and it is worked in a similar way. This would be a great stitch to use for a shawl or scarf, or just to play with to have in your arsenal.

You can use any kind of yarn weight but Lilia recommends to use sock or fingering yarn and 3.25mm needles. She also suggests using a row counter to help you keep track of where you are in the pattern, since the repeat is long (29 rows) and it could be easy to get lost if you put your work down in the middle.

This might be a good time to use a lifeline, too, if you’re new to lace knitting and want to make it easier to rip back should you make any mistakes. If you don’t use a lifeline and need to rip back, you can thread a needle through the stitches on one of the wrong-side rows (so you’re not trying to pick up yarn overs) and rip back in the same way. The needle or yarn stops the piece from unraveling further than you’d like and makes it easy to put the stitches back on the needle.

If you want to try this stitch pattern, check it out at Lilia Craft Party.

[Photo: Lilia Craft Party]

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Magical Woodland Knits by Clare Garland is a few years old as I write this, but it’s such a fun book I couldn’t resist sharing it. Step into a magical forest full of realistic woodland creatures including rabbit, deer and squirrel, birds and mice, to name a few.

In all there are 12 creatures, and though they are rather small (the wolf is the largest at 14.5 inches/37 cm tall and 18.5 inches/47 cm long), they are so detailed these are definitely not projects for new knitters.

One of the smaller projects, for example, is the robin, at 5/5 inches/14 cm long. It calls for nine different kinds of yarn. Sometimes some are held together, while others are worked with on their own. This pattern only includes three pages of instructions, but the print is rather small and in that time there are six different sets of short rows. None of this makes it too difficult for a knitter with experience reading detailed patterns, working short rows and working with multiple strands of yarn at once, but it’s worth knowing going in that even for small projects you’ll need a lot of supplies and time to work on them.

These are also not meant to be children’s toys, as they can include wires and other supports that could be a danger to little ones.

The process photos often look like taxidermy on a tiny scale, with little animal pelts stretched out and tons of stitch markers showing where and how things go together.

The finished animals are so pretty it’s certainly worth the effort to stitch up these creatures. You might be tempted to make all 12 and set up your own forest scene or use them to decorate your Christmas tree. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

Along the way you’ll also find a little folklore about the animals, charming drawings and pretty photos of the finished animals, too. In the back you’ll find some helpful techniques like picking up stitches, making I-cord and working short rows.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2020 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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