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]
