A Simple Lace and Cable Stitch Pattern

My love for learning new stitch patterns is well documented (I even just recently wrote a book review about a fun new book full of knitting stitch patterns, The New Knitting Stitch Dictionary).

Lilia Craft Party likes learning about, knitting up and sharing different stitch patterns, too. This one is called knitting stitch no. 19 on her blog, but to me it looks like little candle flames.

It’s made with easy eyelets for the bottom part of the flame and some traveling stitches (also known as cables, though these don’t twist together like cables normally do) that make what you could consider the outside of the flame or even like a little lantern holding the flame.

The trickiest part of this stitch pattern is the knit three together that’s worked at the top of each little flame section. It’s not actually hard, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. If you know how to knit 2 together, a knit 3 together is the same, just worked with three stitches into one instead of two. But it can be a little fiddly, especially on heavier weight yarn.

The sample of the stitch pattern shown above was worked on sock yarn, and this actually would be a fun pattern to add to the leg and top of a sock. The stitch pattern requires a multiple of 10, which would be perfect for me because I tend to use 60 stitches for my socks. You can always make a little swatch to see if the math works out for you, or add a couple of stitches to the back of the leg to make a faux seam that also helps to make the sock a bit bigger.

Lilia Craft Party has the pattern on her website, both written out and as a chart, so you can practice it and then add it to an upcoming knitting project. If you try it I’d love to know what you use it for!

[Photo: Lilia Craft Party]

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

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