Video Tutorial: The Seafoam Stitch

It’s a lot of fun to intentionally drop stitches when you’re knitting. Dropped stitches open up the work without actually increasing or decreasing at all, so it’s a great skill for newer knitters who might be afraid of yarnovers and decreases. I actually just used a simple version of this technique a few weeks ago when I knit my Garter Dropped Stitch Scarf you can check out at About.

Purposefully dropping stitches can get a little fancier than that, though, if you wrap the yarn around the needle more than one extra time and/or use different numbers of wraps on different stitches across the row. That’s how the Seafoam Stitch is made, and it looks like a lot of fun.

You can check out a video of the technique at Knitting Daily. The demo shows it as the edging of a shawl, but wouldn’t it make a great season-shifting scarf or wrap all on its own? For example, this really cute Seafom Scarf from Put a Sock in It?

Have you ever used dropped stitches in a pattern? Spill it!

[Photo by Put a Sock in It.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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