Throw this leafy triangle around your neck or wrap it with
a pin, add fringe or leave it plain. Any way you chose, you’ll
find this easy lace pattern addictive. Since it looks great
in any yarn weight you’ll definitely be knitting more
than one. The secret is to use larger needles than recommended
for the yarn, maybe 2 sizes, maybe 4, depending on the body
of your chosen yarn.
Spinners will love the scrumptiousness of Three Waters Farm
Blue Face Leicester/Tussah Silk fiber, shown here in Canyonlands.
The body and luster of this fiber make it perfect for lace yarns,
and the colorway is, dare we say, indigenous, natural, chameleonesque.
The Three Waters Farm Organic Merino Sport would also work very
nicely.
The pattern is built on tiers of alternating bee stitch
and leaf stitch squares. Easily memorized,
this pattern can be repeated to form any size triangle. Suggested
yardage is included for two versions.
After
the setup triangle, each tier begins the same way, with a right
hand bee triangle and a leaf square. The first tier finishes
with a left hand bee triangle. The second tier inserts a
pair of bee/leaf squares. Each successive tier inserts one
more pair of squares. Separate each square with stitch markers
and it’s a cinch to keep your place in the pattern.
model: Lauren
Cabe photos:
Lynne
Vogel
SIZE
One
(final size determined by yarn, gauge
and number of tiers knitted)
Commercial version:
Width: 72 inches
Length: 25 inches, without fringe
MATERIALS
Fiber
Three
Waters Farm [75% BFL/25% tussah silk; handpainted
top, approximately 375 yds without fringe,
425 with fringe]; color: Canyonlands (rust/lilac);
4 ounces
Finished Yarn
Wraps
per inch: 18
Yardage
used: 425 yards
Drafting Method
Short
forward draw
Commercial Yarn Alternative
Plymouth Yarn Dye for Me “baby llama glow”] [95%
baby llama, 5% Stellina; 273 yd/m per 125g skein]; color: natural (undyed);
2 skeins
Recommended needle size [always use a needle size that
gives you the gauge listed below --
every knitter's gauge is unique] Handspun
version: 1
24 inch US #8/5 mm circular needle Commercial
version:1
24 inch US #10/6 mm circular needle
crochet hook, 1-2 sizes smaller than knitting
needles used: Handspun
version: US G/6 crochet hook Commercial
version: US I/9 crochet hook
stitch
markers
GAUGE
Handspun:
16 sts/28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette
stitch
9 sts/18 rows = 3 inches in leaf pattern
stitch
Commercial:
14 sts/24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette
stitch
12 sts/24 rows = 4 inches in leaf pattern
stitch
PATTERN NOTES [Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]
Bee Stitch
Bee stitch is almost as easy as
garter stitch. On the right side
of the work, you alternate k1, k1b.
On the wrong side you knit. Every
odd row, you alternate the stitches you knit below (k1b,
k1).
K1b [Knit 1 below]: Knit into the stitch
below the stitch on the needle. When
you slide the stitch off, the old
stitch will lay as a float on top of the
knitted stitch.
Ripping out
This stitch is really easy to knit,
but can be a little challenging to rip out. Let’s
talk about the stitch anatomy first. Work two rows of bee.
Now you are at the beginning of a
right side row. Pull down on your fabric a little and you
can see that the stitches that you knit below two rows
previous will have a double strand (DS). Stitches you knit
normally only have one single strand (SS). The easiest
way to keep your place when knitting bee stitch is
to look for the DS stitch. Knit the stitch above the DS
stitch as a normal knit stitch, then knit below on the
stitch above the SS stitch.
If you make a mistake and catch it early enough, just
unknit and reform your stitches as you go.
If you have to rip out a lot, then make sure you rip so
that you put the ws row back on the
needles. Since this row is a simple knit row, you won’t
have to worry about any double strands
from knitting below and it will be easy to find each stitch.
You might want to practice by ripping out your sample swatch
to get the hang of it.
Single Crochet/K2tog Bind Off
Knit two stitches, place both stitches
back on left hand needle, k2tog through the back of the
loops, [k1 (2 stitches on right hand needle), place both
stitches back on left hand needle, k2tog through the
back of the loops]. Repeat between [ ] until all stitches
are bound off. Leave last loop live to use as first loop
of crochet edging.
Ch: Chain SC: Single crochet
"Knitchet": Working
Crochet With Two Knitting Needles
Don’t crochet? You can get the same look with two
knitting needles.
To start working the crochet edging,
begin with the last loop of your bound off edge.
For each Ch, return stitch to
left hand needle. Knit one.
For each SC, with one stitch
already on your right hand needle, pick
up and knit one stitch into edge as described
in pattern (2 stitches on right hand
needle). Return both stitches to left
hand needle, k2tog through the back of
the loop (1 stitch remaining).
If you’ve got a hook, more traditional crochet instructions
can be found here.
Charts
The charts for this pattern are very large and fit on a letter-sized
page. Click here and print the resulting page.
DIRECTIONS
SHAWL
Work from either the chart or the written instructions,
whichever you prefer.
Tier Three: (Right
Side Bee Triangle, Leaf Square, Bee Square,
Leaf Square, Bee Square, Leaf Square, Left Side
Bee Triangle)
Follow instructions for Tier Two, repeating
directions between pairs of ** twice.
Tier Four: Follow instructions for Tier
Two, repeating
directions between pairs of ** 3 times.
Tier Five: Follow instructions for Tier
Two, repeating
directions between pairs of ** 4 times.
And so forth.
Knit until you have completed desired number of Tiers.
Handspun version has 7 Tiers, commercial version has 8.
Bind off using Single Crochet/K2tog Bind-off (see notes).
FINISHING Crochet around edge as follows:
With RS facing, starting in the upper right
hand corner of the triangle, work one single crochet into each
bound off stitch across to the left hand corner.
In the last stitch of the bind off row,
work [1sc, 2ch, 1sc] into that stitch.
Head down the side, working [ch1, sc1 into
the hole formed from the yarn over] until you reach the bottom
point of the triangle.
In the bottom point work [ch1, sc1 ch2,
sc1, ch1] to turn in the point.
Work [sc1, ch1] up the other side until
you get to the starting point. Join round with a slip stitch.
Turn.
Ch2, sc1 into hole formed by ch in previous
row, [ch1, sc1] to bottom pointWork [ch1, sc1, ch2, sc1, ch1]
to turn in the bottom point.
Work [sc1, ch1] to upper left hand corner.
In the corner stitch, work [sc1, ch2, sc1] to turn in the corner.
Work sc1 in each stitch from previous round
to right hand corner. Turn corner in last stitch by working
[sc1, ch2, sc1, ch1]. Join rnd with slip stitch and finish off.
Fringe (optional):
For a 7-tier shawl, cut 148 10-inch lengths
of yarn (one for each chain stitch in
side of triangle, 4 for point of triangle). For each additional
tier worked, add another 24 lengths.
Pull one 10-inch length of yarn through
each single crochet stitch on side edges
of triangle and fasten with a lark’s
head knot so that you have
a double strand of fringe.
At both top side corners of the triangle, tie three strands
of fringe (two from the first pair and one from the next
working towards the point of the triangle) with an overhand
knot. Working towards the point, take one strand from
each neighboring pair and tie them together with an overhand
knot.
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Eat, sleep, spin, knit, (dye, crochet,
weave, felt) usually with dog attached
and hubby looking on.
You’ll
find more of her patterns in her Etsy
store. She keeps a blog, and
on Ravelry, she's lizzydoone.
Find her on Facebook as "Lynne Vogel Limited Editions".