Behind The Scenes – Part 2

I hope you enjoyed “dipping your toes” into the pool of advanced cables in Part One.  Part Two will have you diving into the deep end of the pool to discover more advanced cables to enhance our piece.  These intricate cables create a handsome seed stitch diamond pattern set on a background of purl.

Section B begins with a lovely wrapped stitch to anchor the base of the diamonds.  The Wrap 4 is found at the base of each diamond and also in the center where the diamonds adjoin.  This interesting technique gathers several stitches using a cable needle to add charming texture to the fabric.  To execute a Wrap 4,  start by slipping the next four stitches to a cable needle.  Wrap the working yarn yarn counterclockwise around the held stitches ending on the wrong side of the work.  Lastly, knit each of the stitches onto the right hand needle.  I demonstrate the wrapped stitch in my Wrap 3 (4) video.  Please note that the Wrap 3 is demonstrated in the video.  A Wrap 4 is exactly the same, except 4 stitches are slipped to the cable needle instead of 3.

The Wrap Stitch is not only great to use with cables, but it is often found in lace designs.  I used the Wrap Stitch in one section of my Building With Lace book.  The stitch is found in the center of the diamonds seen above.

The diamond shapes in this section of Behind The Scenes are filled with seed stitch, as seen above.  The added texture adds dimension and interest to the center of the diamonds.  To form the seed stitch in the center of the diamond, the traveling cables will now include seed stitch.  Two of the stitches will remain in knit as the framework of the diamond.  The other two stitches will be worked as (p1, k1) to fill the center with a seed pattern.

Rows 3 – 9 contain the seed cables.  Close inspection of the chart illustrates how the stitches work together.  In seed stitch, the knit and purl stitches are arranged in a staggered fashion.  Notice how the stitches in these cables place a purl and knit stitch carefully within the center to maintain the design.

I have chosen abbreviations for these cables that I think will help you to execute them successfully with minimum confusion.

The traveling right leaning seed cable is worked by slipping two stitches to a cable needle and holding them in back.  Next, knit two stitches from the left needle.  Lastly, work the two held stitches from the cable needle as p1, k1.  I abbreviate this cable as BKS.  This is my shorthand for hold stitches to the Back, Knit the next two stitches, Seed the stitches off cable needle.

The traveling left leaning seed cable is worked by slipping two stitches to a cable needle and holding them in front.  Next, work the two stitches from the left needle as p1, k1.  Lastly, knit the two held stitches from the cable needle.  I abbreviate this cable as FSK.  This is my shorthand for hold stitches to the Front, Seed the next two stitches, Knit stitches off cable needle.

Both of the above cables are executed like a standard cable stitch except that one group of the stitches is worked in seed (p1, k1) on the right side.

The cables in Rows 13 – 19 are the BKP and FPK used in Part 1.  The stitches behind the forefront knit stitches are forming the purl background as the cables travel inward.

I have again provided both charted and written instructions for this section.  The cables are color coded in the chart for easy reading.  With four separate cables in the chart, color coding is more helpful than ever!

If working from the written instructions, I recommend color coding the cable abbreviations within each row for easy reading.  The written instructions rely heavily on parentheses.  Remember, any stitches within ( ) are worked the number of times stated by the number following the ( ).

For Section B, work Rows 1 – 20 two times, then work Rows 1 – 12 again for a total of 52 rows.  At the conclusion of Section B, I had 51g remaining in my first skein.  Should your yardage differ dramatically from mine, adjustments will be made in next week’s section.

Speaking of next week, Part 3 is the longest section in the pattern.  Finish up all your other work this week because you will need to have lots of knitting time for the next clue!

Don’t forget to download all of the instructions as they will not be available for free after November 30.

Happy knitting,

Michelle

 

 

BKP (Back, Knit, Purl) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back, knit 2 from left needle, purl 2 from cable needle.

BKS (Back, Knit, Seed) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back, knit 2 from left needle, p1, k1 from cable needle.

cn – cable needle.

FPK (Front, Purl, Knit) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front, purl 2 from left needle, knit 2 from cable needle.

FSK (Front, Seed, Knit) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k1 from left needle, knit 2 from cable needle.

sl – slip. See Slip Stitch Video

wrap 4 – slip next 4 stitches to cable needle, wrap yarn 3 times counterclockwise around held stitches, k4 from cable needle. See Wrap 3 (4) Video

wyif – with yarn in front.