I bought some on-sale yarn. I am so tight I have a really hard time paying full price for anything. It’s just not the way I’m made, I guess. Reuse, recycle, re-purpose . . . and buy on sale or at a discount. Maybe that’s why we have no consumer debt other than our almost-paid-off mortgage. We still do all the stuff we want to do, we just squeak a lot while doing it.
So the beauty of the yarn is it’s recycled denim jeans AND on sale. How could I pass that up? Yeah, I agree, there’s just no way. It was a must buy.
So, on to my story . . . I bought this yarn. And then I saw a picture of a sweater in a print ‘zine where the top was done in a lattice pattern. And I have a jacket pattern I really like. Can you see where this is going? The plan is to knit a sweater using the jacket pattern as my inspiration. I’m ‘hemming’ it in the lattice pattern. Up the front, around the neck, around the bottom of sleeves and body. The trick will be to get the stitch pattern to curve around the neck.
If you like this stitch and want to try it, it’s fairly easy. There are few and fairly simple repeats and mine is just a tiny bit different than the mag pattern.
Cast on multiples of 8 stitches then add 6 more. For four rows (this is your first repeat), purl 6 and knit 2 for the right side row, then knit 6, purl 2 for the wrong side row. Click and the image above so you can see how those first four rows look. On the right side you’ll see two knit then six purl repeated across the work.
Next create the holes where the lattice cross. This is a two row repeat and it’s done between every set of lattice repeats. The idea is to use knit two together and a yarn over to create the hole. Every stitch except those two are knit. So, for the first set of lattice, knit 4, *k2tog (knit 2 stitches together), yo (yarn over), k2 (knit 2), yo, k2tog, k2, repeat from * until last 4 which are knit. Just so I’m really clear, each side of the column of knit stitches has a yarn over. The next stitch outside that is knit two together. All other stitches are knit. The reverse of the row is purl all the way across. I’m explaining this rather than just telling you what to do so you can look at the work and see that, other than the number of knit stitches at the beginning of the row, this “make a hole” row just has to match where the lattice knit rows are placed.
Now we do the shifted lattice. Purl 2, *k2, p6 (purl 6), repeat from * until the last 2 which are purl. Once you’ve done four rows of the shifted lattice, do your two rows that make the holes and start with the first set again. Chart it like this.
oooooovvoooooovvoooooovvoooooovvoooooo (do this four times) vvvvx/vv\xvvx/vv\xvvx/vv\xvvx/vv\xvvvv (do this once) vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv (do this once) oovvoooooovvoooooovvoooooovvoooooovvoo (do this four times)
Then repeat from the top. No, you may not throw rocks at me. This is the way my brain works!
The lattice on my hem will be two sets of lattice for a total of 4 horizontal bands. That’s the plan. It may never gain a grip in reality, but it’s a plan.