Lost Arts studio

A lot of the fiber arts I enjoy are things like tatting, netmaking, chair caning, and even weaving, where people will come up to me when I demonstrate and solemnly tell me, "That's a lost art."

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08 June 2006

Old Shale Pattern on a Single Rake

I know I haven't posted much about frame knitting lately, but Cindy's post over on Knit for joy! gives me the ideal excuse, and a quick post topic for today.

Someone on one of the many frame knitting (rake knitting, peg-frame knitting) Yahoo groups had asked how to knit a ripple pattern. Here is one way that can be done:

If you are looking for a ripple pattern that resembles the traditional"Old Shale" (also called "Old Shell" and "Feather and Fan") knitting pattern seen here as a shawl,

http://www.planetshoup.com/easy/knit/shawl_oldshale.shtml

you are in luck! This is a lace pattern that is possible to do on a frame, as the increases (empty pegs) equal the decreases (pegs with two loops).
Another nice thing about it is that you have one row of moving loops, and three rows of *not* moving them.

The most difficult part is getting the loops to move to where they need to go. Isela's suggestion for cables (wrapping twice around each peg) will probably give you enough slack if you find the loops will not stretch to their new peg.

Two-needle directions for Old Shale (Feather and Fan):
Row 1: Knit across.
Row 2: Purl across.
Row 3: *(K2tog) 2 times, (yo k1) 4 times, (K2tog) 2 times.*
Repeat from * to * across row.
Row 4: Knit across (forms purl ridge on front).

Single rake directions for Old Shale (Feather and Fan):
Row 1: Wrap and knit across.
Row 2: Wrap and knit across.
Row 3: *(K2tog) 2 times, (yo k1) 4 times, (K2tog) 2 times.*
Repeat from * to * across row. (see "translation" below)
Row 4: Purl across (forms purl ridge on front).

Translation for Row 3, a 12-peg (12-stitch) repeat, pegs numbered from 1 to 12, from left to right.

First, move the loops as follows.
Second, wrap one plain row and knit off. (If peg is empty, just wrap it and leave it. If peg has two loops, knit off as usual. If peg has three loops, knit off both bottom loops.)

Move loop 2 onto peg 1.
Move loops 3 AND 4 onto peg 2.
Peg 3 = empty
Move loop 5 onto peg 4.
Peg 5 = empty
Leave loop 6 on peg 6.

Now the right-hand end:
Move loop 11 onto peg 12.
Move loops 9 AND 10 onto peg 11.
Move loop 8 onto peg 10.
Peg 9 = empty
Move loop 7 onto peg 8.
Peg 7 = empty

Wrap very loosely. If you find the loops are way too tight, make an extra turn around the head of each peg to give yourself the extra length.

Another note: the directions above (12 stitches/pegs) give you an extra plain knit stitch (loop 8 on peg 10) that *personally* I think looks funny.
Alternatively, you could use 11-stitch repeats and move the stitches this way:

Alternate right-hand end (11-stitch repeat):
Move loop 10 onto peg 11.
Move loops 8 AND 9 onto peg 10.
Peg 9 = empty
Move loop 7 onto peg 8.
Peg 7 = empty


Learning to knit lace patterns on a knitting frame really helped me see what was going on in lace knitting, and I learned to treat instructions like "slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over" as one peg or one stitch. (On a knitting frame, this translates to "stack 2 stitches on one peg".) It also helped me to see how stitches leaned one way or the other, because on the frame, the loops lean after you move them.

Questions? Ask me on the Yahoo frame knitting group!

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