Pillow A Good Place To Practice Making Striped Pattern Projects
As most knitters know, one of the easiest ways to add color is by working in stripe patterns. Whether you make thin stripes or thick ones, it’s simply a matter of changing colors by tying on a new strand of yarn at the beginning of a row. Often you can carry the unworked yarn along the side edge, cutting each time you change colors as the pattern progresses.
Today I’d like to talk about some innovative, unexpected stripes such as those we have used on the pillow back featured here.
When you add a new color on the purl side of the work, you notice that you have both a bar of the old color plus the new color showing. You can use this natural occurrence to your advantage. As our pillow back is done in reverse stockinette stitch with the purl side showing, we have lots of rows in which this happens.
As you work the pillow, you will notice that you create a very nice ticking pattern. If you’d like to try a sample, use three colors (A, B and C). We’ll consider C to be the main color (in our pillow, it’s natural). Cast on any-number of stitches with C. The first wrong-side row is knit with C. To begin the pattern, knit the wrong-side rows and purl the right-side rows as follows:
Work 2 rows with B, 2 rows with C, 2 rows with A, 2 rows with C, etc. Do you see the nice texture pattern that you have created?
Another interesting textural stripe pattern can be produced by working in seed stitch (knit 1, purl 1; then for all following rows, knit the purl stitches and purl the knit stitches). Work two rows in one color and then work another color in seed stitch for two rows. You can work with two or more colors, with or without a main color. If you work with several neutral colors you can make a muted tweed fabric; with brights you will have a colorful, dotty look.
A third type of stripe can be created by working one color in stockinette stitch (knit on the right-side rows and purl on the wrong-side rows) with a contrasting color worked in two rows of garter stitch. To do this, work with the main color to the row that you want to add the contrasting color. Knit the next two rows with the contrasting color. Notice how neatly the garter stitch stripe stands out on the surface.
Still another texture can be made by working a row or two with a divided number of stitches worked in knit and purl stitches. For example, to make short garter stitch lines on your fabric, you might knit the first row with the contrasting color. On the wrong side, knit 5 stitches and purl the next 5 stitches across the row. Vary the number of stitches to change the pattern.
All of the variations given here can be worked over more than two rows if desired. A pillow is an ideal project with which to experiment with stripes or stitch patterns, as it requires no shaping.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: For directions To obtain directions for making the Pillows and Rug Set, send your request for teaflet No. 120395 with $2 and a long, stamped, self-addressed envelope to: The Needleworks, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 419148, Kansas City, MO 64141. Or you may order Kit No. 120395 by sending a check or money order for $39.95 to The Needleworks at the same address. Kit price includes shipping.