Galaxite: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

Galaxite is the word of the month! It’s a sparkly, dark mineral first found in North Carolina, and I think I need to pester Katherine for a photograph of her sample. Oh, right. Let’s back up a little: each month I pick a word from suggestions provided by my Patreon backers, and encode it as a knitting pattern – lace or cables. (I also make a different chart usable for any craft, just because.) Galaxite was suggested by Katherine, and here we are.

I tried encoding it in base 6, 7, and 8, laid out on rectangles in various configurations, and kept wanting to tear out my hair. Galaxite might be a beautiful mineral, but it was not cooperating with my usual lace design methods. Finally, I remembered that I’d been meaning to experiment with making a stitch pattern that’s suited to a kind of crescent shawl that seems to be popular at the moment – cast on a few stitches, and increase three stitches at each edge every two rows. It turns out that it worked nicely to plug the base 8 version of Galaxite into the flat diamond that tiles to make a good crescent shawl (because of the malleability of knitting). More on those diamonds on another occasion.

Fear not: I am also including a more standard rectangular version.

Notes:

• This is a stitch pattern such as might be found in a stitch dictionary. It is not a pattern for a finished object. You will need to add selvedges or some other form of knitted stitches to either side.
• I’ve rewritten and recharted the instructions as of 6 April 2023; I won’t do this with all my older blog posts, but this post was too much of a mess for me to bear when I found it. Also there was a missing purl stitch in the rectangular chart.
• Galaxite is a multiple of 30 stitches and 10 + 10 rows (crescent chart) and 20 + 10 rows (rectangular chart)
• Here’s how I encoded this.
• I’ve made a stitch map for the crescent chart (PDF) and for the rectangular chart (PDF).
• Designers, please feel free to use this stitch in your patterns. I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
• If you like my posts like this, please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating with my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. Thanks!

Abbreviations:

• 1/1 LC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at front of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
• 1/1 RC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at back of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
• k: knit.
• k2tog: knit 2 stitches together as if they were 1. (Right-leaning decrease)
• p: purl.
• ssk: slip each of the next 2 stitches as if to knit, then knit them together through the back loop. (Left-leaning decrease)
• yo: yarn over.

Crescent chart, to match sample

Note: it might look as if the swatch is upside down in relation to this chart, but it isn’t so – when the crescent is blocked, the last row is curved around, while the two angled sides are made into a straight line (that curves gently after being unpinned). The stitch patterns fan outward.

Instructions do not include selvedges, as there’s more than one way to do them with a crescent shape. However, here’s what I did at my edges (I cast on 12 stitches):

• odd rows: k2, (k1, yo, k1) all in the same stitch, (work row), (k1, yo, k1) all in the same stitch, k2.
• even rows: k1, yo, p4, (work row), p4, yo, k1.

Repeat rows 11-20 as desired (I worked that section a total of 3 times for my swatch, for a grand total of 40 rows from the cast-on). I bound off with JSSBO, with picots over stitch numbers 8, 23, 38, and 53. (how to center a picot over a single stitch.) The alternating points were just pinned out; I hadn’t realized until blocking that they would pin out easily.

Row 1 (RS): k1, k2tog, yo × 2, ssk, k1. (6 sts)

Row 2 (WS): p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2.

Row 3: k3, 1/1 RC, k2, 1/1 LC, k3. (12 sts)

Row 4: purl.

Row 5: k1, ssk, yo, k2tog, yo, (k2tog, yo × 2, ssk) × 2, yo, ssk, yo, k2tog, k1. (18 sts)

Row 6: p6, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p6.

Row 7: k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4, 1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1. (24 sts)

Row 8: p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4.

Row 9: k3, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k2, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k3. (30 sts)

Row 10: p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11.

Row 11: k1, k2tog, *yo × 2, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, k1, yo × 2, ssk, k2tog, yo × 2, k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog; work from *, yo × 2, ssk, k1. (36 sts)

Row 12: p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, *p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11, (k1, p1) in double yo; work from *, p2.

Row 13: k3, 1/1 RC, k1, *k1, 1/1 LC, k7, 1/1 LC, (k2, 1/1 RC) × 2, k7, 1/1 RC, k1; work from *, k1, 1/1 LC, k3. (42 sts)

Row 14: purl.

Row 15: k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, *k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k3, (1/1 LC, 1/1 RC) × 2, k3, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk; work from *, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1. (48 sts)

Row 16: p6, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1, *p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p24, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1; work from *, p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p6.

Row 17: k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4, *1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, k2, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4; work from *, 1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1. (54 sts)

Row 18: p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7, *p5, (k1, p1) in double yo, p14, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7; work from *, p5, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4.

Row 19: k3, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k1, *k1, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k1; work from *, k1, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k3. (60 sts)

Row 20: p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2, *p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p22, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2; work from *, p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11.

Repeat rows 1-20 as desired, ending after either row 10 or 20. I bound off with JSSBO, with picots over stitch numbers 8, 23, 38, and 53. (how to center a picot over a single stitch.) The alternating points were just pinned out; I hadn’t realized until blocking that they would pin out easily.

Row 1 (RS): k2tog, yo × 2, k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog, *yo × 2, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, k1, yo × 2, ssk, k2tog, yo × 2, k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog; work from *, yo × 2, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, k1, yo × 2, ssk. (60 sts)

Row 2 (WS): p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, *p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, 1/1 RC, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11, (k1, p1) in double yo; work from *, p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1.

Row 3: k3, 1/1 RC, k7, 1/1 RC, k1, *k1, 1/1 LC, k7, 1/1 LC, (k2, 1/1 RC) × 2, k7, 1/1 RC, k1; work from *, k1, 1/1 LC, k7, 1/1 LC, k3.

Row 4: purl.

Row 5: 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, k3, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, *k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k3, (1/1 LC, 1/1 RC) × 2, k3, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk; work from *, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k3, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC.

Row 6: p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1, *p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p24, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1; work from *, p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12.

Row 7: k1, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4, *1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, k2, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4; work from *, 1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, k1.

Row 8: p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7, *p5, (k1, p1) in double yo, p14, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7; work from *, p5, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7.

Row 9: 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k1, *k1, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k1; work from *, k1, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC.

Row 10: p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2, *p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p22, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2; work from *, p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11.

Row 11: yo, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, k1, yo × 2, ssk, *k2tog, yo × 2, k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog, yo × 2, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, k1, yo × 2, ssk; work from *, k2tog, yo × 2, k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog, yo.

Row 12: p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1, *p1, ((k1, p1) in double yo, p11) × 2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1; work from *, p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12.

Row 13: k1, 1/1 LC, k7, 1/1 LC, k2, *1/1 RC, k2, 1/1 RC, k7, 1/1 RC, k2, 1/1 LC, k7, 1/1 LC, k2; work from *, 1/1 RC, k2, 1/1 RC, k7, 1/1 RC, k1.

Row 14: purl.

Row 15: k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k3, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, *1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, k3, ssk, yo, k2tog, yo, (k2tog, yo × 2, ssk) × 2, yo, ssk, yo, k2tog, k3, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC; work from *, 1/1 LC, 1/1 RC, k3, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk.

Row 16: p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12, *p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, 1/1 RC, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12; work from *, p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1.

Row 17: k5, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, k1, *k1, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k4, 1/1 RC, k4, ssk, yo × 2, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, k1; work from *, k1, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo × 2, k2tog, k5.

Row 18: p6, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7, *p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p12, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7; work from *, p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p6.

Row 19: k1, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC, *1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k2, k2tog, yo × 2, (ssk, yo) × 2, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k1, 1/1 LC; work from *, 1/1 RC, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, (yo, k2tog) × 2, yo × 2, ssk, k1.

Row 20: p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11, *p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11; work from *, p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2.