Phoenix: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

This month, the random number generator chose phoenix, suggested by Sara on Patreon.

Each month, my Patreon backers have the chance to suggest words for me to encode as knitting stitches. A random number generator helps me choose the word of the month, and then I get to work, first turning the letters into numbers, then charting the numbers onto grids in various ways. Finally, when I make the chart into lace, I turn the marked squares into yarnovers and work out where to place the corresponding decreases. (I usually make lace; occasionally I make cables instead.) I also make a chart for any craft that uses a square grid for designing; this goes in a separate post.

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.
• The beads are optional; replace them with k1 if not desired.
• Phoenix is a multiple of 24+24 stitches and 8 rows.
• I’ve made a stitch map for it.
• 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:

• CDD: centered double decrease: slip the next 2 stitches as if to knit 2 together, knit the next stitch, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over the third.
• k: knit.
• kb: place bead on next stitch and then knit it.
• k2tog: knit 2 stitches together as if they were 1. (Right-leaning decrease)
• k3tog: knit 3 stitches together as if they were 1. (Right-leaning double 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)
• sssk: slip each of the next 3 stitches as if to knit, then knit them together through the back loop. (Left-leaning doubl decrease)
• yo: yarnover.

Row 1 (RS): yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k3tog, k1, yo, kb, yo, k2, k2tog, *ssk, k2, yo, kb, yo, k1, sssk, yo, ssk, k1, yo x 2, k1, k2tog, yo, k3tog, k1, yo, kb, yo, k2, k2tog; work from *, ssk, k2, yo, kb, yo, k1, sssk, yo, ssk, k1, yo.
Row 2 (WS): p12, *p11, (k1, p1) in double yo, p11; work from *, p12.
Row 3: k4, yo, ssk, k3, yo, k1, k2tog, *ssk, k1, yo, k3, k2tog, yo, k8, yo, ssk, k3, yo, k1, k2tog; work from *, ssk, k1, yo, k3, k2tog, yo, k4.
Row 4: purl.
Row 5: k1, cdd, yo x 2, kb, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo x 2, *ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, kb, yo x 2, cdd, k2, cdd, yo x 2, kb, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo x 2; work from *, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, kb, yo x 2, cdd, k1.
Row 6: p2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7, *(k1, p1) in double yo, p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7; work from *, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p2.
Row 7: k2tog, yo, k4, sssk, yo x 2, k2tog, yo, k1, *k1, yo, ssk, yo x 2, k3tog, k4, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k4, sssk, yo x 2, k2tog, yo, k1; work from *, k1, yo, ssk, yo x 2, k3tog, k4, yo, ssk.
Row 8: p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p3, *p3, (k1, p1) in double yo, p14, (k1, p1) in double yo, p3; work from *, p3, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7.

 

Encoding explanation for the curious:

The first thing I did was to turn the letters of phoenix into numbers, using base 6: 24 12 23 05 22 13 40. (I picked base 6 because I liked the resulting charts.)

Then I charted the numbers in various ways, and picked this one because I thought it might make good lace. Here’s how I made the chart:

I started in the bottom right corner of the chart and worked to the left. The first digit of p is 2, so I counted two squares and then marked the next square to the left. The next digit is 4, so I started to count four squares, but I ran out of room after one square. So I jumped to the right end of the next line and finished counting: 2,3, and 4. Then I marked the next square.  I continued this way until I got to the first zero – the trick to zeroes is to count no squares, and then mark the next one. There are three blank squares left over in the top row, but they don’t count as part of the code because there’s no marked square to their left.

Once I finished the chart, I mirrored it in both directions.

Then I rotated it by a quarter, and kept only the top half, because I thought that a chart that’s 24 stitches by 8 rows (including plain wrong side rows) would be good for crescent shawls, but an 8 stitch by 24 row pattern might be less helpful for anything but rectangles.

Finally, I replaced the black squares with YOs and spent time swatching to figure out where to put the decrease lines.