Hobbit Day: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
22 September is Hobbit Day because it is the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. I therefore encoded 22-9 as a stitch pattern and present it to you here as one of my geek holidays stitches.
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.
- Hobbit Day is a multiple of 8+8 stitches and 16 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 this post, please donate what you can to disaster relief.
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: yarnover.
Row 1 (RS): k1, k2tog, yo, k1, *k1, yo, ssk, k2, k2tog, yo, k1; work from *, k1, yo, ssk, k1.
Row 2 (WS): purl.
Row 3: k2tog, yo, k2, *k2, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k2; work from *, k2, yo, ssk.
Row 4: purl.
Row 5: k4, *k3, 1/1 RC, k3; work from *, k4.
Row 6: purl.
Row 7: 1/1 LC, k2tog, yo x 2, *ssk, 1/1 RC, 1/1 LC, k2tog, yo x 2; work from *, ssk, 1/1 RC.
Row 8: p3, *(k1, p1) in double yo, p6; work from *, k1, p4.
Row 9: k1, yo, ssk, k1, *k1, k2tog, yo, k2, yo, ssk, k1; work from *, k1, k2tog, yo, k1.
Row 10: purl.
Row 11: k2, yo, ssk, *k2tog, yo, k4, yo, ssk; work from *, k2tog, yo, k2.
Row 12: purl.
Row 13: k3, 1/1 LC, *k6, 1/1 LC; work from *, k3.
Row 14: purl.
Row 15: yo, ssk, 1/1 RC, *1/1 LC, k2tog, yo x 2, ssk, 1/1 RC; work from *, 1/1 LC, k2tog, yo.
Row 16: p4, *p3, (k1, p1) in double yo, p3; work from *, p4.
Hi thank you for the lovely pattern! I was wondering, how is the 22-9 encoding represented? Is it some sort of binary conversion or the way certain things repeat? I’m new to lacework so thanks for any info!
Oh, it’s a method I came up with on my own – it’s not a standard lacework thing. If you think of a knitting chart as graph paper, then you can graph numbers on it in a variety of ways. I have several different methods I pick from depending on my starting numbers. This is the method I used, starting with a four-column chart: https://gannetdesigns.com/2016/07/25/laying-out-the-numbers-on-a-rectangular-grid-method-4/