Hedgehog: a free lace knitting stitch pattern
This month, the random number generator chose hedgehog, suggested by Hazel on Patreon. Hedgehogs are pretty darn cute, and I’ve always had a soft spot for them.
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. This 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 cable crosses on row 1 are entirely optional, but I think they enhance the bottom point of the V shapes.
- Hedgehog is a multiple of 20+20 stitches and 10 rows.
- I have made a stitch map for it.
- Designers, please feel free to use it 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 RC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at back of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
- 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.
- 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): k3, cdd, yo x 2, k1, k2tog, yo, 1/1 RC, *yo, ssk, k1, yo x 2, cdd, k6, cdd, yo x 2, k1, k2tog, yo, 1/1 RC; work from *, yo, ssk, k1, yo x 2, cdd, k3.
Row 2 (WS): p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4, *p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p8, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4; work from *, p4, (k1, p1) in double yo, p4.
Row 3: yo, ssk, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo x 2, k2tog, *ssk, yo x 2, ssk, k2, ssk, yo, k2tog, yo x 2, ssk, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo x 2, k2tog; work from *, ssk, yo x 2, ssk, k2, ssk, yo, k2tog, yo.
Row 4: p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1, *p1, [(k1, p1) in double yo, p6] x 2, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1; work from *, p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7.
Row 5: k1, yo, ssk, k3, ssk, yo x 2, k2tog, *ssk, yo x 2, k2tog, k3, k2tog, yo, k2, yo, ssk, k3, ssk, yo x 2, k2tog; work from *, ssk, yo x 2, k2tog, k3, k2tog, yo, k1.
Row 6: p7, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1, *p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p14, (k1, p1) in double yo, p1; work from *, p1, (k1, p1) in double yo, p7.
Row 7: k2, ssk, (yo, k1, k2tog) x 2, yo x 2, *(ssk, k1, yo) x 2, k2tog, k4, ssk, (yo, k1, k2tog) x 2, yo x 2; work from *, (ssk, k1, yo) x 2, k2tog, k2.
Row 8: p9, *(k1, p1) in double yo, p18; work from *, (k1, p1) in double yo, p9.
Row 9: k4, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, cdd, yo x 2, *cdd, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k8, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, cdd, yo x 2; work from *, cdd, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k4.
Row 8: p9, *(k1, p1) in double yo, p18; work from *, (k1, p1) in double yo, p9.
Encoding explanation for the curious:
The first thing I did was to turn the letters of hedgehog into numbers, using base 6: 12 05 04 11 05 12 23 11. (I picked base 6 because it had the fewest zeroes.)
Then I laid out the numbers on a grid, like this:
Here’s how I do that. Each letter of hedgehog is two digits. I’m going to use each of those digits to count squares. After counting enough squares for each digit, I’ll mark the next square to the left (though I’ll have to account for line breaks).
I started in the bottom right corner because knitting starts at the bottom right corner. The first digit of h is 1, so I counted one square, and then marked the next square to the left with black. The second digit of h is 2, so I counted two squares and marked the next. The first digit of e is zero, so I counted no squares and marked the next. (I know that’s a little weird, but it’s really the only way to account for zero in this method.) The second digit of e is 5, so I counted five squares – oops, I ran out of space after four, so I had to jump up to the next row to finish.
I kept going in this manner until I’d finished the last digit. there are five squares left over in this grid, but they don’t matter for the code, because there’s no marked square after them; the last marked square shows where the code ends.
Once I made the grid, I mirrored it horizontally, and then I turned all the black squares into YOs and figured out where to place the decreases.