Guitar: a lace knitting stitch pattern

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The word I drew from the words suggested on Patreon for this post is Guitar, suggested by Jeannette Belle, a Patreon supporter. There are three specific things that please me about this lace.

First, combined with the word guitar, it reminds me of lines of music floating in the air, so even though it doesn’t look like a guitar, there’s still a connection.

Secondly, this particular layout has a fairly minimal set of stitches. All the yarnovers are single; all the decreases are single too. There are some 1/1 cable crosses, but they’re optional. (I do think they improve the appearance.) If you want to simplify this further, you can cut the design in half and knit only the first ten stitches of each right side row. I’ve put a vertical bar like this in the written instructions to indicate where to stop: |.

Third, due to a fluke of the way the yarnovers came out combined with the particular layout method I used, the two halves of the stitch pattern are almost perfectly identical despite some mirroring. I explained this layout coincidence in a separate post; it was a surprise to me. (The short description is that I mirrored the stitch pattern and then did a half-drop on one half of the stitch pattern. A different name for this from mathematics is a kind of symmetry called glide reflection.)

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 which word I will encode from these, 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 made a Guitar charted design for any craft that uses a square grid for designing.

The stitch patterns are not meant in any way to look like the original words; the words are the seeds of my creativity.

Knitted sample of Guitar lace in light blue yarn. Columns of mostly solid knitting with diagonal decrease lines and a few holes in diagonal lines alternate with columns of lots of holes that zigzag upward.
Chart showing how to work Guitar lace by means of special symbols. Written instructions in blog post.
Click chart to enlarge.

Notes:

  • If you’d like, you can cut the chart in half vertically and use only one half to simplify it; all the diagonals in the more solid columns will lean the same way instead of alternating. I’ve marked the halfway point in the written instructions with a vertical bar.
  • 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.
  • Guitar is a multiple of 20 or 20 + 10 stitches and 8 rows.
  • I’ve made a stitch map for Guitar lace.
  • Designers, please feel free to use this in your patterns. I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
  • My blog posts and free stitch patterns are supported by subscriptions on Patreon or donations to my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. If you appreciate my work, please consider helping out. Thanks!

Abbreviations:

  • | : marks the halfway point in the text if you want to just work a ten stitch variant of this with all the diagonals in the more solid column leaning the same direction.
  • 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. (Or substitute your favorite left-leaning decrease)
  • yo: yarnover. Bring the yarn forward between the needles so that it will make a loop over the needle when the next stitch is worked.

Row 1 (RS): *k1, yo, k2tog, k2, 1/1 RC, k1, ssk, yo, | k1, yo, k2tog, k1, yo, ssk, k2, ssk, yo; work from *.

Row 2 (WS): purl.

Row 3: *(yo, ssk) × 2, k3, k2tog, yo, k1, | (yo, ssk) × 2, k1, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k1; work from *.

Row 4: purl.

Row 5: *yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, ssk, yo, k1, | yo, k2tog, k1, 1/1 LC, k2, ssk, yo, k1; work from *.

Row 6: purl.

Row 7: *k1, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k1, (k2tog, yo) × 2, | k1, yo, ssk, k3, (k2tog, yo) × 2; work from *.

Row 8: purl.