38. Untitled Edging

This is another pattern our Victorian knitter copied down in her sample book without including its name. Two rows of ladder eyelets run along the top. Slightly overlapping raised leaves, worked in stockingnet and offset by a narrow band of reverse stockingnet above and below the motifs, are laid end to end. The contour of the leaves tends to pull the eyelet rows into a soft curve, which can be enhanced or discouraged in the blocking process. Again with this pattern we see the tendency of 19th Century designers to use K2tog on both sides of a tapering motif, where a modern lace knitter would employ balanced decreases. The lower garter stitch portion of the design might make a good Rorschach test-- I see sideways Christmas trees and pawprints...

After a big jump in the first row due to the double yarn overs, the stitch count rises steadily as the leaf widens, from 22 to 33 by row 8. Some of the added stitches are bound off in rows 9 and 11, before more double yarn overs increase the count again. From row 16 on, the tapering of the leaf tip decreases the stitch count evenly, and the last few added stitches are cast off in the final row of the 20-row repeat, creating the smaller notch along the lower edge.

You can download the full-size chart, verbal instructions and notes here.

Next week: Loose Ends