"Feather and Fan" AND "Old Shale"

Recently, I was browsing through a Japanese stitch dictionary and noticed a

pattern that resembled the well-known Feather and Fan. I thought it was an interesting variation and started thinking of other ways to vary the pattern stitch.

When I looked at the chart, though, I realized it actually had a different structure than Feather and Fan. Nevertheless, my train of thought was already pulling out of the station, and I decided to explore the ways Feather and Fan could be varied. That puts me in good company; Barbara Walker writes about the ways the pattern might be changed about, and other Japanese stitch dictionaries in my collection show some really unexpected variations.

I also found out that the stitch that most of the knitting world calls Feather and Fan isn't actually Feather and Fan! The beautiful, rolling, rippled pattern is more properly known as Old Shale. Feather and Fan is different.(For an in depth discussion, see here.) However, it is easy to see how they are related and how one might have been derived from the other. Some of my potential variations probably will be closer in structure to Feather and Fan than to Old Shale.

Basically, in Old Shale a number of yarn overs are grouped together and an

equivalent number of decreases are also grouped together. This forms the signature peaks and valleys of the stitch. Often, a reverse stockinette stitch row or a color change is thrown in to emphasize the wavy lines.

I started with two variations (called Feather and Fan) I found at knittingfool.com. In both cases the pattern row is Row 3. In Feather and Fan 1, the decreases are all k2togs (ie. not mirror-imaged)and Row 4 is worked as a reverse stockinette row. You can see both in the full swatch and in the closeup how the purl bumps travel along in waves. In Feather and Fan 2, the decreases are purled and Row 4 is worked as a stockinette row. This means that the increase columns are not interrupted by purls and so have a more open look. In this version, the decreases are mirror-imaged, three p2togs and three p2togs through the back loop. (I found the p2togs-b exceptionally difficult to execute, so I switched them to SSPs.)

Well, that's it for now! Until next time.