There is no shortage of hits if you search the Internet for knit lace edgings. One of the best finds started out as a physical one, though. The 1884 Lace Sampler blog documents one knitter's work to replicate the patterns in an 1800's composition book she found in an antiques store. Lucky her and, by extension, lucky us! She has provided us with instructions and charts for a substantial number of lace pattern stitches.
The swatch to the right is "Smyrna Lace". It's a garter stitch-based pattern, so it automatically lays flat. There is a "wrong" side, but it resembles the right side so closely that the pattern is pretty much reversible. My swatch is in #12 perle cotton on - - yup, neglected to write down the needle size again. It's either US 00 or US 000. Be aware that there is an error in the chart: the leftmost double yarnover in Row 16 should be k2tog.
(By the way, you can find a completely different Smyrna Lace Edging at Knitting-and.com. It's another site with about a zillion patterns to tempt you away from loading the dishwasher!)
The lace for the garter is coming along and I was actually going to post about that before this when fate intervened. My May/June Piecework, the annual lace issue, arrived. There is a brief article about a lace sampler book compiled by Mary Elizabeth Greenwall Edie in 1935 and given to the editors by her daughter. They don't seem to have updated or published most of the patterns, yet, but they gave a neat little teaser, the "as is" directions for "Lace No. 10". It didn't take long for me to make a chart (below) and work five repeats of the pattern. My completed piece is at top of the photo with a closeup below. I worked it #8 perle cotton on US 2 (2.75 mm) needles.
The swatch to the right is "Smyrna Lace". It's a garter stitch-based pattern, so it automatically lays flat. There is a "wrong" side, but it resembles the right side so closely that the pattern is pretty much reversible. My swatch is in #12 perle cotton on - - yup, neglected to write down the needle size again. It's either US 00 or US 000. Be aware that there is an error in the chart: the leftmost double yarnover in Row 16 should be k2tog.(By the way, you can find a completely different Smyrna Lace Edging at Knitting-and.com. It's another site with about a zillion patterns to tempt you away from loading the dishwasher!)
The lace for the garter is coming along and I was actually going to post about that before this when fate intervened. My May/June Piecework, the annual lace issue, arrived. There is a brief article about a lace sampler book compiled by Mary Elizabeth Greenwall Edie in 1935 and given to the editors by her daughter. They don't seem to have updated or published most of the patterns, yet, but they gave a neat little teaser, the "as is" directions for "Lace No. 10". It didn't take long for me to make a chart (below) and work five repeats of the pattern. My completed piece is at top of the photo with a closeup below. I worked it #8 perle cotton on US 2 (2.75 mm) needles.  |
| Chart For Lace No. 10 |
Until next time . . .
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