Fuzzy Logic

Symmetrical Single Increase

2022-02-20T18:47:00.001-08:00

When you want to increase one knit stitch to two, there are not many ways to do it that are symmetrical. If you know of any others, let me know!

This way is probably not ideal, but I've seen none others like it.

If you're familiar with the "knit-one-yarn-over-knit-one" increase, that's the first step in this new increase. K1-yo-k1 is what I'll call it from now on.

K1-yo-k1 is a symmetric increase, but you've added two stitches when you work it. The way to turn this into a single decrease is to decrease away (symmetrically) the yarnover on the return row, leaving just two knit stitches symmetrically arranged.

Here is the increase:

Row 1, right side: Work to stitch to be increased. K1-yo-k1 in next stitch. work to end of row.

Row 2, wrong side: Work to increased stitch. Purl 2 together, the knit stitch and the yarnover. Slip the next stitch to the right needle knitwise, and replace on the left needle. Next work a "purl-2-together through back loops" of the stitch just slipped, using that loop and also using the left needle to pick up the left leg of the yarnover (that was just worked together in the first p2tog).

This is brand new, so I don't think the instructions are that great. A video would probably help.

I just wanted to stake my claim on this technique!

Knitting axioms

2022-02-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

Writing about knitting is not like writing about math.

Terms are ambiguous, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not.

A "stitch" is sometimes a loop. Sometimes it is an interaction between loops.

A "course" is a length of yarn pulled through previous loops, creating new loops on the right needle. I'm talking about conventional, right-to-left hand-knitting.

With circular knitting, it's all the same fucking course, man. No, but it is really a spiral with no back-tracking like flat knitting. Or at least, not exclusively back-tracking. Short rounds are a thing, like short rows, I guess.

A great "aha" moment came for me when I realized that a knit stitch is not a loop. Stitches on the needles are loops.

Pulling a loop through a loop is knitting a stitch.

The stitch participates in (usually) at least two courses. Yarnovers are granted an exception.

Suppose you have knitted back-and-forth in one color, in stockinette stitch. Suppose the color is red.

Suppose you knit one course (row) using black yarn.

You break off the red yarn and recommence knitting with red.

The fabric, when you're done, has one "row" of black knit stitches.

Wrong!

The fabric has two rows of knit stitches that are half-black, half red.

You could legitimately say that there is one course knitted with black, but each course of stockinette stitch participates in two rows of knitting.

With few exceptions, each worked stitch participates in at least two courses. Each course is (always) attached to two other courses. Except cast-on or bind-off.

Now when casting on, you're actually creating two courses. With the long-tail cast-on, you are creating a course of e-wraps and a course of loops. The e-wraps are the exception, they are sui generis, not attached to another course at the base. They are their own base.

Every course you knit after that is pulled through a previous course and serves as the base for another course.

Flat, Reversible, Neat Entrelac Joins and Pickups

2015-11-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

There are at least a couple of ways to join entrelac motifs. I like the "magical" way.

Recall that entrelac knitting is knitting with modules (I'll call them squares): small patches of knitting that are either (a) preliminary modules that are unattached to other modules (except by a thread), such as the first row of triangles in traditional entrelac, or (b) subsequent modules that are attached to other modules.

The essence of entrelac is that while you knit you are attaching squares at right angles to previously knit squares. This creates a pleasing effect of strips of knitting that are interlaced, woven together, but without the double-thickness of real interlaced strips of knitting. The only double-thickness in regular entrelac comes when you are joining one square to another. This began to bother me… I was able to figure out the neatest way to pick up stitches for one square from the side edge of another, but not to do the other kind of join, where you are attaching the square-in-progress to another square's live stitches. I eventually solved the puzzle, and while the technique isn't as easy, I believe the results are worth the modicum of extra effort.

I generally start an entrelac square by picking up from an exposed side edge of a previous square. Here is the pickup I use:

The other attachment used in entrelac is done while you knit the square. You attach alternate (or two consecutive) rows of the current square to a live stitch from a previous square. Generally this is done as a decrease… knit to the end of a row to the last stitch and do a decrease using the last stitch of the row and a stitch being held on the needles from a previously made square.

I prefer another way of attaching the side edge as I go, and it’s an adaptation of the “sliding-loop” technique Ric Mondragon first put forth in Knitter's Magazine of February, 1995. He uses the technique for joining strips of knitting parallel to each other as in intarsia, and I use it for joining squares of knitting perpendicular to each other.

While working on Square B, join it to Square A (which is not usually the square you just finished) as follows: On B, work to the end of the row and *work one more stitch from the left needle (off the held live stitches of Square A). Take that “one more” stitch, the loop that was just formed, off the right needle, and open it up by pulling yarn through it to enlarge the loop, and use the yarn of that loop to work back and forth over two consecutive rows, pulling through extra yarn as needed. Then, when the two rows are done being worked, pull the excess yarn back through the “one more” stitch. Repeat from * until all the live stitches are from the Square A have been used. When you have used up all of the live stitches from A, you have worked just enough rows to complete B… no need to count rows…. Yay.

Here is Jolie Elder's video demonstrating the join… she explains it better than I can!

This gives a join that is geometrically the same as the “perfecting the perpendicular pickup” technique. Adds to the magic of your knitting, which is somewhat subliminal, but it’s nice when there’s more symmetry for your efforts.

There are some nice effects that you can do once you know this join. True reversibility in entrelac is possible, and I’ve designed and made several hats that use a ribbed or other motif for entrelac, and they look good on both sides. Note that these hats use only knit and purl stitches. The light-green hat looks like it's cabled, but it isn't. Some really nice relief effects happen with these techniques.

Four reversible-entrelac hats

When a reverse-stockinette square joins a regular stockinette square at right angles, the join is smooth… on both sides… and this is true with both the picking-up join and the sliding-loop one. Magic!

Gauge Swatches and Hats

2013-10-24T10:13:00.001-07:00

Gauge swatches are only useful if you want to fit a hat to a particular head. I give no gauge for most patterns here. Knit the pattern in (a) yarn you like using (2) needles that feel comfortable for that yarn.

If you don't like the way the knitting feels, rip out and start over. This should be pleasant knitting! Use the yarn you like. Vary the needle until the knitting is pleasant! There! There will be no excuses accepted for tight knitting. Use a hugely bigger-diameter needle until you get the fabric you want. I have no control over whether the stitches are tight and won't easily slide over the needles, except to make one gentle admonition... do not squush the stitches together on the 'take-up' needle (usually the Right needle when you are knitting the usual way).

Another way to avoid tight stitches on the 'let-go' needle (usually the Left needle when you are knitting the usual direction) is to use a Smaller Needle on the Let-Go side. Stitches slide off and are taken up gratefully by the Take-Up needle.

Reversible Entrelac knitted swatch (unblocked) movie

2011-03-30T18:38:00.001-07:00

Reversible Entrelac knitted swatch (unblocked) movie a video by fuzzyjay on Flickr.

This is a ribbed entrelac fabric that is reversible. The fabric is the same on both sides, except that the fabric on one side is a mirror image of the other. Just knits and purls, but it does a good impression of a reversible cabled fabric.

reventrelac

2011-03-17T16:12:00.001-07:00

reventrelac, originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

I'm experimenting with entrelac squares that are half-and-half knit and purl. This fabric would look the same on both sides, except it would be mirror-reversed. The pink arrows show the direction of knitting the squares. Black is reverse-stockinette, white is stockinette fabric.

When a stockinette fabric meets a reverse-stockinette fabric across the boundary of an entrelac square, the fabric is continuous, that is, there is no ridge. This gives some interesting effects in the fabric, making it hard for me to predict how a fabric will look once knitted out.

Knitting Stitch Definition

2011-01-19T23:27:00.001-08:00

The definition of a stitch, from The Science of Knitting (Wiley, 1914) by Ernest Tompkins:

A stitch is really the combination of loops from adjoining threads forming a fixed part of the fabric, and the duplication of which forms the whole fabric.

But a stitch is frequently considered to be the length of yarn from any point to an adjoining corresponding point, e.g. from the middle of a sinker loop [running thread, in hand-knitting] to the middle of the next sinker loop.

Carmela Biscuit knits the ribbed entrelac hat

2010-12-26T04:44:00.001-08:00

entrelac-hat, originally uploaded by Carmela Biscuit.

Oh, it's so exciting. Carmela Biscuit knitted this hat from my pattern. I love seeing variations on a theme. This color is beautiful.

"Wrong Side" of ribbed entrelac hat 10 squares

2010-10-19T00:49:00.001-07:00

"Wrong Side" of ribbed entrelac hat 10 squares, originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

Thanks in part to a certain Russian chat website, this knitting picture has joined the "1,000 views" club on Flickr!

Larger "Dayflower" knitting stitch pattern chart

2010-09-14T23:52:00.001-07:00

larger-dayflower, originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

The original 'Dayflower' knitting stitch pattern, from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, is very pretty, but published only as written instructions.

I figured out how to chart it, and from that chart I have now derived a slightly larger version of the stitch pattern. I'm knitting it up now (2010-09-14) to see how it will come out.

Mind Hacks: Against narrativity

2010-06-24T11:35:00.001-07:00

that special, fabulously misplaced confidence that people feel when, considering elements of their own experience that are existentially fundamental for them, they take it that they must also be fundamental for everyone else.

via mindhacks.com

Posted via email from fuzzyjay's posterous

Perfecting the perpendicular pickup -- just the video, ma'am

2010-03-30T17:05:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

I uploaded my latest video to YouTube, and I requested that YouTube create a machine-transcribed caption file for it. Wow, pretty amusing. As in all machine transcriptions, it was pretty weird. Could have something to do with my mumbling, maybe.
Anyway, I downloaded edited that file and uploaded the real thing. I am all about the closed-captioning. I love me some deaf knitters, and knitters who don't speak English as a first language will probably have better luck understanding the captions than my slurry words.
Does anybody use an on-line service for this? I remember reading something about Google making it easier to caption their videos, but my Google-fu is not working for this.

Posted via web from fuzzyjay's posterous

Perfecting the Perpendicular Pickup

2010-03-30T01:50:00.001-07:00

In a previous post, I described how to join knitted pieces at right angles to each other, in such a way that the join is as neat as possible. The join used the sliding-loop technique devised by Rick Mondragon. In Mondragon's technique you are joining two pieces of knitting with parallel grain. With the perpendicular join, you join the side edge of the piece you are knitting to a row of free loops from another piece of knitting.

In this post, I would like to describe my method of picking up and knitting stitches from a selvedge. In entrelac knitting, half of the connections between squares are made this way.

Picking up and knitting stitches from an existing piece of knitting involves two steps, inserting a needle and pulling through a loop. Where is a good place to insert the needle? Normally, you are told to insert the left needle one stitch in from the edge of the knitting. The reason for that is that the last column of stitches is ill-formed. At least, the edge half-column is. But reaching that far into the knitting creates a bulky join, and moves the ugly column to the wrong side of the knitting. That's OK when there is a public side and a private side, but what about entrelac scarves? Wouldn't it be nice to have a method of picking up stitches that doesn't leave your knitting with an ugly side?

There is. If you use the loops that are formed by the turning of the knitting as it goes back and forth, you get the neatest possible stitch pick up. However, finding that turning-loop is not easy.

If knitting existed in some Platonic realm, the edge of knitting would look like this, and one would simply slide the left needle along the selvedge and pick up loops to be worked as the first row of the new knitted piece.

Alas, there are physical forces at work in the real world that transform the ideal into the actual. Instead of easily-identified turning loops, one has a chain of knots joined by gappy loops:

Ah, but the turning loops are in there somewhere. You "merely" have to re-form that ugly half-stitch at the selvedge.

Here's a diagram that shows how the Platonic ideal of a selvedge stitch gets transformed into a knot-and-loopy mess:

So, all we have to do is use a needle to reverse the process. Here's a written description of the process... bu you can ignore all that except the diagram and skip to the video...

Look at the knitting. Starting from the top edge of the knitting, there is a series of loops and knots alternating all the way down to the beginning. Orient the knitting so that the right side is facing you, the selvedge edge is parallel to the floor, and the knitting is hanging down from it. The top (last-knitted) edge of the knitting is on your right. The bottom (first-knitted) edge of the knitting is on your left.
On the selvedge, the loops are being clutched by the knots. With your eyes, follow a loop's yarn down (towards the beginning edge of the knitting) through the knot to where it joins the back (purl side) of the knitting.
Insert the tip of the left needle upward (parallel to the selvedge, from your left to your right, pointing toward the top edge) through the length of yarn between the knot and the rest of the knitting. You'll know you have the correct bit of yarn if you can see the gappy loop decreasing in size as you insert the needle more into the bit of yarn, since you're robbing yarn from the gappy loop to make the little bit of yarn bigger. This piece is the purplish piece of yarn in the diagram below:
With the tip of the needle, scoop the rest of the gappy loop toward the back of the work, while letting the bit of yarn you just poked through fall off the needle, as follows. When you're starting the scoop, you're going to swing the point of the needle toward you and perpendicular to the plane of the knitting. To perform the scoop, you'll be swinging the tip of the needle through the plane of the fabric, pointing to the floor. At the end of the scoop, the needle is pointing away from you and perpendicular to the plane of the knitting.
At the end of the motion, move the needle back to the position of step 3. You should have a loop on the needle in the standard mount position. Knit the loop off the left needle.
Go back to step 2, using the next gappy loop down (toward the beginning of the knitting.)

It's video time:

Perfecting the Perpendicular Join

2010-03-20T16:25:00.001-07:00

The photos below show closeups of two entrelac joins done with the same needles and the same yarn by the same knitter (me).

The first photo shows one common way to join two pieces of knitting in entrelac. The beige piece was knitted first, and the green piece was joined, every two rows, by working a ssk, using the last stitch of a right-to-left green row and a free loop from held beige stitches. For a neater join, the first stitch of the return left-to-right row is slipped, with the yarn in back.

Notice that there is beige showing through the green stitches. This show-through, also called grinning, is pretty inevitable when you are forming a decrease (ssk) with two colors of yarn.

Notice also, the second column of green stitches (counting left-to-right) looks somewhat distorted. This is a consequence of the slipped stitches pulling at every other stitch in that column and making the left leg of that stitch smaller.

The next picture shows a neater join that I invented. Instead of working together the selvedge stitches of the green piece and held loops from the beige, I pulled a long green loop from each beige stitch and used the loop of yarn to work two rows of green, from left to right and then from right to left.

There is no show-through of the other color here. The first column of green stitches is slightly distorted. This is because the ratio of green rows to beige columns (stitches) is forced to be 2:1 instead of the more "natural" 3:2 or 4:3. This makes the green stitches look a little "squashed" since they "want" to be a little taller. It's not bad, though, and really, slipping stitches as in the first photo adds its own kind of distortion.

The second green stitch column looks a lot better, though. That's another benefit to this method.

Here's a rough diagram of the structure of the join:

Soon, I'll make a video on how to do this join & upload the video to Youtube or Vimeo.

Norwegian purl method video

2010-03-18T13:09:00.001-07:00

via vimeo.com

This video shows the wacky Norwegian Purl method. I like that for the video they used big yarn, big needles and good lighting. I'm going to try this and report back to you all.

Posted via web from Fuzzy Logic

The Knitting Laboratory: Barter for Garter

2010-03-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

The list of people for whom I will knit for free looks suspiciously like the list of people for whom I would donate a kidney.

via yarndiva.blogspot.com

Good post that answers the perennial question "Will you knit me something?"

Posted via web from fuzzyjay's posterous

Ways to join knitted pieces

2010-03-16T22:19:00.001-07:00

Joining a piece already knit to one you are knitting, in parallel or perpendicularly.

Edge of existing piece	Edge of piece being knit	Ways to make the join	Diagram
Side	Side	Sliding-loop (Rick Mondragon), sewn seam.
Side	Bottom	Picking up stitches from a selvedge.
Side	Top	Perpendicular grafting, sewn seam, chaining-up¹ .
Top	Side	Entrelac join (ssk or p2tog), sliding loop (me)² , sewn seam.
Top	Bottom	Knitting from held stitches, grafting.
Top	Top	Grafting, three-needle bind-off, sewn seam.
Bottom (some techniques require loops be freed from provisional cast-on)	Side	Entrelac join (ssk or p2tog), sliding-loop (me), sewn seam.
Bottom	Bottom	Knitting from freed cast-on loops, grafting, "aligned pickup from cast-on edge"³ .
Bottom	Top	Grafting, sewn seam.

notes

¹This is a new technique I developed, to be described in more detail later. Basically, on the existing piece, you ladder-down the edge stitch column, freeing a loop for every two rows of the existing piece. You then chain up these loops while working together with each loop a free stitch from the current piece.

²To be described later.

³See blog entry: "Picking up and knitting from a cast-on edge."

Lace knitting charts from 17 and 18 years ago

2010-03-14T13:17:00.001-07:00

Cover of Charted Knitting Designs

Anybody interested in test-knitting some lace designs I made? These are patterns I made up and charted about eighteen years ago, but never got around to copy-editing or test-knitting. They are similar to some of Barbara G. Walker's designs in Charted Knitting Designs. They are a tad more symmetrical, since I use twist stitches to balance out the decreases on the other side of the yarnovers.

The patterns are similar to the ones I designed and used in my wall-hanging called Lace Curlicues:

Go ahead and click on the "preview on posterous" icon below if you're interested:

Download now or preview on posterous

2010_03_14_12_59_29.pdf (3491 KB)

Posted via email from fuzzyjay's posterous

Charting 'Dayflower'

2010-03-08T13:23:00.001-08:00

Dayflower is a really pretty pattern in Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, but it only has written directions. I was looking for a challenge for my charting skills and this one looked like a good one. It took me a while, but I figured it out. Here are some of the steps I used.

Charting 'Dayflower', originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

I photocopied the picture of the Dayflower pattern from Barbara G. Walker's Treasury, then drew circles over the yarn-overs, then blue lines to join the yarn-overs on the same row. Next, I used red lines to show stitch-columns and decreases, referring to the written pattern. Eventually, through several iterations, I transferred this to graph paper. The trick was to find where to distribute the "no stitch" squares in the graph of the pattern.

Straightening out the lines that represent rows, with no regard to spacing of stitches:

Eventually I got to this point where I could arrange the stitches on a chart. The trick there was to figure out, based on the photo and the previous attempt, how to move the rows back and forth for best alignment of the stitch columns.:

Once I had the stitch columns aligned properly vertically, I could do the more-detailed stitch diagram. This one shows the path of the yarn through all the stitches, but not the actual over-and-under crossings of the yarn as the stitches are made. It's a bit sketchy because I only did one half of a repeat, then used Photoshop to flip and copy the repeats, and my Photoshop skills are not the best:

As I've said before, I'd rather figure out 5 ways to diagram a knitting pattern than knit it. I'm all about understanding the architecture...

I am grateful that iLoveButter on Flickr has shared this photo under a Creative Commons license so I can show you the pattern used in a garment (before blocking, which will open up the lace):

Cabled entrelac Greek Key

2010-03-02T00:33:00.001-08:00

Cabled entrelac Greek Key, originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

How to do a continuous, sinuous cable using entrelac squares. The cable travels across the diagonals of some of the squares.

Previous posts explain the meaning of the arrows and the numerals. The green lines represent the repeat of 18 entrelac squares (15 squares + 6 half-squares [triangles]).

Three repeats are shown. The left repeat has 16.5 squares (12 squares + 9 half-squares) and the right repeat has 19.5 squares (15 squares + 9 half-squares).

All three repeats add up to 3 × 18 squares or 54 squares (42 squares + 24 half-squares, which is why the numberals go up to 66).

Here are some pieces I've knit that include the continous-cable idea in entrelac. Click the picture to go to the Flickr page for the item:

Entrelac joins comparison swatch

2010-02-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

These photos show a swatch with two different entrelac joins.

On the left of the swatch (the right when flipped over) is the usual method of slipping the first stitch in every row of each entrelac square. Stitches for new squares are picked up from behind the slipped stitches. The squares are joined along their selvedges by working a stitch together with a live stitch from a previous square (on the left selvedge by ssk and on the right selvedge by p2tog).

On the right is the new method I've developed (not entirely original). For the squares on the right, the first stitch in each row is worked. Stitches for new squares in this method are picked up from the thread between the last stitch of a row and the first stitch of the next row (the turning thread). Squares are joined not by decreasing but by pulling loops from live stitches of a previous square and using that loop to knit two rows of the new square.

One advantage of the new method is apparent in the close-up pictures. There is no "grinning"-through (an industrial-knitting term) of the other color along the selvedges of the entrelac square.

Another thing to note about this swatch: The new joining method produces slightly bigger squares, since there is less overlap between adjacent squares. That is, the squares are no bigger, but the fabric produced is slightly bigger because of less overlap.

Below, I show the two sides of the swatch before blocking:

Notice how the new method produces entrelac fabric that has much higher relief. The fabric becomes much flatter with blocking.

I'm going to illustrate the two components of the new entrelac join (picking up from the turning thread, and the loop selvedge-join) in a later post.

Four entrelac hats

2010-02-26T17:03:00.001-08:00

Four hats, originally uploaded by fuzzyjay.

These are the last four hats that I designed and knit. They are meant to be worn with the brim folded up, either inside or outside, for more ear-warmness. To that end, the fabric is reversible. The red patch on the first hat looks better on the other side, since the red-green join is less speckled on that side.

YAREH! Yet another ribbed-entrelac hat

2010-02-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Lori made herself a ribbed entrelac hat using the techniques I taught her. It's her own design, though it shares an affinity with the other hats I made with this technique. Like the others, it's seamless, reversible and knit in one piece. I guess seamless implies one-piece... well, maybe not, since Elizabeth Zimmerman's sweater designs are often seamless but not made in one piece. Here she is, modeling it at Knit Purl's Thursday night Sip 'n' Stitch:

I am such a proud "uncle"! Now Lori says she'll write up a pattern for this that I can edit. I hope we can then teach a class at a local yarn store.

Random time, plus another Ribbed-Entrelac Hat

2010-02-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

I finished the third entrelac hat made up of ribbed squares. I like this one a lot, and I'm happy with the way it came out, even though there are a number of small errors in the i-cord edging.

Even more exciting to me is that I have successfully taught this pattern and its associated techniques to a pal from Thursday night's knitting group at Knit Purl in Portland. We have met three times, and each time Lori has gone home and practiced the techniques of the entrelac join and returned to the next meeting with some great samples. The last time we met, she had an almost-finished hat and I showed her how to finish the hat with an i-cord border.

Next time I see her, I hope to be able to post pictures of her wearing her hat! Hers is a variation on the other hats I've done. So, there are 4 hats in existence now that use ribbed entrelac squares according to the general plan of the first one (using a long, circular needle):

Work five squares attached to each other counter-clockwise as follows:

Cast on enough stitches for a square using scrap yarn.
Work square 1. Leave the last, right-side row on the right needle. Do not turn the work.
Pick up and work the stitches for the first row of the next square along the left selvedge of the square just completed. Work the next square, ending with a right-side row. Leave the last row of stitches for the square just completed on the right needle.
Repeat step 2 for squares 3 and 4.
For square 5, pick up and work stitches along the side of 4. Then, remove the scrap yarn from the cast-on edge of square 1. This will give you loops to put on the left needle. *Pull a loop from the next stitch on the left needle (from the cast on edge of 1) and use that loop to work the next 2 rows of square 5. Repeat from * until all stitches from the cast-on edge are used up. Work one more row, ending with a wrong-side row. Do not turn the work.

Work a ring of 5 squares clockwise, attached to the first 5 as follows:

Pick up and work the first (wrong-side) row of the next square from the right selvedge of the previous square. *Pull a loop from the next stitch on the left needle (from the stitches of a square in the previous ring of squares) and use it to work the next two rows of the current square. Repeat from * until all stitches from the previous ring's square are used up, ending with a wrong-side row. Leave the last row of stitches for the square just completed on the right needle.
Repeat the previous step for squares 7-10, ending square 10 with one extra (right-side) row. Do not turn the work.

Work a ring of 5 squares counter-clockwise, attached to the previous 5 as follows:

Pick up and work the first (~~wrong~~ right-side) row of the next square from the left selvedge of ~~the~~ a previous square. *Pull a loop from the next stitch on the left needle (from the stitches of a square in the previous ring of squares) and use loop to work the next two rows of the current square. Repeat from * until all stitches from the previous ring's square are used up, ending with a ~~wrong~~ right-side row. Leave the last row of stitches for the square just completed on the right needle.
Repeat the previous step for the next 4 squares, ending the last square of the ring with one extra (wrong-side) row. Do not turn the work.

Repeat steps 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2 as desired, to make the hat as long as you like. I did five and a half rings for the Ribbed Entrelac Hat II, and four and a half (not counting mistakes) for the REH I.
When the hat is long enough, finish with five entrelac triangles edged with i-cord as follows:

Cast on three stitches with backward loops.
Pick up and work the first row of the triangle from the free selvedge of the previous square. *Pull a loop from the next stitch on the left needle and use the loop to work two rows as follows:

Work to the last 4 stitches, then k2together, k2 (the last three stitches are i-cord).
Slip 3 wyif, work to end of row.

Repeat from * until there are three stitches left on the needle.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all five triangles are done. Graft the three stitches that remain to the three stitches that were cast on for the i-cord.

I realize that these directions are sketchy at best. The technique for picking up and working stitches from the selvedges of previous entrelac units I leave for a later post. I'm thinking I need to record a video to fully explain it. Lori has mastered the particular pick-up technique I use, so I have hope that I'll be able to teach it to others.

Here's a diagram of the first 4 rings of entrelac squares. The crown of the hat is in the middle of the diagram, and the squares are shown distorted, as they would look if the hat were squashed flat. I explain what the arrows, numerals, and dots mean in a previous post, Diagramming and Designing an Entrelac Piece:

2010-12-13 Edited to correct and clarify the connections between rings of squares.

Entrelac Star

2010-02-08T17:14:00.001-08:00

This would be nice as a decoration made of cotton and starched. The example is knit of worsted-weight acrylic. I don't really recommend acrylic for this. The tips of the star tend to twist, and it's easier to block cotton or wool.

Preliminaries

Materials and tools: a small quantity of yarn, with circular knitting needle and crochet hook to suit. A length of smooth, contrasting-color yarn. For the example, 8 inches (20 cm.) is about right.

Right Twist (RT): Knit 2 together, leaving stitches on left needle, then knit the first stitch again and drop the two stitches off the left needle.

You will be knitting five units. The second unit is picked up from the left edge of the first unit, the third from the fourth, and the fourth from the third. The fifth unit is picked up from the left edge of the fourth unit and its own left edge is joined to the cast-on edge of the first unit. The star is finished with a crochet border.

Ignore the brackets if you are knitting a star the same size as the example. The algebra contained within brackets is only useful if you want to make a smaller or larger star. The base number can be any odd number n >= 7. The example uses 11 for n.Cast on 12 [n+1] stitches.

Unit 1

Row 1: (Right side) *YO, RT, K2 [(n-7)/2], K2tog, rep from *.
Row 2: Lay a contrasting piece of yarn from back to front over working yarn, purl to end of row.
Rows 3, 5, ..., 21 [2n-1]: Repeat row 1.
Rows 4, 6, ..., 20 [2n-2]: Repeat row 2.

Leave the last row (21 [2n-1]) on the right needle.

Sanity check: there are 11 [n] lace eyelet holes going up the center of the unit. There are 10 [n-1] loops being held by the contrasting-color yarn.

Units 2-4

Pick up loops held by contrasting yarn onto left needle, from the previous unit's left edge, starting from the bottom left to the top left corner. Remove the contrasting yarn, and use it while turning the rows for this unit.

Row 1: (Right side) *YO, RT, K3 [(n-7)/2 + 1], rep from *.
Rows 2-21 [2n-1]: as for Unit 1.

Leave the last row (21 [2n-1]) on the right needle.

Unit 5

Unpick the cast-on and place the freed-up stitches on the left needle, so that the right side of the first unit is facing you (you start picking up loops from the lower-right corner of the unit toward the lower-left corner). There should be 11 [n] stitches on the left needle. Then with the left needle pick up stitches held by the contrasting yarn. There should now be 21 [2n-1] loops on the left needle.

Row 1: YO, RT, K3 [(n-7)/2 +1], YO, RT, K2, SSK, turn.
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: YO, RT, K2 [(n-7)/2], K2tog, YO, RT, K2 [(n-7)/2], Sl2, K1, PSSO (central double-decrease).
Rows 4, 6, ... 20 [2n-2]: Repeat row 2.
Rows 5, 7... 21 [2n-1]: Repeat row 3.

Leave the last row (21 [2n-1]) on the right needle.

Finishing

Crochet *chain 1, single-crochet in a stitch or yarn-over loop, repeat from * in each stitch or loop around the star. When you get to the inner corners, gather three stitches/loops together into one sc. Finish with a slip stitch into the first single crochet. Block flat.

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Preliminaries

Unit 1

Units 2-4

Unit 5

Finishing

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