making waves

In today’s post, I’m going to introduce you to the simple stitch pattern that features in our Summer KAL, explore a little of its cultural context in Shetland and Scotland, tell you why I love the centred double decrease so much, and explain how to work it.

Knitting a 4 ply (or fingering weight) cardigan with an allover lace design might seem like a daunting prospect, but I want to begin by telling you that this pattern – which might look difficult or complex – is in fact incredibly straightforward. Yes it really is!

Why is it so straightforward? Well, it is honestly one of the simplest lace patterns that there is:

Yes, there are just two rows in this pattern, and only one of these rows features any “action”. On alternate rows, you begin and end each 10 stitch repeat with a yarnover, and ensure there’s a double decrease in the middle. That’s it.

This straightforward motif has countless variants, all of which are formed either by altering the number of stitches between the increases and decreases, and / or by changing the fabric over which the motif is worked. Garter stitch and stockinette versions are found in traditional lace knitting all over the world, but the garter stitch variant is perhaps most familiar to Shetland, where it is commonly used for scarves. Scour any Lerwick charity shop, and you’ll be sure to find a vintage hand-knitted scarf featuring zig-zaggy openwork, generally made in two mirroring halves and grafted together in the middle, perhaps in a single shade of Shetland laceweight, perhaps in several shimmering colours of hazy 4 ply.

That’s the construction used in this design, with its pleasing purple gradient, by renowned Shetland knitter, Barbara Cheyne.

Because garter stitch is fairly stable and doesn’t curl, it’s great for a knitted edge. Thus, in traditional Shetland patterns, and those inspired by them, you’ll often see this lace motif in the border of a simple hap . . .

. . . or when adding colour and structure to cuffs and hems . . . .

. . . as in these utterly gorgeous pieces by Gudrun Johnston, in her revival of her mother’s innovative 1970s Shetland design work.

If garter stitch is good for edges, stockinette is good for . . . stockings! The strong verticals of our lace motif have a naturally zig-zagging effect, and when combined with stripes the effect can be dramatic.

I tried to maximise this simple, stripey drama in the Phillis Wheatley Peters stockings from my Bluestockings collection.

I also featured the motif in the simple hap-nap design from my colour compass collection, where a regular stripe sequence and a cowl’s small canvas becomes an opportunity for colour play and experimentation.

The stockinette iteration of this simple stitch pattern has also been a much-beloved and ubiquitous feature of Scottish commercial knitwear manufacturing for many years. Each season, you’ll find it featured in every new Brora collection, from fluffy mohair cardigans

. . . to fine cashmere tees

All of these classic knitwear pieces – from Barbara Cheyne’s traditional Shetland scarf to Gudrun’s fabulous 70s revival knits and Brora’s luxe cashmere tops – awake in me immediate nostalgia. They remind me of the lovely lacy knits my grandma made (and wore), and of the feeling of childhood summers, long ago. Much of my own design work, can, I think, be boiled down to an attempt to capture and bottle the powerfully evocative effect that old knits and textiles have on me. And that’s definitely the case with Tonnach, a garment with an unashamedly Scottish vintage feel, from its boxy silhouette to the undulating waves of its traditional lace motif, and, indeed, to the maritime colourway which I’ve selected for my sample.

But you don’t have to be an admirer of my old-fashioned shade and style choices to make a Tonnach, and there are many ways to mix this cardi up to suit you (as we will see when I introduce you to the different versions that my KDD pals have knitted). There are also a few other things that make this pattern a little different from the traditional textiles that inspired it – in the pattern writing, the garment construction, and the basic structure of the fabric. Let’s take the last of those things first.

If you’ve knit any of my patterns, you’ll probably have realised that I’m a fan of the centred double decrease, or cdd. Unlike the double decrease that’s most commonly used in traditional Shetland lace knitting – sl1, k2tog, psso (which is left leaning) or the perhaps more widespread and familiar k3tog instruction (which leans right) the cdd creates a neat, truly centred effect, as the second stitch of the decrease acquires a slightly raised appearance. While a left leaning double decrease complements the natural horizontal lines of garter stitch, a cdd works particularly well on stockinette, where its embossed effect enhances the smooth verticals of the fabric’s surface. In the Tonnach pattern, this effect is particularly pleasing, I think because the column of decreased stitches has a structural echo in the stitch that sits at the centre of each pair of yarnovers. In this photo, you can see how the upward or downward points of each zig zag are neatly bisected by vertical stitch columns created by yarnovers in the one case, and cdds in the other.

Other double decreases don’t create those crisp, vertical lines – so to be sure you are working your cdd correctly simply follow these three steps:

Centred double decrease (cdd)

1. Slip two stitches together as if to knit (by placing the tip of your right hand needle through the second stitch, and slipping it from the left hand needle together with the first)

2. Knit the next stitch

3. Using the tip of your left hand needle, lift the two slipped stitches together over the single knitted stitch

Finally, admire your cdd, and admit there is now no going back to any other double decrease!

In terms of the pattern writing and construction, my key aim with Tonnach was to keep things as intutive and knitterly as possible. There are no seams: the pattern is worked back and forth, from the hem upwards, to the underarms. The back and fronts are then knitted separately, while non-working stitches remain on hold. After the shoulders are joined with a three needle bind off, stitches are picked up from around the armscye (armhole) and worked downwards, in the round, towards the cuff. The lace motif is worked in exactly the same way on the sleeves (with alternate rounds knitted, rather than purled) and I’ve kept the sleeve construction super-simple: there’s no shaping in pattern to worry about, and no decreases until you reach the wrist. You’ll find that the sleeves fit very comfortably: roomy enough to fit a couple of layers underneath without straying into floaty balloon territory.

I’ll have more to say about Tonnach’s stitch pattern and garment construction in future posts, but I wanted to finish up today with a brief note on nomenclature.

I’m sure this motif will already be familiar to many of you, and you might have seen it variously referred to as “new shell”, “razor shell” “spoot” or (as in the machine knit examples from Brora that I showed you) “wave pattern.” My understanding (from Shetland knitters) of the difference between “new shell” and “razor shell” is that the former is worked over garter stitch, and latter stockinette. Sharon Miller defines matters thus in her wonderful Heirloom Knitting (highly recommended) and if you are further confused by “spoot”, this word is simply a colloquial Scottish & Shetlandic term for the razor clam. My Tonnach features a “razor shell”, or “spoot” stockinette variant, then, but if you prefer your lace without such bivalve associations, you could just refer to it as a “wave pattern” . . . which is in fact what Tonnach means in Scottish Gaelic (click the link for pronunciation!)

Happy knitting

Tonnach kits, in four colourways, are now available in our shop, and you can buy the Tonnach pattern from the KDD shop or Ravelry.

Want to join our summer KAL? Got a question? Pop along to the KDD Ravelry group to join your Tonnach knitting comrades and admire our colourful projects