Since I now have some time on my hands, I'm getting back to unfinished objects, half-designed projects, notes for new classes, and the like. I have a backlog of things in the "when I have time" category.
There were several items in the basket on the living room table. Among them were handouts, yarn, and a strip of Russian lace pattern samples from when I took Galina Khmeleva's "The Fundamentals of Orenburg Knitted Lace" at Georgia FiberFest in September 2017. What I what to concentrate on today is attaching a lace border.
I pulled out the acrylic practice yarn and started swatching.
In the Orenburg tradition, the edging is worked in a long strip from left to right across the bottom. It essentially becomes the cast-on. The central pattern stitches are picked up from the side of the edging. And the Russians have a clever method for turning the corners and working the edging at both sides while simultaneously working the center pattern. The yarn is never broken. Instead of binding off, the Russians turn the upper right corner and work back and forth across the top, eating up the live stitches from the center as they join the border. At the end, they graft a handful of stitches together at the upper left corner. This is a clever, fascinating construction method. The swatch above is worked following the excellent directions in The Gossamer Webs Design Collection, written by Galina Khmeleva (Loveland CO: Interweave Press, 2000).
What I had in my knitting basket was a plan to try a couple different ways of adding a border after the fact. There are some traditions where the border is worked separately and sewn on. (Shetland lace comes to mind.) That idea goes against my grain, as it seems un-knitterly and, really, how many of us want to attempt carefully sewing together hundreds of stitches in lace weight? I would much rather knit on the edging. And if you want to use two different colors — one for the body of the shawl and a complimentary contrast for the edging — then knitting it on after the fact is sensible.
To be fair, what I've played with here is exactly not what the Russians do.
The directions for Galina's class swatch include a chain edge on all sides, making it tidy without an edge but also setting up nicely if you want to add one.
The question is, "What is a good method?"
I decided to audition three:
The details:
For the knitting together method work across right side in pattern. Then:
The second method begins the same, with knitting in pattern across the right side of the edging. Then:
Both of these are easy. The downside is they aren't identical on both sides of the fabric. They are also a little thick, especially the knitting together method. You can feel a slight lumpiness at the join. The passing a stitch over method looks tidy from the front and isn't as lumpy, but it definitely looks messier from the back. And it is a little clunky to do, with all the passing stitches back and forth.
The third method:
While you could pull up a Mondragon loop every time, alternating two rows with and two rows without gives you a structure similar to Gwen Bortner's reversible encasement cast-on. Both sides are identical. And the join is very flat and stretchy. I don't think the join is quite as tidy as the front side of the pass over method. Overall, I'd go with this method.
If you are paying close attention, you may also notice the corner turn on the second acrylic swatch is different from the turn on the first. Yes, I had to experiment with that, too.
And here's some video to show how to use a Mondragon sliding loop to add an edging:
Tomorrow: Turning the corner (also not the way the Russians do it).
There were several items in the basket on the living room table. Among them were handouts, yarn, and a strip of Russian lace pattern samples from when I took Galina Khmeleva's "The Fundamentals of Orenburg Knitted Lace" at Georgia FiberFest in September 2017. What I what to concentrate on today is attaching a lace border.
I pulled out the acrylic practice yarn and started swatching.
 |
| Swatch worked in the Orenburg tradition, with simultaneous edging. |
In the Orenburg tradition, the edging is worked in a long strip from left to right across the bottom. It essentially becomes the cast-on. The central pattern stitches are picked up from the side of the edging. And the Russians have a clever method for turning the corners and working the edging at both sides while simultaneously working the center pattern. The yarn is never broken. Instead of binding off, the Russians turn the upper right corner and work back and forth across the top, eating up the live stitches from the center as they join the border. At the end, they graft a handful of stitches together at the upper left corner. This is a clever, fascinating construction method. The swatch above is worked following the excellent directions in The Gossamer Webs Design Collection, written by Galina Khmeleva (Loveland CO: Interweave Press, 2000).
What I had in my knitting basket was a plan to try a couple different ways of adding a border after the fact. There are some traditions where the border is worked separately and sewn on. (Shetland lace comes to mind.) That idea goes against my grain, as it seems un-knitterly and, really, how many of us want to attempt carefully sewing together hundreds of stitches in lace weight? I would much rather knit on the edging. And if you want to use two different colors — one for the body of the shawl and a complimentary contrast for the edging — then knitting it on after the fact is sensible.
To be fair, what I've played with here is exactly not what the Russians do.
The directions for Galina's class swatch include a chain edge on all sides, making it tidy without an edge but also setting up nicely if you want to add one.
The question is, "What is a good method?"
I decided to audition three:
- Knitting together.
- Passing a stitch over.
- Mondragon loop combined with Gwen Bortner's encasement cast-on.
 |
| Front of work: Mondragon loop + encasement cast on across top, pass over at top right, knit together at bottom right. |
 |
| Back of work; Mondragon loop + encasement cast-on across top, pass over at top left, knit together at bottom left. |
The details:
For the knitting together method work across right side in pattern. Then:
- Turn to wrong side of work.
- Move yarn to far side of work, ready to knit rather than purl.
- Knit together the first stitch of the edging together with both chain loops.
- Continue knitting across edging in pattern.
The second method begins the same, with knitting in pattern across the right side of the edging. Then:
- Using right needle, pull up a stitch through both chain loops. You now have one extra stitch on the right needle; left needle is empty.
- Slip two stitches on right needle back to left needle.
- Pass the left stitch (the one you knit up through both chain loops) over the right stitch (the last stitch of the edging), as if binding off.
- Return the remaining stitch back to the right needle. No stitches on left needle.
- Turn work and continue in pattern on wrong-side row.
Both of these are easy. The downside is they aren't identical on both sides of the fabric. They are also a little thick, especially the knitting together method. You can feel a slight lumpiness at the join. The passing a stitch over method looks tidy from the front and isn't as lumpy, but it definitely looks messier from the back. And it is a little clunky to do, with all the passing stitches back and forth.
The third method:
- At the end of a right-side row, pull up a Mondragon loop through both chain loops.
- Turn.
- Work the wrong-side row in pattern, using the Mondragon loop.
- Turn.
- Work the right-side row in pattern, using the Mondragon loop.
- Evaporate the excess loop.
- Work the wrong-side row and right-side row as normal.
- Repeat.
While you could pull up a Mondragon loop every time, alternating two rows with and two rows without gives you a structure similar to Gwen Bortner's reversible encasement cast-on. Both sides are identical. And the join is very flat and stretchy. I don't think the join is quite as tidy as the front side of the pass over method. Overall, I'd go with this method.
 |
| Acrylic swatch adding on edging with Mondragon sliding loop and Gwen Bortner's encasement cast-on. |
If you are paying close attention, you may also notice the corner turn on the second acrylic swatch is different from the turn on the first. Yes, I had to experiment with that, too.
And here's some video to show how to use a Mondragon sliding loop to add an edging:
Tomorrow: Turning the corner (also not the way the Russians do it).
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