Lace knitting

Knitting method with a pattern of holes

Lace knitting.

Lace knitting is a style of knitting characterized by stable holes in the fabric arranged with consideration of aesthetic value. Lace is sometimes considered the pinnacle of knitting, because of its complexity and because woven fabrics cannot easily be made to have holes. Famous examples include the Orenburg shawl and the wedding ring shawl of Shetland knitting, a shawl so fine that it could be drawn through a wedding ring.[1] Shetland knitted lace became extremely popular in Victorian England when Queen Victoria became a Shetland lace enthusiast. Her enthusiasm resulted in her choosing knitted lacework for presents, for example in c. 1897 when the Queen gave a lace shawl as a present to American abolitionist Harriet Tubman. From there, knitting patterns for the shawls were printed in English women's magazines, and they were copied in Iceland with single ply wool.[citation needed]

Some consider that "true" knitted lace has pattern stitches on both the right and wrong sides, and that knitting with pattern stitches on only one side of the fabric, so that holes are separated by at least two threads, is technically not lace, but "lacy knitting", although this has no historical basis.[2]

Eyelet patterns are those in which the holes make up only a small fraction of the fabric and are isolated into clusters (e.g., little rosettes of one hole surrounded by others in a hexagon). At the other extreme, some knitted lace is almost all holes, e.g., faggoting.

Rectangular lace shawl on the needles. White threads ("lifelines") are strung through the pattern every twenty rows and will be removed upon completion.

Knitted lace with no bound-off edges is extremely elastic, deforming easily to fit whatever it is draped on. As a consequence, knitted lace garments must be blocked or "dressed" before use, and tend to stretch over time.

Lace can be used for any kind of garment, but is commonly associated with scarves and shawls, or with household items such as curtains, table runners or trim for curtains and towels. Lace items from different regional knitting traditions are often distinguished by their patterns, shape and method, such as Faroese lace shawls which are knit bottom up with center back gusset shaping unlike a more common neck down, triangular shawl.

## Technique

[edit]

Lace scarf during blocking

A hole can be introduced into a knitted fabric by pairing a yarn over stitch with a nearby (usually adjacent) decrease. If the decrease precedes the yarn over, it typically slants right as seen from the right side (e.g., k2tog, not ssk; see knitting abbreviations). If the decrease follows the yarn over, it typically slants left as seen from the right side (e.g., k2tog tbl or ssk, not k2tog). These slants pull the fabric away from the yarn over, opening up the hole.

Pairing a yarn over with a decrease keeps the stitch count constant. Many beautiful patterns separate the yarn over and decrease stitches, e.g., k2tog, k5, yo. Separating the yarn over from its decrease "tilts" all the intervening stitches towards the decrease. The tilt may form part of the design, e.g., mimicking the veins in a leaf.

There are few constraints on positioning the holes, so practically any picture or pattern can be outlined with holes; common motifs include leaves, rosettes, ferns and flowers. To design a simple lace motif, a knitter can draw its lines on a piece of knitting graph paper; right-slanting lines should be produced with "k2tog, yo" stitch-pairs (as seen on the right side) whereas left-slanting lines should be produced with "yo, k2tog tbl" (or, equivalently, "yo, ssk" or "yo, skp") stitch pairs (again, as seen on the right side). More sophisticated patterns will change the grain of the fabric to help the design, by separating the yarn overs and decreases.

It is common for lace knitters to insert a "lifeline", a strand of contrasting yarn threaded through stitches on the needle, at the end of every pattern repeat or after a certain number of rows. This allows the knitter to rip out a controlled number of rows if a mistake is discovered.

## History and comparison to other laces

[edit]

Knitted lace tablecloth based on the pattern "Lyra" by Herbert Niebling

Lace knitting is generally not as fine as other forms of lace, such as needle lace or bobbin lace. However, it is better suited for garments, being softer and much faster to produce.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Robin Pogrebin. "Where the sky meets the sea: Jennifer Guidi leans into beauty". Art Daily. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
2. ^ "See Eunny Knit!: Majoring in Lace: Introduction". www.eunnyjang.com. Archived from the original on 2006-05-19.

## Further reading

[edit]

* (2002) Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, updated ed., Sixth and Spring Books. ISBN 1-931543-16-X
* (1979) Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, Reader's Digest Association. ISBN 0-89577-059-8
* June Hemmons Hiatt (2012) The Principles of Knitting, Simon and Schuster, pp. 251–253. ISBN 978-1-4165-3517-1

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Knit lace at Wikimedia Commons

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Knitting

Tools and materials|

* Knitting needle
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Yarn styles|

* Bouclé
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Yarn brands|

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Styles|

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Stitches|

* Stockinette/Stocking stitch
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Techniques|

* Arm knitting
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Patterns|

* Aran
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Machine knitting|

* Complete garment knitting
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* Stocking frame
* William Lee (inventor)

Knitters and
designers|

* Sam Barsky
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* Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
* Alice Starmore
* Debbie Stoller
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Organizations|

* I Knit London
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Related|

* Basic knitted fabrics
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* History
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Lace types

Needle lace|

* Alençon
* Aemilia Ars
* Argentan
* Argentella
* Armenian
* Burano
* Chebka
* Filet lace
* Frisado de Valladolid
* Greek
* Halas lace
* Hedebo embroidery
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| Embroidery|

Buratto
Filet lace
Limerick
Needlerun net
Piña embroidery
Reticella
Tambour

|

Cutwork|

Broderie anglaise
Carrickmacross
Lefkara lace
Saba lace

Bobbin lace|

| Mesh grounds|

Antwerp
Arenys or Ret fi lace
Arras
Bayeux
Beeralu
Beveren
Binche
Blonde
Bucks point
Chantilly
Chefoo
Cogne
Flanders
Freehand
Lille
Ipswich
Mechlin
Mundillo
Paris
Raumanpitsien or Rauma
Valenciennes
's Gravenmoer
Torchon
Tønder

|

Guipure|

Bedfordshire
Cluny
Dentelle du Puy
Genoese
Liptov
Maltese
Yak lace

Part laces|

Bruges
Brussels
Point d'Angleterre
Honiton
Rosaline

Tape|

Cantù
Hinojosa
Idrija
Milanese
Peasant
Russian
Schneeberg
Three Pair Flanders

Tape lace|

* Battenberg
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* Mezzopunto
* Princess
* Renaissance
* Romanian point

Crocheted lace|

* Broomstick lace
* Csetnek Lace
* Filet crochet
* Hairpin
* Irish crochet
* Orvieto lace

Machine-made lace|

* Barmen
* Bobbinet
* Chemical
* Leavers
* Nottingham Lace Curtain Machine
* Pusher
* Raschel
* Stocking Frame
* Warp Knit

Other handmade laces|

* Chancay gauze
* Lace knitting
* Liturgical lace
* Macramé
* Metal lace
* Punto a groppo
* Spanier Arbeit
* Sprang
* Tatting

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