Entrelac

My sister-in-law Mary asked me last October if I’d ever made a scarf using the “entrelac” pattern. I had no idea what she was talking about. I’ve been a knitter since I was about 6 but I pretty much stick to the standard knit and purl stuff, although I have done a fair number of fishermen-knit sweaters and more complicated afghans. I really enjoyed those but I don’t, as a rule, stray too far off the “normal” path of traditional knitting – stockinette stitch, seed stitch, and maybe a cable thrown in here and there. And I do like to make felted things but again, that’s plain old stockinette stitch. I've included a picture showing two variations of scarves knitted in the entrelac pattern. Pretty cute, right? To me, it looks like a patchwork quilt…a skinny patchwork quilt, mind you, but a patchwork quilt none-the-less. Before I continue, I’ll include what it says about entrelac from my Knitter’s Bible. “In entrelac, squares are knitted diagnonally in rows; one row of squares being completed and the next row worked on in the opposite direction on top. “The knitted piece is started at the bottom from a cast-on edge and finished at the top. The squares can be worked in stockinette stitch, as well as lace, cable or textured stitches. If two colors are used, one for each alternate row, a woven effect is achieved.” (Here’s what a two-color pattern would look like.) The Knitter’s Bible, by the way, is great encyclopedic resource for knitters. If you knit – or are just starting to knit – you might want to take a look at it. Here’s what the cover of mine looks like.

I like to knit when I watch TV but since it’s pretty dark in the theater room, it’s usually against my better judgment to try knitting anything that has complicated instructions - I just end up ripping it all out later.

So, Mary sent me a copy of her pattern. I looked at it, read a few of the rows, shook my head and rolled my eyes, and set it aside as something I’d tackle when I felt more adventuresome. I just wasn’t ready for that much concentration! Then I got the bright idea to take it to Spokane over Thanksgiving and have Randy’s Aunt Jean work on it with me. She’s an expert knitter and I knew would whip right through it…really, that's what I thought...and hoped for. The problem was that we were busy while in Spokane…and not just busy eating, mind you; we really were busy doing things. So, it wasn’t until almost our last day there that we even took out the yarn, needles and pattern. Jean made it through the first row but then something else came up and that was all she finished before we headed back to Vancouver. So, now it was up to me. Since then, I’ve carried it with me to Tangled Threads on Tuesday nights and have managed to put on a few rows.I’ve pulled this picture into Photoshop and added the pink squiggly lines to show the side where you pick up the stitches for the purl rows and the pink arrows to show the direction you purl (of course, you do the purling on the other side but I'm sure you knew that). The lime green squiggles and arrows show the side where the knit stitches are picked up and the direction you knit – it seems more confusing than it is. Really. I wouldn't lie...not about knitting.

It’s a neat pattern and would go fast, I think, if I actually worked on it for more than 2 hours a week. But it’s too complicated to work on in the darkness of the theater room. Which means it will be finished somewhere in the year 2012…if I don’t make it too long…or end up having to rip out a section because I messed up...I just hate that. The unfortunate part is now that I’m getting the hang of the pattern and have decided I’d really like to finish it, I’m wishing I’d made it narrower. It’s 9-inches wide; in my mind, that’s a bit too wide for me to wear with a coat or as an accessory with a sweater.

The pattern Mary sent calls for 10 stitches for each square. The pattern in my Knitter’s Bible shows 8 stitches per square. I’m almost thinking of starting a new scarf (using a second ball of yarn) that has 6 stitches per square just to see how wide it would be. Both patterns show three squares so using fewer stitches is the only way I can think of to reduce the width. I also think reducing the number of stitches would even out the variegation a bit more so each square is a unique (or fairly unique) color using this yarn. Which, by the way, is simply a supersized skein of Red Heart. Of course, that means I need to push my finish date out to somewhere in 2014. And now that I’ve gotten all the way through this post, there’s something else that I’m wondering.

Mary was the one who got me started on this project and yet, I don’t know if she’s working on one herself…hmmm. I’m going to have to find out. I’ll keep you posted.