Being a lover of all things (well almost all things) pre-twentieth century, the word "Dunmore" conjures up pictures of stately old homes, women sipping tea in the garden, and a leisurely pace of life.
Perhaps that's why I fell in love with this Dunmore Lace pattern and wanted to use it with a very special yarn. I'm thrilled with the results.
This scarf follows a similar "recipe" to my previous baktus patterns, so rather than post the entire pattern, I'll just outline what I did.
I used Malabrigo sock yarn (I was longing to have my very own scarf made out of one of these gorgeous yarns and I'm glad I started this last year because it has now become even harder to obtain these delicious yarns in New Zealand) and size 4.0mm needles (if you want to use my pattern you may want to go down a size in needles as I am a very tight knitter but the idea is to create a fabric you like so don't be afraid to experiment with different sized needles).
I cast on 19 stitches and placed markers as follows: after the first 6 stitches which are for the neck edging and the garter increases/decreases, after the next 7 stitches which are for the double faggoting, and then the last 6 stitches are for the Dunmore Lace edging.
I worked the neck edging thusly:
Every right side row: slip first stitch as if to purl with yarn in front, knit 2, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to marker.
Every wrong side row: knit to last 3 stitches, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Every second right side row (i.e. starting with row 3 and then every 4th row thereafter) increase by knitting front and back in the last stitch before marker until half the amount of yarn used, and then decrease by knitting 2 together until original number of stitches on needle. This gives the characteristic triangular shape. You can increase less frequently or add a straight section in the centre where you neither increase or decrease, or you could start with a much larger number of stitches on the needle and have more of a rectangle. I usually increase to around sixty to seventy stitches in the neck edging and garter section before decreasing but it pays to weigh your ball of yarn to ensure you don't use more than half of it in the increase section. (Having said that, my very first baktus, I ran out of yarn near the end and so had more stitches on the cast off end than the cast on end and I don't think anyone has noticed, or if they did, they thought it was intentional. I've had heaps of compliments and requests for the pattern so it obviously wasn't a problem but if, like me, you usually prefer everything to be neat and tidy and exact, weigh your yarn!)
The double faggoting was worked as follows:
Every row: knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit 1, yarn over, knit 2 together.
After the trouble I had undoing sections of DIL#3's baktus I was extra careful not to make any mistakes with this project. However, since then I have discovered the concept of lifelines, and may seriously consider using them the next time I have a project that uses lace patterns with yarn overs every row (it's a little easier to rip back when every wrong side row is all purl or all knit). I have not tested any of these methods yet, but for anyone interested, try the following links: link one, link two, and link three.
Please leave a comment if any parts of this post are not clear and I'll endeavour to clarify any problematic areas. Apologies, too, for the quality of the photos. I'll see if I can rectify this soon. Please also note that top photo was taken before the baktus was blocked (it really makes a difference) and the other photos were taken after it had been blocked but had become creased from not being stored properly (because I left it out so that I could take pics which didn't happen immediately and it ended up at the bottom of a pile. Oops).
Perhaps that's why I fell in love with this Dunmore Lace pattern and wanted to use it with a very special yarn. I'm thrilled with the results.
I actually finished this scarf a few weeks ago but haven't had an opportunity to audition it since the weather has not been all that cold. I'm sure this is about to change. It's very similar to the baktus I knitted for DIL#3.
This scarf follows a similar "recipe" to my previous baktus patterns, so rather than post the entire pattern, I'll just outline what I did.
I used Malabrigo sock yarn (I was longing to have my very own scarf made out of one of these gorgeous yarns and I'm glad I started this last year because it has now become even harder to obtain these delicious yarns in New Zealand) and size 4.0mm needles (if you want to use my pattern you may want to go down a size in needles as I am a very tight knitter but the idea is to create a fabric you like so don't be afraid to experiment with different sized needles).
I cast on 19 stitches and placed markers as follows: after the first 6 stitches which are for the neck edging and the garter increases/decreases, after the next 7 stitches which are for the double faggoting, and then the last 6 stitches are for the Dunmore Lace edging.
I worked the neck edging thusly:
Every right side row: slip first stitch as if to purl with yarn in front, knit 2, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to marker.
Every wrong side row: knit to last 3 stitches, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Every second right side row (i.e. starting with row 3 and then every 4th row thereafter) increase by knitting front and back in the last stitch before marker until half the amount of yarn used, and then decrease by knitting 2 together until original number of stitches on needle. This gives the characteristic triangular shape. You can increase less frequently or add a straight section in the centre where you neither increase or decrease, or you could start with a much larger number of stitches on the needle and have more of a rectangle. I usually increase to around sixty to seventy stitches in the neck edging and garter section before decreasing but it pays to weigh your ball of yarn to ensure you don't use more than half of it in the increase section. (Having said that, my very first baktus, I ran out of yarn near the end and so had more stitches on the cast off end than the cast on end and I don't think anyone has noticed, or if they did, they thought it was intentional. I've had heaps of compliments and requests for the pattern so it obviously wasn't a problem but if, like me, you usually prefer everything to be neat and tidy and exact, weigh your yarn!)
The double faggoting was worked as follows:
Every row: knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit 1, yarn over, knit 2 together.
Please leave a comment if any parts of this post are not clear and I'll endeavour to clarify any problematic areas. Apologies, too, for the quality of the photos. I'll see if I can rectify this soon. Please also note that top photo was taken before the baktus was blocked (it really makes a difference) and the other photos were taken after it had been blocked but had become creased from not being stored properly (because I left it out so that I could take pics which didn't happen immediately and it ended up at the bottom of a pile. Oops).
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