Chain stitch vertical lines tutorial

stripetutorial1I promised to share with you a technique I have used within my Gingernut Cowl design in the Autumn 2013 issue of Knitting Magazine. It is a way of creating vertical lines of contrasting colour within a knitting pattern without having to carry yarn along the back of your knitting using the intarsia method. (If you are not a knitter….sorry this perhaps is not a post for you).

stripetutorial2The basic overall design uses stocking stitch for its right side stitch. Following the pattern you change the colours to create horizontal stripes. But within the pattern there are a number of places where a purl stitch is used on each row. This creates a reverse stitch furrow. When the whole of the pattern has completed, you then go back and add in the vertical stripe detail by using a crochet hook and chain stitching the colour along the furrow line.

stripetutorial3I found it worked best to put my hook in every two rows as this created a smooth stitch effect and the difference between these crocheted details and the knitted material is almost imperceptible to the untrained eye.

stripetutorial4There are two reasons why this technique really appeals to me. My intarsia knitting is not always as regular or flat as I would like it to be and this way of creating a plaid design has been more reliable for me. I also always enjoy combining my love for knitting and crochet into one project. The colour choices for the Gingernut Cowl are very ‘now’ for this season – however if you would like to create a more traditional tartan effect, try using a base of navy, with green, red and white as your contrasting colours.