Old Shale is a classic knitting pattern and comes from the lace and eyelet family of knit stitches. Its origin can be traced to the Shetland Islands where the word “shell” is pronounced more like “shael”. Following along logically, ‘shell’ became ‘shale’, and that’s how Old Shale got its name.

Sometimes, the term Old Shale is used interchangeably with the Feather and Fan pattern, but once you look at them side by side, they are different.

Northern Lace has a fascinating side-by-side comparison of the two patterns and once you read over it, the differences between the two patterns cannot be denied. They are not interchangeable and produce vastly different fabrics.

Basic Old Shale Pattern

Let’s get down to it. The basic pattern is as follows:

The pattern is knit over a multiple of 18 stitches. A sample could be 18, 36, 54, 72, 90 stitches or more, depending on what you want to make. This long repeat is perfect for blankets or sweaters, which you often see the Old Shale motif used in garments and afghans.

Stitches Required:

knit
purl
k2tog – knit 2 stitches together
yo – yarn over, bringing the yarn to the front of the work

Basic Pattern:

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: *K2tog 3 times, (yo knit 1) 6 times, k2tog 3 times, repeat from *

Row 4: Knit

These 4 rows are the complete pattern repeat.

Old Shale Variations

There are many Old Shale motif variations. Because it’s a really versatile pattern. A few years ago, a knitting group called the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild completed a thorough examination of the Old Shale and its variations.

They collaborated on a project to knit over 40 variations of the Old Shale motif and document the different fabrics small changes to the pattern repeat produces. Resulting was an incredible array of Old Shale variations, really cool stuff. What’s more, it’s available as a free ebook download on Ravelry, something I highly recommend you download and enjoy. I think a sampler blanket of all the variations would be stunning.

Not surprisingly, the pattern I figured out after watching Taehyung is one such variation. To figure the pattern out I played around, modifying the number of rows of knit and purl in between the one row of eyelet stitches. But the general pattern is the same as the classic Old Shale knitting pattern.

It’s pretty cool how slight changes in a pattern can make such different fabrics. That’s why knitting and crochet can have almost endless possibilities! If you are looking for your next knitting adventure you could find one on Hobbii! See the Knitting Patterns on Hobbii.com

The post Old Shale Knitting Pattern appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

So, I am posting it here mostly for my personal use. I have noticed my blog gets a tiny amount of traffic related to knitting searches so maybe someone will see it but mostly it will be for myself.

Grandmother’s Favorite – The Original

Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth
Designer: Unknown
Rating: Easy
Materials: Any cotton yarn yarn; Size 6 or 7 needles (US)

Instructions:

Cast on 4 stitches

Row 1: Knit 4

INCREASE
Row 2: Knit 2, yarn over, knit across the row.

Repeat Row 2 until you have 44 stitches* on the needle.

*Note: You can increase until you have the number of stitches you want. I personally don’t like HUGE dishcloths so I usually start the decrease around 40 stitches but I’ve also made even smaller ones that start the decrease at like 36 stitches. It’s really up to you.
*Second note: The reason I don’t like huge dishcloths is because once they get wet they’re all floppy and I find it more efficient to not have to fold the dishcloth over itself. But it’s totally your prerogative.

DECREASE
Row 3: Knit 1, Knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to the end of the row.

Repeat Row 3 until you have 4 stitches on the needle.

Once you have four stitches you can bind off or do a round of single crochet and make a little loop of chain stitches in one corner so you can hang the cloth to dry when you are finished using it.

Again, this pattern is not mine!

More knitting and crochet patterns can be found on my blog.

The post Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Long Term Blanket Project

I have rediscovered my love for fiber crafts. After years of hiatus I have been knitting voraciously the past few months. Last year I started on a huge blanket project using up all my scrap yarn, the Stora Filten.

My goal is to make a bedspread that’s large enough for my king size bed. I started it with the full intention of it being my extremely long-term project. In the year since I’ve been working on it, I’ve completed 16 squares so far.

I calculate that I’ll need anywhere from 48 to 60 small squares for the blanket to be the size that I think it will need to be.

So I am from 33 – 26 % finished, depending on when my motivation peters out and I call it finished. That percentage doesn’t include the time it will take to mattress stitch the whole mess together. I’m not looking forward to that part of the project at all.

 Brandywine Shawl

That blanket was all I knit on for a long time but more recently at the beginning of April I really started getting the urge to knit on something more challenging so I returned to my long since slumbering Brandywine shawl. I am on repeat 11 of the 15 repeats of section B so I am nearly finished. While it is not an unusually difficult pattern, it’s a project that takes a high level of concentration for me to work on. I have to mark out progress within rows in order to keep focused on where I am in the row. I find that I cannot knit on this project when I get home from work because I’ll make mistakes too easily. Mentally I am fatigued after a day teaching.

Fingerless Mitts Knitting Project

After many evenings working on my blanket exclusively I started to want to find a middle of the road knitting project that required a bit more brain power than the blanket, but not the intense concentration of the Brandywine shawl. I’ve found that project in my Blades of Grass mitts.

I love the pattern and equally love that the four stitch pattern is easy to memorize. I want to finish these mitts and maybe start on some socks or something else in the medium range of difficulty.

So with all these knitting projects going, I can safely say that my knitting mojo is back!

Click the link to view my other knitting and crochet content!

The post Back to Knitting appeared first on Fae’s Journal.