A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Volume I, Chapter 10 – Lace
Basic Faggoting Stitch
Turkish Stitch
Purse Stitch
Feather Faggot
Ms Walker starts the Lace chapter by introducing us to Faggoting, which I’ve generally seen used for separating patterns or as an edging stitch. Sometimes it’s a main feature.
The Basic Info: I’ve used a double strand of lace weight merino to cast on, then dropped the extra strand and knit four or so rows of garter stitch, continuing garter stitch borders on each side of the main body of the swatch. On this swatch the lace stitches are executed on both side of the knitting without using “rest rows”. Needle size 4US.
The first (top) section Ms Walker calls the Basic Faggoting Stitch. Simple and straightforward as were the Turkish Stitch and Purse Stitch (middle and bottom respectively). All of these were neat, tidy and very similar in appearance.
“Easy enough,” I thought as I worked each one with a few rows of garter stitch between the sections. Then I began the Feather Faggot, the fourth stitch in the swatch. This is when I discovered that being a self-taught knitter hell-bent on cranking out lace shawls has its downfall. Most of the first five years of my knitting life was done here on the farm, before the new house, without Internet access, or knitting help of any kind. So when I encountered a new stitch, or combination of stitches, I either had to soldier through the best I could or put the knitting away until we went back into town on the weekend and I could check Ravelry, usually the former. Thus I have discovered I haven’t learned the correct way of executing a yarn-over before a purl.

It’s only my first swatch and I’ve already learned something. How is that I knew how to make a complicated nine-stitch nupp but not a basic yarn-over before a purl?
Next up: Herringbone Faggoting.
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