The Knitting Fiend

The bottom of the little side scrolls in “Celtic Flourish” require a sudden explosion of 5 stitches where there was only 1 in the row below; these are balanced by a pillar decrease at the top.

I found it difficult to work the increases as described by Walker, so I fiddled until I found an increase that seemed to balance to top decrease. I’ll describe how I worked the increases here. The following description is worked back and forth. (I’ll probably describe how to modify this for circular later when I knit the sweater.)

Begin right side facing; the scroll pattern is worked over a purl background. So, purl up to the stitch that forms the base of the scroll; I’ll call that the “pillar stitch”. Don’t work it yet.

1. Make 1 backwards (M1-B) as follows: Insert the right needle tip under the strand before the next stitch and place on the left tip so that the left leg is in front (toward you) and the right leg is in back (away from you). See figure above and to the left.

   Knit a twisted stitch by inserting the tip of the needle through the left leg. To do this, you must place the right needle tip to the left of the left leg and slide to the right and into the gap of the loop. See figure above and to the right. Wrap yarn and draw stitch through. The “made” stitch will be twisted with the left leg over the right one.

2. Insert right tip in pillar stitch as to purl; illustrated to the right. Bring yarn over needle. (This is a backwards yarn over and creates a short strand of yarn.)
3. Purl the pillar stitch.
4. Make 1 as follows: Insert the right needle tip under the strand before the next stitch and place on the left tip so that the right leg is in front (toward you) and the left leg is in back (away from you). See photo below and to the left. Twist the M1 by inserting the tip of the needle through the left leg. To do this, you must place the right needle tip to the right of the left leg and slide in; see photo below and to the fith. Wrap yarn and draw through to knit a new stitch. The “made” stitch will be twisted with the right leg over the left one.
5. Bring yarn over to top of the needle. (This is a forward yarn over; it’s a short strand of yarn.) Wrap yarn and pull through to finish the M1.

Work across the row, doing whatever is required in your pattern.

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Pause a moment to examine the stitches from the right side. The five stitches will look as shown below. If you examine the row of stitches below the right hand needle, you will see the base of the M1 and M1-B both are tight little twisted stitches. The M1-B twists with the left leg over the right; the M1 twists with the right leg over the left.

Counting the two yarn overs as stitches, are now 5 stitches sprouting out of the pillar stitch. (Well, three sprounting out of the stitch and then one on either side).

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The key to making this look similar to the top is to work back properly. Since I am describing how to work this back and forth, turn the work so the wrong side is facing. Work in pattern up to the group of 5 stitches that came out of the pillar stitch. Here’s what to do with the five stitches:

1. Purl. (This was worked into the M1 worked in the previous row.)
2. Purl to form a twisted stitch as follows: Place the right needle tip to the left of the left leg, slide it to the right, penetrating the stitch; illustrated to the right. You may need to fold the needle away from you to stick the tip in easily. Yarn over to purl. (This is also called “purling into the back loop” but I like to call this “purling through the left leg”. You just worked a stitch into the forward yarn over worked the row below.)
3. Purl. (This was the pillar stitch and was purled the row below.)
4. Purl to form a twisted stitch as follows: Place the right needle tip to the right of the left leg, slide it to the left, penetrating the stitch; illustrated to the right. Yarn over to purl. (This is also called “purling into the front loop” but I like to call this “purling through the left leg”. You just worked a stitch into the backward yarn over worked the row below.)
5. Purl 1: (This was worked into the M1-B worked in the previous row.

I worked the three more rows of “Celtic Flourish” and took a photograph. Recall that I was experimenting; the scrolls on right and left were worked somewhat differently. I think the bottom of the little scroll on the left is prettier and looks more like the 5 stitch pillar decrease that closes the top of the scroll. The scroll on the left was created using the method I described.

The scroll on the right is worked identically except the pillar stitch is purled when working the wrong side facing row. That means the uglier one on the right is slightly more difficult to work.