Patch #2 Lobed Leaf

I decided to use the stockinette swatch in the overall afghan and to branch out a bit by not having all lace samples but a mixture of different stitch patterns.  It will likely be heavy on lace but will include other stitche patterns as well.  I probably won't do any colorwork and stick with solid colors for each patch.

I redid this swatch to eliminate the side stockinette stitches and to have the lace panel knit in 27 stitches, instead of 31, giving it more room to have the lace open up. See the June 29 post for results. 

So, the stockinette is Patch #1.  Lobed Leaf is Patch #2. I found the pattern in Walker, Barbara G.. Charted knitting designs: a third treasury of knitting patterns. Pittsville, WI: Schoolhouse Press, 1998. Print. Page 174.

I discovered something while making this swatch (which I already knew but was painfully reminded of).

First, because of the yarnovers and holes, the gauge of the lace portion makes it a lot larger than the surrounding garter stitch. When I went to block it, it grew amazingly.  So, I had to kind of squish it into the 9 x 9 square and the lace effect really isn't shown at it's best because the holes can't open freely.  Also, as you'll see in the photo, the pattern bends the borders. Not sure if this will be an issue in the overall construction, but we'll see.

I'm not 100% pleased with it. I might leave it as is, or I might re-do it later after I try some other techniques on other swatches and I figure out how to improve it. In the next post, I'll talk about Patch #3 and changes I made to accommodate the different gauge of a lace swatch. This patch took 44 grams of worsted-weight wool.

Pattern for Patch #1: Lobed Leaf Pattern

Note that the "busy" work is done on the wrong (purl) side of this swatch.  To work a yarnover between two purl stitches, since the yarn is already in the front, you need to loop the yarn completely over the needle and bring it around to the front to complete the yarnover.

Here's the pattern for Patch #2: Lobed Leaf

Cast on 41 stitches.
Rows 1-6: K to end.
Starting at row 7, and maintaining a 5-stitch garter stitch border on each side, complete rows 1-10 of the chart a total of four times.
Last 7 rows: K to end.
Bind off.