Art Deco

Someday I will own an art-deco cedar chest crafted by my great-grandfather.

My aunt and uncle, who love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, introduced me to the joys of travel at a rather young age.

I spent a college semester in Glasgow, where the marks left by Charles Rennie Mackintosh are proudly exhibited.

With this background, when I saw a cable pattern in a book of Viking inspirations, I immediately began envisioning its use in an Art-Deco knitted design.  This tablerunner, with its sleek, streamlined twisted stitches and biased stockinette mimicking wood-grain play is the result of the adventure.  I used a bamboo/silk blend yarn to represent Art-Deco’s fascination with man’s achievements and its revelry in luxury.

Size

11″x 54″(28 cm x 137 cm)

Yarn

Ella Rae Bamboo Silk (70% bamboo, 30% silk; 99yards [90.5 meters]/50 g ball): Color 05 Baby Olivine 5 balls

Needles

US #6 (4mm): 24” circular

Gauge

22 sts and 30 rows = 4” (10 cm) in St st

Notions

G6/4.2mm crochet hook; stitch markers; cable needle; waste yarn for provisional cast on; stitch holders (or more waste yarn)

Chart

Abbreviations

Please see our standard list of abbreviations.

k/p:	first knit then purl into the same stitch
ptbl:	purl through the back loop
t1b:	(RS) place p st on cn and drop to back, ktbl, p st on cn
	(WS) place p st on cn and drop to back, kn, ptbl st on cn
t1f	(RS) place k st on cn and drop to front, p1, ktbl st on cn
	(WS) place k st on cn and drop to front, ptbl, k st on cn
c1f:	(RS) place 1st st on cn and drop to front, ktbl, ktbl st on cn
	(WS) place 1st st on cn and drop to front, ptbl, ptbl st on cn
c1b:	(RS)place 1st st on cn and drop to back, ktbl, ktbl st on cn
	(WS) place 1st st on cn and drop to back, ptbl, ptbl st on cn

Pattern Notes

This piece is worked in two separate pieces: first the two sides are worked from outside ends into the center, then a diamond panel is worked using k2togs, ssks, and cdds to join the live stitches from the two sides seamlessly together.
This piece uses both hemmed edges and a slipped stitch rolled edge.

The twisted stitch cable has twisted stitches on both the RS and the WS.  For ease, on both RS and WS in a knit/purl cross, the knit stitch always crosses in front of the purl stitch (sometimes the purl stitch is changed to a knit stitch after the cross and vice versa), and all knits crossing knits take place only on RS.

This yarn grows tremendously after blocking.  Keep this in mind when determining length.

Stitch Patterns

Edge stitch pattern

Row 1 (RS): beg of row: sl1k, sl2p; end of row: k3
Row 2 (WS): beg of row: sl3p; end of row: p3

Woodgrain panel

Row 1 (RS): kfb, k12, cdd, k11, kfb, k1
Row 2 (WS): purl across

Cable panel

(Adapted from Elsebeth Lavold’s ‘Wide Panel with Little Lattice’ in Viking Patterns in Knitting)
Worked from chart.

Sides

Using Crochet chain provisional cast on, CO 63 sts

Work 8 rows stockinette, starting with a knit row (slip first stitch of every row)

Hemming row (RS): sl 1st stitch, *unpick 1st full stitch from CO row and slip onto L needle, k2tog, repeat from * to end.

Now work will be in five sections: edge stitches, cable panel stitches, woodgrain panel stitches, cable panel stitches, and edge stitches.  Markers may be placed dividing sections as foll:

Row 1 (WS) (1st row of Chart): Sl1p, p1, pfb, k14, p29, k14, k/p, p2
Row 2 (RS) (2nd row of Chart): Sl1k, sl2p, pm, p15, pm, kfb, k12, cdd, k11, kfb, k1, pm, p15, pm, k3

Continue edge stitch pattern, woodgrain panel pattern, and chart, repeating rows 30 and 31 fifty times or until 3 in [7.5 cm] short of halfway), until chart is complete.

Place stitches on holder or waste yarn.

Repeat side instructions for second half.

Joining the two Sides

Place first 32 sts of one side and last 32 sts of other side on needle, leaving all remaining sts on holder or waste yarn.  (With RS facing, edge stitches should be in the middle, with the center woodgrain panel stitch of both pieces closest to needles.)

With waste yarn, using crochet provisional cast on method, pick up 15 back loops of crocheted chain with the left needle (if right handed—reverse directions if left handed).  These 15 sts will be the ‘diamond’ stitches.

Setup Row (RS): Using main yarn, k1 of the picked up stitches.  Slip stitch back onto left needle. K2tog (one diamond st and one center woodgrain st), k across remaining diamond sts, sl last diamond st back to left needle, ssk (one diamond st and one center woodgrain st). Turn.
Row 1 (WS): Sl1p, purl to last two diamond sts. Turn.
Row 2 (RS): Cdd (two diamond sts, one woodgrain st), k to last two diamond sts, cdd (two diamond sts, one woodgrain st).  Turn.

Row 3 (WS): Sl1purl, purl across to last diamond st. Turn.
Row 4 (RS): K2tog (one diamond st, one woodgrain st), k to last diamond st, ssk (one diamond st, one woodgrain st)

Rep rows 1-4 until 3 diamond sts remain, and 2 woodgrain sts remain (one on each side).

Work 2 cdd’s from RS slipping sts back onto left needle as necessary, ending with 1 st.

With RS always facing, work cdds using st left from diamond and two cable panel sts (one from each side).

Rep last row until no cable panel sts or edge sts remain.

Break yarn, leaving tail a few inches long.  Thread end through last st and pull tight.

Flip work around.

Put remaining held sts from sides on needle, again with edge stitches in center.

Remove crochet waste yarn, picking up live sts with left needle, also picking up a st on either side of the live sts (15sts total).

Setup Row (RS): K2tog (one diamond st and one center woodgrain st), k across remaining diamond sts, sl last diamond st back to left needle, ssk (one diamond st and one center woodgrain st). Turn.

Repeat instructions above for first half of diamond, starting with Row 1.

Finishing

Weave in the two yarn ends pulled through last knit stitch left on either side, tugging a bit to mimic the edge stitch roll.

Wet block.  Place pins inside all edging.

Weave in remaining ends.