October Square Along
Welcome to the second instalment of our seasonal Square Along with the theme of apples. The first has quite a lot of info so read carefully. Keep scrolling down for the chart & the second square.
Information about our Seasonal Square Along can be found on this blog post here https://fudgeswool.co.uk/blogs/fudges-wool/fudge-s-seasonal-square-along-information-post
Below you will find the instructions for Square 2a: Double Knitting Apple Square and Square 2b: seed stitch lattice.
You can also buy a printable pdf with our YouTube video links here. Once paid you will receive monthly updates via email with a link to download an updated copy with the new squares attached. https://fudgeswool.co.uk/products/fudge-s-seasonal-square-along-digital-download-pdf
The first of our squares uses the Double- Knitting technique which gives a double sided effect.
October Square 2a – Apples
October is the traditional time for apple picking, cider making and is a great opportunity to plant new fruit trees before the frosts. Common ground launched the first Apple Day on 21st October 1990 to celebrate the wide varieties of apples growing in our Orchards but also to draw attention to the risks of losing biodiversity in our fruits. Now is a perfect time to look out your local community orchards.
Materials
Approx 20g each of 2 contrasting colours in D.K
4mm Knitting needles
Tension Square should measure 15cm when blocked.
Abbreviations
K- Knit
P – Purl
sts – Stitches
WS – Wrong Side
RS - Right Side
K2tog – Knit 2 stitches together
SSK – Slip Slip Knit
The instructions in this pattern should be relevant to both right and left handed knitters. The instructions for rows 3 and 4 below are right hand instructions, sorry. I have included a both left and right hand charts.
Notes on Double-knitting
Double-knitting is a technique whereby you knit a two layered fabric usually stocking stitch on both sides. This fabric is reversible and is a fun colourwork method requiring no locking in or carrying of floats. It is great for scarves and hats.
Basic principles
• Paired stitches - Double-knitting consists of pairs of stitches, the first stitch is knitted this stitch is on the front of the work, the second stitch is purled this stitch works the reverse side of the fabric. The purl stitch creates the knit stitch on the reverse or wrong side of the fabric.
When working these pairs of stitches, it is important to work as follows. Knit 1 with both yarns at the back, bring both yarns to the front and purl 1 with both yarns the front, take both yarns back to the back.
• Holding yarns – Hold the yarns in the way most comfortable to you, you may want to hold yarns in the same hand, one in left and one in right, if you need to keep dropping one colour and picking up the second, that is also fine. I hold my yarns with the colour I am knitting with on top of my index finger and the colour I am purling with underneath, I will then swap the positioning of these when I change colours along the row.
• Edge Stitches. For our reversible fabric we need the edges of the front and back to be locked together so the sides don’t come apart. We will achieve this by treating the edge pairs as one stitch rather than a pair and slipping them together at the beginning of the row and knitting them together at the end of the row.
• Casting on – The easiest way to cast on for double-knitting is to cast on using both strands of yarn at the same time. When you cast on one stitch with both yarns held together you create a pair of stitches one in each colour. As you cast on you need to encourage colour A to be at the front of the pair closest to the needle tip.
The Pattern
Cast on 30 stitches with your preferred cast on method using both yarns together.
Now follow the October Square Apple Chart following the techniques discussed above,
I have included some explanations on reading the chart. Below I will just run through the first few rows to get you started.
Row 1. The first symbol on our chart tells us to Slip the first pair of stitches purlwise with the yarn in the front then put yarn to the back. (We will do this at the beginning of every row) Now work each pair of stitches along the row, as per the chart. All of the squares on our chart for row 1 are red so we will knit the first stitch of the pair with colour A and then purl the next stitch with colour B. We will continue this along the row to the last pair of stitches which we will knit together as one stitch with both strands of yarn. Before starting row 2 I would just adjust your yarns so that they are not twisted.
Remember that we are working on the reverse side of our work in row 2 so although the boxes are for our main colour we will be knitting with our contrast and purling with our main.
Row 2. Slip the first pair of stitches purlwise with the yarn in front and then put the yarn to the back. Now work each pair of stitches along the row as follows, Knit 1 colour B, Purl 1 in colour A, continue this along the row to the last pair of stitches which will be knitted together
Row 3. Slip the first pair of stitches together purlwise with the yarn at the front then put the yarn to the back. Work 15 pairs of stitches K1A, P1B. Work the next 3 pairs K1B, P1A. The next pair K1A, P1B. The next 3 pairs K1B, P1A, work until the last pair of stitches, K1A, P1B. Knit the last pair together as one stitch.
Row 4. Slip the first pair of stitches together purlwise with the yarn at the front and then put the yarn to back. Now work 5 pairs of stitches, K1B, P1A, then 9 pairs of stitches K1A, P1B. Now work K1B, P1A until the last pair which will be knitted together as one stitch.
Now continue following the chart finishing with row 36.
Cast off all stitches. – To cast off you will need to knit the pairs of stitches together with both strands of yarn before passing the stitches over as usual. You can choose to knit the pairs together in a standard K2tog. This can put the reverse stitch on the top allowing the purl bump to be visible, this is perfectly fine but if you would rather a slightly neater finish you can work the pair of stitches together in a SSK. This will place the knit stitch on the front of both sides of fabric then cast off as normal.
Right-Handed October Square Apple Chart
Notes on the chart
All knitting charts are a visual representation of how the work will look on the right side of the fabric.
After casting on we start working straight away from the chart. Row 1 starts in the bottom right-hand corner and is worked right to left. Row 2 starts the second row of the chart up and working left to right.
You continue to work each row moving one row up the chart, remembering that all right sided rows are worked right to left and wrong sided rows left to right.
Keep in mind that when working wrong sided left to right rows you are looking at the reverse of fabric so follow key carefully so that your main colour and contrast colours are reversed from the image shown in the chart.
Left-Handed October Square Apple Chart
Notes on the chart
All knitting charts are a visual representation of how the work will look on the right side of the fabric.
After casting on we start working straight away from the chart. Row 1 starts in the bottom left-hand corner and is worked left to right. Row 2 starts the second row of the chart up and working right to left.
You continue to work each row moving one row up the chart, remembering that all right sided rows are worked left to right and wrong sided rows right to left.
Keep in mind that when working wrong sided right to left rows you are looking at the reverse of fabric so follow key carefully so that your main colour and contrast colours are reversed from the image shown in the chart.
Square 2b: Seed Stitch Lattice October Square
October was the month of apple cake and apple & blackberry pie in our paternal grandmother's house. This square represents the criss cross of the topping of those delicious pies with their bubbling inside peaking through.
September’s stitch of the month was Moss Stitch also known as seed stitch and so it has become one of our 2 squares this month.
Materials
Approx 20g of DK yarn.
4mm Knitting needles
Abbreviations
K- Knit
P – Purl
sts – Stitches
WS – Wrong Side
RS - Right Side
Tension
Square should measure approx 15cm, some blocking may be needed
Pattern
Cast on 34 stitches and knit 2 rows
- Row 1 (RS) – Knit all stitches
- Row 2 (WS) K2, P2, *(K1, P1) 3 times, P1. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 3 K5, *P1, K1, P1, K4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K5
- Row 4 K2, P2, *(K1, P1) 3 times, P1. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 5 K5, *P1, K1, P1, K4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K5
- Row 6 K2, P2, *(K1, P1) 3 times, P1. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 7 K5, *P1, K1, P1, K4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K5
- Row 8 K2, P2, *K12, P2 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches K2
- Row 9 K4 *P12, K2 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 10 K2, purl to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 11 K4, *(P1, K1) 3 times, K1 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 12 K2, P3, *K1, P1, K1, P4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P3, K2
- Row 13 K4, *(P1, K1) 3 times, K1 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 14 K2, P3, *K1, P1, K1, P4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P3, K2
- Row 15 K4, *(P1, K1) 3 times, K1 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 16 K2, P3, *K1, P1, K1, P4 ; repeat from * to last 8 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P3, K2
- Row 17, K2, P2, *P5, K2, P7 ; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
- Row 18, K2, *K7, P2, K5 ; repeat from * to last 4 stitches, K4
- Repeat rows 1 – 18
- Repeat rows 1 – 16
- Knit 3 rows then cast off
Top Tips! In the moss/seed stitch sections knit the stitches that look like purls and purl the stitches that look like knit. The Stitch of the month video demonstrates the moss/seed stitch section of this pattern over on our YouTube channel.