Read Knitting Patterns for Lace

A beginning knitter might think that the knitting pattern for lace is just way too complex. So here are some tips to help provide some confidence.

The key component of lace fabric is the hole - without those eyelets there would be no lace.

The stitch that makes that hole has several names: Yarn Over (YO), Yarn Forward (Yfwd), Yarn Round Needle (Yrn), and others, depending on the age of the pattern or its country of origin or even just how the pattern writer thinks. (Here is an article about the Yarn Over stitch.)

The Yarn Over is an increase stitch. If the knitted fabric is supposed to end up rectangular, then there really has to be a corresponding decrease stitch. Typically, these decreases are formed by either right-leaning decrease like the K2tog (Knit 2 stitches together) or a left-leaning decrease like the SKP (Slip 1 stitch knitwise, Knit 1 stitch, Pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch). (Here is an article about Left-Leaning and Right-Leaning Decreases.)

Enough background - let's see a real example of a row instruction for lace:

Row 2: K4. * K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K5. Rep from * until 9 sts rem. K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K4.

The first step when you see a row like this is to identify the three main chunks in it:

• The beginning (the part before the asterisk or star or *): K4.
• The middle or repeat (the part after the asterisk and before the Repeat instruction): K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K5.
• The ending (the part after the Repeat instruction): K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K4.

Some people like to highlight just the repeated chunk of instructions. That isolates the beginning chunk and the ending chunk.

One useful tip is based on the fact that you are supposed to repeat until 9 stitches remain on the old needle. Put a stitch marker (or just a safety pin) onto the old needle just before those last 9 stitches. That way, when you come to the stitch marker, you know that you are supposed to stop the repeats. Then you can take the stitch marker off and work the ending chunk of the instructions.

You might have noticed that the ending chunk looks just like the repeated chunk - the only difference is that there is only a K4 at the end instead of a K5.

My personal confession: I don't worry about stopping 9 stitches from the end - I just keep knitting until I run out of stitches, and then I confirm that I ended with a K4.

One last tip: when you're looking at lace patterns, start with something that is simple. What defines simple? Look at the repeated section in the row instructions: if there are only one or two YOs in it, then I would call it simple. If it has three or more YOs in a repeat, it just might be something to do when you have a bit more experience.

If you found the above discussion a bit too complicated, please consider signing up for a free email-based course on How to Read Knitting Patterns.