Entrelac E-Book

Molly Brown

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: Knitting Techniques
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 116

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Whether knitted flat or in the round, entrelac is a great way to produce intriguing knitted pieces with a seemingly woven look. With clear step-by-step tutorials and illustrative images, this book explains the anatomy of entrelac and how to build up rows of nested triangles and squares. Practise the technique with the different swatch instructions before following one of the book's three patterns, which can be further customized through variations and embellishments. Once you have mastered the technique, there is plenty to inspire your next entrelac project as well as advice on creating your own original designs.

Leseprobe

First published in 2022 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

This e-book first published in 2022

© Molly Brown 2022

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 984 6

Cover design: Sergey Tsvetkov

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part One: How to Knit Entrelac

1Before You Start: Understanding Entrelac and the Essential Skills

2The Basic Technique

3Variations on the Basic Technique

Part Two: What to Knit in Entrelac

4Baby Blanket

5Cosy Wrap

6Slouchy Hat

7Headband and Cowl

Appendices

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Abbreviations

CO

cast on

k

knit

k2tog

knit two stitches together

LH

left-hand

m1

make one stitch by picking up and working the loop between the stitches

p

purl

p2tog

purl two stitches together

psso

pass slip stitch over

RS

right side of the work

RH

right-hand

Sl

slip

SSK

slip, slip, knit. Slip one stitch knitwise, slip next stitch knitwise, insert LH needle into the front of the two slipped stitches on the RH needle and knit both stitches together

W

wrap

WS

wrong side of the work

Introduction

For many years entrelac had been a technique I knew was there but had not mastered. Some years ago, I mastered the technique and then started to explore the possibilities of this intriguingly textured knitting. I find it very pleasing to knit. As someone who likes to see the progress in my projects, I find working small blocks helps me have a sense of achievement. Even when the time I have to spend on a project is limited, getting even one block completed is usually an achievable goal and therefore satisfying.

Since learning the technique, I have also started to teach it to other people. This has put me in a unique position to write a book on the subject. Not only have I learnt from my own mistakes, but I have also seen the mistakes often made by others. So, I have included in these pages a section about commonly made mistakes and how to avoid them which I hope you will find useful.

Entrelac requires you to master six steps or building blocks. To help you understand the required building blocks, the book begins by looking at the ‘anatomy’ of entrelac. I explain this so those of you who like to know where they are going can begin to get a handle on how entrelac works before you pick up your needles. But for those of you who just need to knit to learn as you go, skip on to Chapter 2, but do check back to the ‘anatomy’ if you need to.

Entrelac is a bit like building blocks, all nestling or tessellating neatly with their neighbours. But because of its unique construction, it does not lay flat when it is on the needles. It can therefore be a little tricky to see where you are up to at times. So, to help you get the hang of entrelac, I have taken step-by-step photos of the knitted swatch both on and off the needles. In this way, you can more easily see where you are up to and where the next step fits into the overall structure.

A basic swatch is explained in step-by-step detail in Chapter 2. This swatch is made up of triangles and rectangles. However, there are a number of variations on this basic technique, which are explained and illustrated in Chapter 3. Some of these variations have then been used in the patterns in Part Two of the book.

In making each small section, the rows are not very long. You soon reach the end of a row and are turning to work the next. Therefore, if you are someone who gets bored on a big project by endless rows of knit or purl, then entrelac might just be the answer for you as each block can be a mini target of achievement in the whole project. Once you get into the flow of entrelac, you will find yourself sitting down intending to complete just one block then, before you know it, you are on your second or third block and the work is growing beautifully.

Being worked over lots of short rows does mean that the work needs to be turned frequently. This can be tiresome, so, working out how to knit ‘backwards’ is a great help. This is explained in detail in Chapter 1, but in essence it is working the wrong side rows from the right needle to the left, therefore avoiding the need to turn the work. I can thoroughly recommend encouraging your brain to allow you to do this, even though it might mean unlearning many years of habit.

The buzz I get from teaching is seeing how people go on to use the technique I have taught them, rather than them producing an item identical to something I have made. In these pages you will find all the steps you need to master for knitting basic entrelac clearly explained, as well as four lovely patterns for you to follow. However, each pattern also has ideas for variations to the design. With simple tweaks to the patterns, you can stamp your own flair on the basic ideas. You will find suggestions and information about how to do this included in the pages of this book. In the Appendices, at the back of the book, there is an entrelac grid and a page of knitting graph. They are there to help you develop your own ideas.

Have fun!

A HISTORY OF ENTRELAC

Where the technique of entrelac first originated and how it comes to be given this name is not clear. Despite having dug around for information for the purposes of this book, I have not been able to uncover and pinpoint when the word ‘entrelac’ became associated with the technique. As it doesn’t seem to have been in the post-war knitting patterns our mothers or grandmothers used, we are perhaps inclined to think of it as new. Well, it seems that is far from the case.

As a hands-on kind of girl, I don’t often prioritize time for looking at textile history, but I am none the less interested in the subject. In 2016, I was lucky enough to make a journey with my husband on our tandem. The journey was from our home in Chester (UK) to Istanbul. On this trip we visited many museums – I might even say too many. It was not unusual to find me sitting knitting, while I waited for my husband to complete his tour of the museum we were visiting. The museum that stands out in my memory was in Burgas, Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast. This lovely little museum was packed with examples of textiles of all kinds. I took as long looking round as my husband did, possibly even longer. However, there was no entrelac, so I digress. But I mention this, as researching the history of entrelac for this book has been fascinating and enjoyable. As you will read, from my computer I have travelled widely in Northern Europe and across to America. I have felt I ought to put on a Sherlock Holmes hat and keep a magnifying glass nearby. It feels like there are strands leading off in different directions. It would be lovely to follow the threads by making trips to these places, to see what more I can find out.

The first assumption I made was that entrelac is a French technique. I came to this conclusion as the word sounds French and I had read that entrelac is a French technique in more than one place. Not being able to find out more about entrelac in France, I wondered if it was a French-Canadian tradition, but it seems this is not the case either. Going back to basics with the word ‘entrelac’, I was directed towards that great font of knowledge that is The Oxford English Dictionary. Here, there are two entries for entrelac: one about the word being used to describe decorative pattern and the other about the knitting technique we know today. The first definition of the word is not dissimilar to the way it is used to describe the knitting technique in this book. The word ‘entrelac’ was used as far back as 1723, but to describe architectural features, patterns, shapes and designs that mimic the interlacing of ribbons or cords.

But what about the use of the word in relation to knitting? Here The Oxford English Dictionary only goes back only as far as 1984, to a knitting pattern printed in a Chicago newspaper. As you read on, you will see that the technique has definitely been around for centuries. However, this does not mark when the technique was invented, but rather it might be that this is when the word ‘entrelac’ started to be widely used in the English language to describe this particular knitting technique. Before the 1980s it was known by other names, such as interweave or basket weave. In the 1980s, Susan Duckworth produced several designs using the technique. There is a ‘basketweave sweater’ in Designer Knitting, published in 1986. Here she introduces entrelac and says, ‘this fascinating trompe l’oeil pattern looks woven but is actually knitted’. In her book Susan Duckworth Knitting, published in 1988, there is an impressive ‘Kimono’ which she describes as an ‘interlaced stitch pattern’. So, there were a number of designers using the technique in their patterns and in knitting technique books, but not all were calling it ‘entrelac’. To find further evidence of this we just have to refer to Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ book Knitting in the Old Way (1985), in which she says the following:

Basketweave Sweaters of Finland – Across the Scandinavian and Nordic countries, a geometric type of knitting which resembles woven basketry was popular for caps and mittens, and occasionally used in waistcoats, too. This type of work was particularly striking in Finland, where it was worked into sweaters, and is particularly effective in the yoke; an entire sweater might be a little overwhelming unless worked in one colour only.

She then goes on to describe the detail of how to knit entrelac.

Published just a year before this, in 1984, Traditional Scandinavian Knitting, by Sheila McGregor, gives it a different name. Here, the same technique is called ‘Diagonal Patchwork Knitting’.

Sheila says:

This intriguing variation for once does not seem to have any functional reason behind it: it is purely decorative and is certainly eye-catching when knitted in the traditional red and black squares which are found in Finland and the far west of Norway.

This seems to lead us to Scandinavia where entrelac, known by other names, has a long history. In Norway the word for entrelac is Kontstrikk and in Sweden it is Näverstickning. The skill in Norway has been recognized as part of the cultural heritage and placed on the list of skills in danger of being lost. The tradition in Norway is to have the right side of the work facing you all the time. It therefore follows that ‘knitting backwards’, as explained in Chapter 3, would have been the norm for working this pattern. This negates the need for frequent turning of the work and speeds up the process. In Norway, entrelac was mostly used for knitting socks, plain for everyday wear and colourful for special occasions. Along with other knitted items, they were given as gifts at weddings.

Norwegian Stocking in Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Iowa, USA.

Gloves from Mahtra Peasantry Museum. (Mahtra Talurahvamuuseum)

From Norway, we now travel to the USA. Pictured here is one of a pair of stockings belonging to Jensiene Marie Nelson Hansen. She, together with her parents, immigrated from Nordland in Norway to Wisconsin, USA in 1889. Jensiene was just seventeen years old at the time. It is not known if the stockings were knitted by her, or by her mother. This colour and style are certainly very striking and were popular in Scandinavia at this time. There are many examples of socks and gloves to be seen in museums of folk history. They were often knitted in two colours, as seen here, sometimes in three, but rarely more than four. They must have been a valued item and looked after carefully as they are over 130 years old. They are now well looked after in the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Iowa.

Entrelac is also known in Estonia where it is called lapiline kude, which translates to ‘patchwork knitting’. The gloves pictured here are from