Attached & Apart: First Course
One of the joys of having indie designers as friends is you get to see incredible fashion creations, both in hand knits and in textiles. Jill Wolcott shared this photo of her shawl with the group and I knew that we’d found this collection’s inspiration.
Though a woven textile, my brain jumped to, “oh, how can I created this intricate attached and separate type of design with yarn and needles?”
After a few rounds of discussion and another inspiring photograph (that you’ll read about in Attached and Apart: main Course) we’d chosen the four stitch patterns to work with. Each of us must include at least one of the chosen patterns.
As these projects hit your knitting needles, we hope the same sense of adventure and creation accompanies your projects as it did ours.
Happy knitting!
Knitecochic
I made 5 Instagram tutorials to support this pattern:
How to make a yarn over at the beginning of a row
How to join the ribbons with a crochet hook
How to join the ribbons with knitting needles
-Christine
About Diva Design Kerchief
Historical lace is modernized with an exciting technique which creates both layers simultaneously in Diva Design Kerchief. A light yarn commitment provides plenty of opportunity with this two row lace repeat to master the unusual technique. Upscale your everyday wear drawing in the attention of friends and intrigue of knitters with your Diva Design Kerchief!
The tech edited and test knit intermediate level design is fully written with the lace written and charted. Several how-to videos are available on the Knit Eco Chic blog as well.
Finished Measurements:
25”/ 63.5cm long by 3.5”/ 9cm wide
Materials:
30g/ 1.05oz fingering weight yarn in two 15g/ 0.53oz colors. Shown in Five Wise Owls Organic Cotton Fingering, shown in color Night Moves (MC) and Fire Starter (AC)
Single skein info: 100% organic cotton fingering weight; 437yds/ 400m per 100g/ 3.5oz
Sample weight: 30g/ 1.05oz
US 5/ 3.75mm DPNs or circulars
Scrap yarn for provisional cast on
Yarn needle
2 Stitch markers
Blocked Gauges:
21 sts and 30 rows over 4”/ 10cm with yarn held double in Stockinette stitch. Note: exact gauge is not critical to this design. Gauge variations may impact final size and yardage requirements.
Special Notes:
• Customize It: Diva Design Kerchief is easy to adjust in length with its two row pattern repeat, just work the Scarf section until each half measures 0.5”/ cm less than total desired length. Sample shows
each half the same length. To align the pick up line with your spine, if you plan on wearing yours exclusively to the side (rather than to the front as well), you may make one length longer and the other shorter.
• Count It: MCAC sts count as 1 st; AC & MC sts are counted individually. When working decreases including both double stranding and DLK, the AC and MC are considered 1 pair of sts, so count
together as 1 st. For instance, sssk* works 1MCAC stitch together with 2 sets of 1AC and
1MC to create a new MCAC st so 6 strands are being worked together in the decrease and the 1AC
and 1MC are counted together as 1 st in creating the syntax.
• Read It: when only 1 st is worked the stranding direction comes after the stitch, ie k1MCAC means
knit 1 double stranded, k1AC means knit 1 with AC only. When a series of stitches are worked, the stranding information comes before the series, ie AC - k2, yo, k1 means using only AC k2, yarn
over, and k1.
• Track It: colors that show up on the right side are always worked first. In the edging sections, MC will be on the right side, in the lace section AC will be on the right side.
• Stitch It: Double Layer Knitting (DLK) is used throughout this design. When you see a break
down between AC and MC stitches, they are worked in the DLK method. Make sure to properly move yarn back and forth as required for this method to ensure the yarns do not cross. Before working the any individual MC sts between the two markers, make sure the AC is in the proper position, yf.
• Tie It: if you want the ties to be fully reversible, you may substitute Double Knitting for the separated AC and MC stitches in that section. Keep the short tie as the horizontal part and use the longer tie to wrap once. For active wear, you may wish to use a small decorative pin to secure them in place.
• Watch It: check out the Knit Eco Chic blog, Diva Design Kerchief Videos for tutorials on the set up
and Double Layer Knitting technique.
• Psalm 133
About Chios
My spouse gave me this scarf that I only seem to wear at holidays; it is probably vintage at this point, showing that great design continues to inspire. I have always wanted to make it a knitwear design, but never found an idea I liked,
and that didn't involve fiddly pieces I don't enjoy making.
I chose a stitch pattern that Knit Eco Chic contributed, and one that I contributed. Since I needed to have gauge to figure out my garments, I knitted a cowl after doing a little swatching for needle size.
I was thrilled when I put the cowl on my dress form and saw the beautiful swoop created by the German short rows. SRs are always worth it! The shaping gave me clues of shaping I wanted to take forward from this cowl.
Always when I'm knitting and thinking about a new design there are lots of possibilities. Working this project I learned and felt needed to be addressed in my garment pieces was that the twisted rib would end up being too heavy to be supported by the mesh in a large scale.
I took a step back to find a better design solution for me: strips became tiers of 3-stitch twisted rib, and the mesh became a focal fabric, to wear over a second pullover. I am putting this pattern into the Pattern Tailor in a much bigger way than I did in Sizzlin' Stitches. This piece will familiarize you with the Pattern Tailor and allow you to choose the weight of yarn and a gauge you like.
It is sometimes hard to know what is the right gauge: could you improve it or is it the correct gauge. Whenever you are making a design of mine please feel free to contact me for help on choosing the right gauge for your yarn.
The pattern always includes details on my sample yarn(s), measurements, and gauge information. My two lace weight cowls took about 35g of yarn each but I need to be able to calculate how much more should I expect to use in DK.
I specifically made this cowl to work as a gauge swatch for the upcoming pair of garments in the second part of our collaboration, but it also totally stands alone if that is as far as you want to go. Both stitch patterns are easy to work in the round and to memorize.
I'll be making another Chios Cowl in DK weight yarn if you would like to join me! I'll be doing my knitting after 12/25/2025 and before the release of the first large project on January 5,
2026.
-Jill Wolcott