Vertical repeats

Posted 2 Oct 2013 by JC

When working multiple vertical repeats of a stitch pattern, which rows should Stitch-Maps.com repeat? Up until now, it’s repeated all of them. That’s not always appropriate, which is why Stitch-Maps.com now accepts knitspeak like Repeat rows 1-2:

• Row 1 (RS): *Yo, k3, sl1-k2tog-psso, k3, yo, k1, repeat from *, yo, k3, sl1-k2tog-psso, k3, yo.
• Row 2: Purl.
• Row 3: *Yo, k9, yo, k1, repeat from *, yo, k9, yo.
• Repeat rows 1-2.

That’s how stitch maps for Point Edging show rows 1 and 2 being worked multiple times – in the example below, four times – while row 3 gets worked just once:

Why might you want to repeat just a portion of a stitch pattern’s rows? Maybe a few set-up rows are necessary to ensure that the stitch maps are balanced vertically as well as horizontally:

Or – and this is my favorite use of Repeat rows x-y – you might have a lace “wedge” that you want to use in a top-down shawl. Such wedges often begin with several set-up rows, then repeat and grow wider with the remaining rows. Split Leaf wedge is an excellent example.

Want to read more about vertical repeats? Check out the updated knitspeak guide.

Enjoy!