Stitch Saturday - The Sand Stitch
Hello, my crafty companions. You’ll have to excuse the lateness of the next Stitch Saturday post—sometimes I forget that my youngest sister is still, indeed, a small child, and as such gets sick rather easily. Unfortunately for all of us, she refuses most medicine as all small children tend to do, and the cold turned into a flu that took out most of the house, and with immunocompromised members of the household, that means that there is quite a bit of fuss to be made when the sick are recovering and the caretakers then get sick themselves after the sick have recovered. It truly is like clockwork when our house gets sick, with so many members—but that’s not the point of today’s post. Today, our stitch is
The sand stitch is a two row repeat stitch and the first stitch in this series that comes with a predetermined number of stitches, plus an additional set of whichever number you choose. This is typically shown as “Multiple of [number x] plus [number y] stitches” in books or online. In the sand stitch’s case, you cast on a multiple of two plus one stitch. Cast on any even number of stitches, then cast on one additional stitch, which you will be utilizing in the second row. For the first row, you purl all the stitches, and then on the second row of the repeat, you knit one stitch, then alternate purling one then knitting one stitch all the way down the row. This ends up with a rather interestingly textured fabric where the right side will have columns with little bumps alternating rows, not unlike sand grains, while the wrong side will have no columns and considerably more bumps. As both sides can be worn without everything looking like a hot mess, I hesitate to use the terms “right side” and “wrong side,” but that is the easiest way to differentiate the sides. This fabric, despite being able to be worn on both sides, is not reversible, as it does not look identical on either side. Below are pictures of the right and wrong sides.
[ALT ID: A gauge swatch of the front and back of the Sand Stitch done in yellow-green yarn. /End ID]
This swatch was done with seventeen cast-on stitches (sixteen plus one), and sixteen rows.
Pattern - Two row repeat: Purl all stitches of first row. Turn. Knit one, then alternate purling and knitting one stitch all the way back.
Thank you for joining me on this Stitch Saturday, my crafty companions. Stay crafty, and take care of yourselves.
