Stacked Stitches

I've long admired the beautiful patterns with stacked stitches created by Xandy Peters - available on Ravelry or from her website "So I make stuff", e.g. the absolutely gorgeous Fow Paws pattern or Ribbon Candy. I really wanted to be able to do this technique and design something with it.

When I first tried the technique, it took me a while to get the hang of it - because, frankly, the stacked stitches all bungled up on the needles feel weird. But once I got over that (and got my maths right), stacked stitches have a certain rhythm to them and are really fun to knit.

The piece shown below is going to be a double-length cowl, knitted flat with the ends grafted together. (I like that construction :)

Videos explaining how to do stacked increases and stacked decreases can be found on the "So I make Stuff"-YouTube channel.

Cordillera Scarf

A beautiful scarf to show off the contrast of two skeins of the same variegated yarn started at different places in the color sequence. It is knitted from end to end all in garter stitch.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.




Materials

• a total about 150 grams of fingering weight yarn - in two colors  (I used two skeins of Noro Taiyo Sock but started at a different point in the color sequence)
• 3.5 mm needles (straights or circular)
• 1 stitch marker

Techniques and Notation

• Changing colors with the intarsia technique - as shown in this YouTube video by knitwithpat; or this YouTube video by Francoise Danoy.
• k8 (C1); k8 (C2) means knit 8 sts in C1 and knit 8 sts in C2 - i.e. the color is indicated in brackets after the stitches and color changes are indicated by a semicolon

Size
I did a total of 9 repeats before I started decreasing. My scarf is about 190 long and - at its widest point - 40 cm wide.

Instructions
CO8 (C1) and CO8 (C2)
Setup Row 0: sl1, k7 (C1); place marker; k8 (C2)

Increasing Part
Ridge 1: sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k1 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k2 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k3 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k4 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, kfb, k to 5 sts bef marker (C1); k to last 2 sts, kfb, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k5 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k4 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k3 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k2 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k1 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, kfb, k to marker (C1); k to last 2 sts, kfb, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k5 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k to marker, k1 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 12: sl1, k to marker, k2 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k to marker, k3 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k to marker, k4 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, kfb, k to marker, k5 (C1); k to last 2 sts, kfb, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 5 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k to marker, k4 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 17: sl1, k to marker, k3 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 18: sl1, k to marker, k2 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 19: sl1, k to marker, k1 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 20: sl1, kfb, k to marker (C1); k to last 2 sts, kfb, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker (C2); k to end (C1)

If you prefer to work with charts, here's a chart of the increasing part.

Chart 1: Increasing Part of Cordillera Scarf

Repeat Rows 1 to 20 until you have reach half of your desired length.

Decreasing Part
Ridge 1: sl1, k2tog, k to 1 st bef marker (C1); k to last 3 sts, ssk, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k1 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k2 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k3 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k4 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k to 5 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k5 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k2tog, k to 4 sts bef marker (C1); k to last 3 sts, ssk, k1, (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k4 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k3 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k2 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k1 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k to marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker, k5 (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k2tog, k to marker, k1 (C1); k to last 3 sts, ssk, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 12: sl1, k to marker, k2 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k to marker, k3 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k to marker, k4 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k to marker, k5 (C1); k to last end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 5 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k2tog, k to marker, k4 (C1); k to last 3 sts, ssk, k1 (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 4 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 17: sl1, k to marker, k3 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 3 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 18: sl1, k to marker, k2 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 2 sts bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 19: sl1, k to marker, k1 (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to 1 st bef marker (C2); k to end (C1)
Ridge 20: sl1, k to marker (C1); k to end (C2) // turn // sl1, k to marker (C2); k to end (C1)

Chart 2: Decreasing Part of Cordillera Scarf

Repeat until there are only 8 sts of each color left. Instead of a the last WS row bind off in pattern.
Weave in ends and block.

This page was feature on Fiber Tuesday Link Party #51 by Ouicrochet and on the Knitting Love Monthly Link Party #8. Thank you!