Knit HeartStrings Learn-and-Knit-Alongs

Use what you’ve learned in last month’s Beaded Crescent Neck Lace KAL as a jumping off point to make other sizes. Here are the magic numbers.

For those who participated (thank you!) in the KAL for Beaded Crescent Neck Lace that recently ended, you should now have a pretty good idea of the basic approach for bottom-up short row crescent shaping. You can use what you’ve learned as a jumping off point to start with other narrow edgings of your choice or to make in whatever size you want.

As a follow-up bonus, I wanted to briefly go over the “magic numbers” in adjusting Beaded Crescent Neck Lace for other sizes by changing the stitch count. An example of a smaller size would be a choker style. Or you might want to do something a bit larger for a bigger neck or that hangs further from the throat.  Maybe sized up even larger for a scarf or shoulder shawl.

Assuming the same short row interval increase of 4 stitches, the magic recipe is adjustments in multiples of 8 stitches and (8 + 4) beads.

How Did I Come Up With the Magic Numbers?

Each short row increases by 4 stitches. A 4 stitch increase for a RS row + a 4 stitch increase for the return (WS) row = a total of 8 stitches increased for each set of RS/WS rows. This gives us our stitch multiple.

Each cast on pickup stitch uses a loop of the Beaded Loops Edging with a bead on it. Multiple of 8 cast on stitches = multiple of 8 beads needed for the Beaded Loops Edging.

Every other stitch bound off is beaded. Multiple of 8 stitches bound off = multiple of 4 beads for the Beaded Bind Off row.

Taking into account an extra stitch for symmetry (i.e. the center stitch), the final numbers for making any size Beaded Crescent Neck Lace are —

8 beads per multiple plus 1 extra for the Beaded Loops Edging.
8 stitches per multiple plus 1 extra for the cast on pickup.
4 beads per multiple plus 1 extra for the Beaded Bind Off row.

Example: Adapting to a Choker

The commercial standard size of a choker is 16 inches. Note: For a custom fit, measure the exact length around your neck (or the recipient’s).

Based on gauge of 5 stitches/inch, 16″ requires 80 stitches. (i.e. 5 x 16)

Lucky us! 80 is evenly divisible by 8; i.e. giving a multiple of 10 times. But remember that we still will need to add in the “+1” extra stitch at center to arrive at the the final numbers of stitches and beads.

Plugging a “10” into the formulas for making any size gives us —

Beads to be strung for Beaded Loops Edging: (8 beads x 10) + 1 = 81 beads.
Stitches for cast on: (8 stitches x 10) + 1 = 81 stitches.
Beads to be strung for Beaded Bind Off row: (4 beads x 10) + 1 = 41 beads.

Fudging the Multiple

What if your gauge and target size do not produce an evenly divisible number for the multiple?

For a choker, I suggest going up to the next higher whole number multiple, assuming you don’t want to choke yourself or someone else. <g>

For a larger piece, it’s your choice to round the multiple either up or down to a whole number. Rounding down will use less yarn. Rounding up will use more yarn. As the rows get longer and longer, those extra rows can eat up the yarn faster than you might expect!  I advise to round down if you are concerned about the amount of yarn you have.

Other Crescent Inspiration

If you’ve enjoyed knitting with this bottom-up crescent shape approach, I invite you to some eye candy of these other pattern designs in my HeartStrings line for inspiration or to knit in the future.

Swags of Lace Crescent

Loganberry Cable Lace Crescent

Judy B wrote: “Wonderful pattern!  Thank you for creating and sharing this gorgeous piece.”

The shape of the crescent is filled in with ever-widening simple garter stitch short rows. The crescent part of the neck lace is done when no more stitches remain at either end of needle when you make the turn.

Now you are ready to bind off. In the Beaded Crescent Neck Lace design, beads are added to the bind off row to embellish the upper neckline of the crescent.

Stringing Beads for Binding Off

Before beginning the bind off, string your yarn with the number of beads you will need. To avoid extra ends, I suggest cutting the yarn to leave a tail long enough to do the bind off. Then string the beads to the yarn end still attached to the knitting.

Note: Later on when incorporating the beads into the bind off row, you’ll actually be pushing the beads toward the knitting as needed i.e. the opposite of what we’ve usually done before.

Tip: How long of a tail to leave? I figured approximately 4 times the width to be bound off. For Beaded Crescent Neck Lace, this is about 3 yards.

How Many Beads?

Since the beads will be placed every other bind off stitch, and you have a total of 113 stitches for Beaded Crescent Neck Lace, and  you will need:

113 divided by 2 = 56 beads

Tip:  In beading math we ignore the leftover fractions, since we aren’t going to be splitting up a bead into pieces!

Beaded Purl vs. Knit Bind Off

Remember that beads want to go to the bumpy side of the stitches. So if binding off from the right side of the project, you will want to do a purl bind off rather than a knit bind off. Note: The Beaded Crescent Neck Lace is otherwise essentially reversible, but I wanted to give you a chance to use the beaded purl bind off method.

Binding Off to Stabilize the Neckline

This is one of those times when you don’t have be concerned about keeping a very loose bind off. There are 2 reasons that a firmer bind off is actually preferred for this neckline:

1. The beads will stay in position.
2. The neckline will not stretch out.

Of course, you don’t want to bind off so tightly to cause rippling of the fabric or strangling your neck! Your bind off can be snug, but should not be distorted.

Next up

After making this small crescent-shaped project, my hope is that you’ve become comfortable doing this type of short-row, bottom-up scarf/shawl construction.

With your confidence in place, you are now ready to knit larger crescent-shaped scarves/shawls with more complicated stitch patterns. In fact, I even have something to tempt you that was just released earlier this month: the Swags of Lace Crescent Scarf.

Reminder! There’s a Special Edition Kit for Swags of Lace Crescent Scarf with yarn/beads/pattern you can win in October’s Giveaway.

Watch for this coming Bonus: Adapting the Beaded Crescent Neck Lace to other sizes.

From RobynMay: “So beautiful. Thank you Jackie for sharing your knowledge and love of craft with us.”