KNITTING LACE PATTERN: GOTHIC LACE STITCH

Gothic Lace Stitch is a lace pattern stitch. To knit lace patterns we need a lot of patience, especially if you are approaching these techniques for the first time.

The best thing to approach the various lace stitches is to choose something not too difficult with simple repetitions and to make a little swatch. Yes, you understood correctly, in this case, making a sample is even more important: it gets the mind used to thinking in terms of patterns, and it is useful to memorize the sequence of stitches and to face any critical points. Also because unraveling a lace pattern is really complicated!

What you need to knit Gothic Lace Stitch

This knit stitch is very common, you will surely have come across projects made with it. It can be knitted with different types of yarns, depending on personal preferences and the effect you want to obtain. Keep in mind that the choice of yarn will affect the look of the work: tight and smooth yarns bring out the pattern more than soft and brushed ones. For this swatch, we used:

• Beechwood Knitting Needles size 6 mm (10 US) – you can adjust with different sizes of needles according to your yarn and your tension
• Yarn Lana in color Lilac
• Yarn Petit Mohair in color Dusty Rose

The effect of Lana with Petit Mohair seemed amazing to us, but indeed, it can be more complicated to work with.

Gothic Lace Stitch: stitches and technique used

In the simplest lace stitch patterns, each increase is worked immediately after the corresponding decrease; therefore, the number of stitches remains the same on each row. In some knit lace patterns, the decreases and increases are worked in different places along the row; however, even in these cases, the number of stitches on each row does not change. To knit the Gothic Lace Stitch, it is necessary to do a little review of some basic techniques already widely used in other projects. The stitches and technique used are the following:

• Knit Stitch
• Purl Stitch
• Yarn Over
• Left-leaning Decrease (SKPO)
• Right-leaning Decrease (K2tog – Knit 2 stitches together)
• Central Double Decrease

In the Tutorial section of our site, you will find all the video tutorials to review or learn the stitches necessary for the execution of Gothic Lace.

Gothic Lace Stitch Tutorial

Here are the step-by-step instructions for the Gothic Lace Stitch. It is performed on a number of stitches that are multiples of 8 + 1 and the pattern develops over a repetition of 16 rows. When working this lace stitch, remember that odd rows are the right-side rows where the pattern will form, and even rows are the wrong-side.

• Row #1: *knit 1 stitch, yarn over (then bring the yarn forward, and then over the needle, to create a stitch), 1 left-leaning decrease (slip 1 stitch knitwise, knit 1 stitch, pass the slipped stitch over) knit 3 stitches, 1 right-leaning decrease (knit 2 stitches together), yarn over*. Repeat from * to *, the knit the last stitch.
• Row #2 e successivi ferri pari: lavora a rovescio.
• Row #3: *knit 2 stitches, yarn over, 1 left-leaning decrease, knit 1 stitch, 1 right-leaning decrease, yarn over, knit 1 stitch *. Repeat from * to *, the knit the last stitch.
• Row #5: *knit 1 stitch, yarn over, 1 left-leaning decrease, yarn over, 1 central double decrease (slip two stitches – starting from the second one, knit the following stitch, pass the slipped stitches over), yarn over, 1 right-leaning decrease, yarn over*. Repeat from * to *, the knit the last stitch.
• Row #7: repeat Row #3.
• Row #9: *knit 3 stitches, yarn over, 1 central double decrease, yarn over, knit 2 stitches*. Repeat from * to *, the knit the last stitch.
• Rows #11, #13 e #15: knit 1 stitch, 1 right-leaning decrease, knit 1 stitch, yarn over, knit 1 stitch, yarn over, knit 1 stitch, 1 left-leaning decrease*. Repeat from * to *, the knit the last stitch.

Repeat from Row #1 up to Row #16, until you have reached the desired length.

Gothic Lace Stitch Chart

Save this stitch on your Pinterest knitting board: in this way you can use it as many times as you want! If you liked the Gothic Lace Stitch, share your projects on Instagram using the hashtag #bettaknit!