Celtic Knot Project Installment #5

Hearts on a Mat Connected by Braids

This one was modified from an illustration in Sheila Sturrock's Celtic Knotwork Handbook, panel 86 on page 87. I could have charted it as illustrated, but I wanted a continuous cable, not a stand-alone knot, so I extended the start and finish of the lowed and upper loops into twisted
cables. It would not be difficult to modify into a stand-alone panel.... heh heh, I'm leaving this as an excercise to the reader! Hint: it's super easy to visualize if you have Sturrock's book in front of you. Anyways, here are the photos.

These photos are of the same swatch, but there was sucky natural light due to the week-long overcast skies, so the top one was taken in the window with some non-natural light from the ceiling lamp, and the lower photo was taken with a flash. Either way, you get the idea. This sample was knit from, yeah you guessed it if you're a regular reader, Wolle Rodel Soft Merino.
This panel starts with 32 stitches, increases to 40 stitches, then decreases back to 32 in the last 2 rows. It is 30 rows long. Here's the chart:
A few notes on this one:
1. I used a couple of new symbols here than in previous installments - I needed to cross 2 knit stitches over 3 purl stitches in a few places to make space in between the backs of the hearts. These symbols are not in the legend, and I don't want to update it every time I use a new symbol, so instead I included them at the bottom of the chart. You do not need to re-download the legend if you already have it, but you do need it to interpret this chart if you don't already have it.
2. Knitting is always the best test of an abstract idea, like taking an illustration and turning it into something three-dimensional. Having charted and knitted it, I see something I would have done differently, and will change if I use this panel in a design. (Aside: you know I will!) If you don't want to wait, I will type it out here in words, and you will have to alter the chart yourself, unless you like it as presented. I would move the two left cable crossings from row 1 to row three. I would then eliminate rows 29 and 30 from the chart alltogether, making this a 28-row repeat panel.
3. I think this would look very nice if there were several twists in the braid before making the knot, and I think this is how I would use it, with at least 1 extra left twist in the braids connecting the knots, maybe more.

Cheers,

Ivanova