If you’ve ever admired lace patterns that create beautiful openwork designs, but felt intimidated by complex charts or endless complicated increase and decrease techniques, the Fancy Horseshoe might just be your new best friend. This delightful stitch, characterized by its series of graceful, inverted “horseshoe” shapes, creates a stunning visual appeal that’s both classic and captivating.
Why You’ll Love the Fancy Horseshoe in the Round:
Continuous Flow: Working in the round means no seaming! The Fancy Horseshoe’s pattern repeats seamlessly, making it ideal for items like cowls, hats, circular shawls, or even the body of a sweater.
Fun to Knit: This stitch isn’t just pretty; it’s engaging to knit! The combination of knit stitches, yarn overs, and decreases creates a rhythmic pattern that’s fun to watch grow.
Textural Delight: The slight openwork of the “horseshoes” adds a beautiful lightness and drape to your fabric, making it perfect for garments that need a little breathability or decorative flair.
Versatility: While it looks fancy (hence the name!), the Fancy Horseshoe is surprisingly adaptable. It can be worked with various yarn weights to achieve different effects – from delicate lace-weight shawls to cozy worsted-weight cowls.
What Makes it “Fancy”?
The “fancy” aspect comes from the elegant way the decreases (like K2tog and SK2P) and yarn overs intertwine to form those distinctive horseshoe shapes, differentiating it from the Horse Shoe Stitch. It’s not overly complicated, but the way the stitches lean and create the eyelets gives it a sophisticated, almost heirloom quality.
Pattern
Multiple of 10 sts
Skill: intermediate
Rd 1-3: *yo, k3, SK2P, k3, yo, k1; rep. from * to the end.
Rd 2 and all even rows: knit.
Rd 3: *k1, yo, k2, SK2P, k2, yo, k3; rep. from * to the end.
Rd 5: *k2, yo, k1, SK2P, k1, yo, k3; rep. from * to the end.
Rd 7: *k3, yo, SK2P, yo, k4; rep. from * to the end.
Rd 8: knit.
Repeat Rds 1-8.
Knitting Abbreviations
k: knit
SK2P (Slip, Knit 2, Pass slipped stitch over): Slip the next st onto the right-hand needle. Knit the next 2 sts together, then pass the slipped st over the k2tog st.
rep.: repeat
yo (yarn over): wrap the yarn around the right-hand needle from back to front counterclockwise before knitting the next stitch. Then work the next stitch as normal.
Click HERE for more knitting abbreviations.
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