Marigold

In my last post, I wrote that I was in the mood for something with a lot of symmetry and no knit-seven-togethers.

This Marianne Kinzel pattern was perfect.  Highly symmetric, and no complicated maneuvers.  It was a lot of fun to knit.

This is the Marigold pattern.  It is in one of those old ANP publications.  The Marigold pattern is a cheval set.  The larger doily (pictured above) can be blocked as an oval or a circle.  This is the smaller doily:

It was so cute that I knitted a second one.  So now I have a complete cheval set, similar to what is shown on the cover of the pattern.

Mind you, I do not live the cheval set lifestyle.  But what the heck.  It was fun.

Now I want to re-knit the larger doily, in thicker yarn, to use as a little floor mat or throw rug.

I have knit the smaller Marigold doily before, in some thread that was leftover from some other doily.  It's a quick knit.  But now I have a full cheval set in matching thread.  One 50g ball of #20 cotton thread was sufficient for all three doilies, with some left over.

I'd love to see all of Marianne Kinzel's patterns republished.  The First and Second Books of Modern Lace Knitting are fantastic.  But then there are these other designs that didn't make it into the books.  They deserve to be published again for the current generation of doily knitters.  I assume that either it's not sufficiently profitable, or there's some issue with copyright that is preventing this, at least for now.

Do I have anything erudite to add about the Marigold patterns?  Not really.  As usual with a Kinzel pattern, there are no errors.  The pattern is given in both chart and written form.  There are more stitches per round than are strictly necessary, but that just makes the final diameter larger and enables it to be blocked into either a round or an oval shape.  Kinzel is her usual picky self about how to cast-off, specifying different numbers of chains between single-crochet groups, depending on whether one is at the scallop or between scallops.  I like the care she takes with every aspect of her designs.

One minor point of interest:  Kinzel uses just one symbol for the double-decrease.  It's the standard slip one, knit two together, pass slipped stitch over.  That is a left-leaning double-decrease.  For the larger doily, I changed some to knit three together, a right-leaning decrease.  And the vertical lines between sections were changed to a vertical double decrease, slip two (as if to knit, together), knit one, pass slipped stitch over.  Does it make a difference?  I'm not sure, especially with the vertical double decrease.  But it entertained me, and that's what doily knitting is all about.

I don't use the vertical double decrease in the small diamond patterned ground stitch area.  I've tried that, and I much prefer the SK2P double decrease.  In that area, I want to emphasize the diagonal lines rather than the vertical lines.

What's next?  Well, it's already finished -- Burda 418/33.  It's an attributed Herbert Niebling pattern, one of his symmetric, more geometric designs.  But that might be the topic of the next post.  There will be photos.