LATE BREAKING UPDATE:  The Lattice Wingspan Variant instructions are now available as an easy-to-download PDF, at the Knitting Patterns link, above.

Another Wingspan.  I’m trying to codify what I have been doing because I wanted to post it as yet another enhancement to the pattern, hence the multiple iterations.  UPDATE:  Test knitting complete, pattern corrections are now in!

Before and After (pre-blocking):

This one was knit from Marks & Kattens Fame Trend.  Its labeled as a heavy sock yarn to be knit on 3mm needles, at 26 stitches = 10 cm, but it’s really somewhere between sport and DK, with some thick-thin variability.  What drew me to it was the very long repeat – evident in the skein.  I like the way extra long color gradations play out in this project, and the slow progression from green through olive, warm chocolate and tans played well.  Because this yarn is heavier than the original recommended yarns, I used a 5mm needle, instead of the recommended 3.5mm.

I knit my Fame Trend Wingspan starting with a cast-on row of 75 because I wanted my piece longer and more scarf-like than  Maylin’s Tri’Coterie shoulderette mini-shawl original.  Here are my mods. I was inspired by Lenora’s Angel Wingspan variant, and decided to take the eyelet idea to the extreme, using larger eyelets and lots more of them, plus adjusting stitch count to work better with the project’s natural tendency to “clump” into three-stitch units.  I also transposed this to all garter stitch because I liked the way the welts framed the double eyelets.

Again, the basic concept and shape here is Maylin’s.  Click on the link above to retrieve her free pattern (free Ravelry sign-in required).  You’ll need it to use my supplement, below.  And the idea of piercing it with holes came from Lenora.  I just took their concepts and ran with them.

LATTICE WINGSPAN

If you are using standard fingering weight yarn, use a needle larger than the 3.5mm needle recommended for the original, in order to increase laciness and yield a softer more fluid drape.  For my Zauberball Crazy edition of this variant (true fingering weight), I used a US #5 (3.75mm).  For the Marks & Kattens Fame Trend I had to go up to a US #8 (5mm) before I got the result I liked.

Triangle 1:

Rows 1-4:  Work as per original instructions, rows 1-4

Row 5: Sl1p, K2, YO, *SS-K1-PSSsO,  YO2*, until 6 stitches remain before the marker. Finish last 6 stitches by SS-K1-PSSsO, YO, k3, remove marker.  Turn. (If you like any other double decrease may be used instead of the slip-slip-knit one-pass-both-slipped-stitches-over, I’ve experimented with K3tog and SSSK, and both look fine)

Rows 6 and 7: Work as per original instructions, row 3-4, but knit instead of purl – working a K,P in each double yarn over and a K in each single yarn over when you encounter them. Advance the traveling marker as described in the original on each wrong side row, until you work a final wrong side row with only 3 stitches, and have no place to put it.

Triangle 2:

Row 1: Sl1p, YO, *SS-K1-PSSsO, YO2*, until 6 stitches remain before the marker.  Finish last 6 stitches by SS-K1-PSSsO, YO, K3.  Turn

Row 2: Sl1p, K2, place non-traveling marker. K3, place traveling marker, knit to end, working a K,P in each double YO, and a single K in each single YO.  Cast on 18 stitches.

Row 3 and 5: Work as per triangle 2, row 3 of the original.

Row 4 and 6: Work as per triangle 2, row 4 of the original, but do it in all knit rather than purling.

Repeat rows 1-6 until the traveling marker walks all the way back to the starting edge.

Triangle 3 and all subsequent triangles:

Row 1:  Work as per Triangle 2, Row 1 above, until 24 stitches remain before the marker.  Finish last 6 stitches by SS-K1-PSSsO, YO, K3. Place a new non-traveling marker, and turn. After you place the non-traveling marker, there should be 18 stitches between it and the previous non-traveling marker.

Row 2: Work as per Triangle 2, Row 2 above.

Continue working Triangle 3 (and subsequent triangles) in the method established for Triangle 2, following the original pattern’s logic.  Because my version of the Tri’Coterie pattern is narrower and uses big eyelets, you should get 9-10 triangles out of a 420+ meter skein of fingering weight or sport weight yarn, instead of the pattern’s described eight.

Finishing:

After the completion of a triangle, when you decide your piece is long enough, and you still have about a third of a triangle’s worth of yarn left, it’s time to finish.

Row 1:  Repeat Triangle 1, Row 5 above across the entire backbone of the piece, removing all markers as you encounter them.

Rows 2-4:  Sl1p, knit to end.  AT THE END OF EACH ROW OF GARTER STITCH REASSESS YOUR REMAINING YARN.  Depending on available yardage, needle size and gauge, I’ve been able to knit at least one row of garter stitch prior to the bind-off row.   You will need approximately 4 times total project width for that final bind-off row.   The Marks & Kattens had enough for me to work four rows of garter prior to bind-off.  Noro Taiyo had enough for two rows of garter prior to binding off.

Bind off loosely.  Because of the big eyelets, damp block this piece to within an inch of its life to make them spread.  Try to do it following the design’s natural helix for best effect.

Hope someone else is tempted by this project in my variant or in the original.  It’s dramatic, quick, and not as difficult as all those abbreviations make it look. It’s a great one-skein holiday gift project that uses yarns that are tempting/beautiful in the ball, but are a true challenge to use effectively.  And like the best of those, is as addictive as potato chips.

Next post will muse on the changing nature of the on-line knitting community, with sincere appreciation to some old coteries who helped me think it through, and who wrote to me to express support.  Stay tuned!