I’ve been obsessed with this stitch since I saw it. The photo of the navy blue lace has made it’s way all over the Russian (and Eastern European) blogosphere and into Pinterest. There are some instructions in Russian, but I don’t read Russian and people who’ve tried to work them say that they are incorrect. I think this is a beautiful stitch pattern so I decided to figure it out for myself.

The first white sample is a from Bäuerliches Stricken 3 by Lisl Fanderl on page 32. The chart is in the book. There is a column of faggoting separating the pattern repeats rather than just a column of purls, but it is the exact same stitch. Mystery solved, now that I own a copy of the book.

The khaki samples are my reverse engineered versions. The first three photos are of the swatch with twisted knit stitches in the ribbing. The fourth is plain ribbing. It was much easier to work while I was figuring out the pattern, but doesn’t look nearly as nice.

The second white sample comes from Knitting-Info.Forum -> загадка. There are instructions, but I have no idea if they are right as I can’t read Russian and Google translate gives rather amusing results. The sample looks correct except it doesn’t use twisted knit stitches in the ribbing.

P.S.:

Not content to leave well enough alone, I continued to try to find more about this stitch. I found a cowl that uses this stitch pattern on Ravelry. It is the Flared Lace Smoke Ring by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. I contacted JackieES and she says that this is her original stitch pattern.

So, the mystery of the stitch is solved. It isn't Russian, but it is lace. I've got it charted, but I don't feel comfortable putting the chart up on Ravelry now that I know where the pattern comes from. It isn't a traditional pattern. (See P.P.P.P.S.)

P.P.S:

I found the original source of the photo! I figured that there was a good chance that it was here on Ravelry. This photo is of Tuija’s Flared Lace Cowl. I wonder if she knows that her photo is all over the internet.

I also found her blog post: Pitsikauluri/ Flared Lace Cowl.

P.P.P.S. Still curious about the origins of this stitch, I continued my research. I think I found the original inspiration for this stitch. The last three photos are from page 19 of “How to Use Florence Knitting Silk” (1885).

It is a very pretty stitch, but pulls badly to the bias and is an unusual seven row repeat. The new stitch solves both problems beautifully and elegantly. While there’s nothing too terrible about an odd number of rows in a repeat when knitting in the round, it’s pretty disconcerting when knitting flat.

P.P.P.P.S. I found the stitch in Bäuerliches Stricken 3 by Lisl Fanderl on page 32. It’s the exact same pattern stitch except that there is a column of faggoting separating the pattern repeats instead of just a purl column. That makes it fair game.

From what I’ve been able to gather (my German is really rusty), the pattern comes from an old stitch sampler knitted by a woman born in 1842.