Little butterfly stitch

#1

the pattern is here. i don’t get the part where it says “p1 and slip loop over”

which loop and where?:shrug:

#2

Row 6: p8, *insert right needle from bottom to top under slipped strands on RS; [U][B]yo[/B][/U] to form a gathering loop around the strands; p1 and slip loop over; p9; rep from *, end last rep p8

You have made an extra loop with the yo, Slip that [U][B]yo[/B][/U] loop over the 3 strands you just picked up, a bit like slip st over 3 sts.
I’ve not done that st but i’m sure that’s what it means.

#3

I don’t get those instructions either.:??
But 2 stitch dictionaries I have, explain this step for that stitch as follows.

[B]Row 6:[/B] p8, *insert right needle from bottom to top under slipped strands on RS;
[B]and lift up onto left needle. Insert point of right needle under 3 strands and purl them along with the next stitch on left needle to make butterly effect.[/B]
p9; rep from *, end last rep p8.
Edit:-
Just found one similar here also http://www.knittingfool.com/pages/stCatalog2.cfm?StitchID=579&name=Butterfly&numofst=10&stplus=9&rows=20&rplus=0&sym=0

#4

That really helps, Jints! thank you so much!:hug:

#5

I’ve contacted them to let them know that row 6 of the pattern is unclear.

#6

When you slip the right needle from the bottom underneath the strands of yarn in front of where you previously slipped stitches, you do a YO and pull this back under the stitches.Then you have a new stitch on your needle. You purl the next stitch, and slip the previously new made stitch over this.
If it would help I could take pictures.

#7

would you? please and thank you!

#8

Ok, here’s the best I could do. Remember it’s just a sample, not the entire stitch. I only did 2 rows of the slipped stitch just so you could see.
First, insert the right needle underneath all the slipped strands.
Then, you wrap the yarn around the nedle like you are making a regular knit stitch and then draw this back down underneath the slipped strands. You will end up with a new stitch on your right needle, which wraps around underneath the slipped strands.
Then you knit the next stitch, and then slipped the stitch you made with the slipped strand thingy over the stitch you just knit.

#9

I’m actually working on this stitch from The Encyclopedia of Knitting. You basically scoop your needle under the three strands going from bottom up, purl (or in my case it’s knit) your stitch and then before dropping it off the left needle, you scoop back down and out toward yourself and then pull the stitch off the left needle. That second scooping action will get you to “wrap” those 3 strands in the middle to sort of pinch them and creat the center of the butterfly. Then, you continue on per the pattern.
Does my 2 cent help?:shrug::thumbsup:

#10

I know this is not a new thread, but I’m so happy that I found it, because I’m trying to master the butterfly stitch pattern I found here. I’ve made the butterflies using the method Jints described, but I’m not sure about the technique which includes the yo. The part where you draw the needle back down underneath/the scooping action Momto G B and H & BinkyKat described is what I’m missing; there’s a gap above/behind the stitch that wraps around the center of the butterfly.

I can’t say I haven’t found thorough, helpful instructions on how to execute this stitch because I found this thread… and yet I’m not getting it!

Also, I did the search for all threads about the butterfly stitch, so I don’t think I’m overlooking anything that’s already been addressed.

Thanks in advance, everyone!

Jessie

P.S. I can attach a picture of my work if that will help display how I’m screwing up :teehee:

#11

Hi, I went and looked at the site you gave for the Butterfly stitch. Interesting way to do it and it works quite well.

The first thing is to set up the stitches by working rows 1-9. Every odd numbered row you work by doing K2, *then bring the yarn to the front and slip 5, then move the yarn to the back and knit 5. Repeat that across a multiple of 10+9 and end with a K2 after the last “butterfly”. On the even numbered rows you purl across. Nothing fancy.

After you have worked the 9 set up rows you are ready to form the first line of butterflies. You do this on a purl row, which seems all wrong since the butterfly strands are on the right side, but it works. :wink: Purl the first 4 stitches, which brings you to the middle stitch of the 5 slipped stitches on the first butterfly on the front. (keep the working yarn in front so it is out of the way during this next process) Now tip your piece of work up and away from you so that the front side is visible to you, run the right hand needle under all five of the strands that will make the first butterfly, from the one nearest the needle to the one furtherest away. Bring the right hand needle with its 5 strands in tow up close behind the left hand needle and dip the left needle down a little bit and under the right hand needle inserting the left needle far enough to get a nice “X” formed by the two needles. Then pull the right hand needle out from under the strands so that they are transferred to the left needle. Now insert the right hand needle purl wise into the 5 strands [B]and[/B] the next regular purl stitch and purl all 6 of these together so that you end up with one stitch on the right needle. Purl across 9 stitches until you are at the middle of the next butterfly and repeat the pick up process.

Then do rows 11-19 for the set up for the off-set row of butterflies and follow the instructions for row 20 for the placement of where to pick up that row of strands for the butterflies.

I hope that helps.

#12

Marigold,

Thank you so much for your response. It was so clear and thorough—I’d kidnap you and make you a PPT (Personal Pattern Translator) if I could!

I followed your instructions exactly, but I’m still getting this big gap above the center of the butterflies, where I see none in the pattern pictures. It just doesn’t look right to me. I don’t know if it’s a yarn issue or what.

[I][You’ll notice that I only have 3 strands instead of 5, and that’s because I posted the first pattern I tried after switching to this one, but I know the butterfly effect doesn’t vary from one to the other].[/I]

Pictures here.

Any ideas of where I went wrong—aside from the general sloppiness? :wink:

#13

glittersquirrel, I went to look at your pictures. I think you did it just right. :thumbsup: Mine looks the same as yours. What you are calling a gap is where you did the purl stitch with all the strands together. If you enlarge their picture it looks just the same (I did). Perhaps you could try to make that purl stitch real tight and that might minimize the size of the stitch, but it is correctly done.

Thanks for your thank you.

#14

:woohoo: :happydance: :woot:

Sorry for the smiley spam, but you’ve just made me very excited. Thank YOU!

My knitting looks atrocious, but overall the butterflies are getting better. I think going top-down to pick up the stitches, as per your instructions, made a big difference. Trying to do it bottom-up according to the pattern was really cumbersome and just didn’t feel right.

Thanks again!

#15

I’m glad I made your day. And I love all the smileys you gave me. :slight_smile:

I thought your butterflies looked fine. I made mine the same way you did yours with only 3 strands in the wings instead of 5, just because I wanted to try the technique without having to knit so long.

#16

Thank you :slight_smile: Yeah, it goes a l-o-t faster with three stands instead of five!

I knit really loosely this time because I was getting this awful scalloped effect at the bottom, and the edge looks much better this time. I don’t love the big gaps between stitches, though. Would blocking shrink those up a bit?

#17

Yeah, it goes a l-o-t faster with three stands instead of five!
Not really if you are making a certain length. 15" is 15" no matter how many strands you put on each butterfly’s wings. But I just wanted to cut to the chase and do the row that made the butterfly. Are you making your item with all 5 strands? I think they look cooler.

That one over sized stitch is just that. It is the result of purling 4 together (with a 3 strand butterfly) or 6 together if you go with all five. Like I said you could purl that stitch as tight as you can and that will help a bit. I don’t know that blocking will change it, I doubt it.