Tuck Stitches

I have had the book Tuck Stitches by Nancy Marchant on my desk for quite a while. When I ordered it I was quite intrigued, because I love the magical effects you can get with slip stitches.  I took a cursory glance and thought that was all it was – how wrong could I be? I wish I had swatched from this book sooner.

The name of the author should really have given me a clue that this was going to be a really in-depth exploration of stitch patterns.  You may know Nancy from her other books on brioche knitting, featuring gently undulating designs in one or two colours, which I find fascinating. And Tuck Stitches in a natural extension of her work.

The basic idea is that you are slipping or holding stitches but you are adding a yarn over each time so that eventually you will knit the held stitch, with its loops, together in the same way you would make a brioche stitch.  The real beauty of this technique is how simple it is.  You are basically knitting stripes and creating Fair Isle effects – and you know how much I love my colourwork.

This was my first swatch using a DK yarn.  I would advise you to go down a needle size or two when you try this out because the fabric is quite open and floppy.  This was knitted on 4mm but I found 3.5mm worked better.

I tried this pattern but didn’t feel it looked special enough, even after blocking.

I love, love love this one.

One of my goals for this year is to design my first garment and I think I have just found the perfect patterns to use. If you are looking for a new book to add to your shelf,  I can’t recommend this one highly enough.