How to knit the Feather & Fan versus the Old Shale

Is it the Old Shale or the Feather & Fan knit stitch?

There’s an ancient discussion and confusion between these two patterns.

Since I was a little girl, I thought that the Old Shale was the Feather & Fan stitch (I didn’t know that there was a stitch called the Old Shale).

However, some years later, I learned that the only difference between them was the number of stitches to cast on (multiples of 17 for the Old Shale; and multiples of 14 for the Feather & Fan).

And just days ago, I found out that the Old Shale is what I knew as Feather & Fan, and that the real Feather and Fan looks very different.

Then, I decided to knit two swatches and see what the differences were…

In summary, the Old Shale stitch is a four-row repeat pattern, super easy to knit, and much more beautiful (in my opinion), yet doesn’t look good on both sides, it’s not reversible.

Quite on the contrary, the Feather & Fan stitch includes two more “difficult” steps (knitting four stitches together through the back loop, and even worse, knitting four stitches together).

I can imagine that this will keep away many knitters…

Although it’s a two-row repeat pattern, it’s more complicated; moreover, I don’t think it’s very pretty.

Nevertheless, both sides look good, so I’d say it’s a reversible stitch pattern.

Having said that, “de gustibus non disputandum est” (“In matters of taste, there can be no disputes”), so I’ll leave you to it.

Let’s knit a couple of swatches and decide which one is for you 😉

Needles, yarn, and… action!

Abbreviations

CO: Cast on

st: Stitch

RS: Right side of the work

K: Knit

P: Purl

yo: Yarn over

k2tog: Knit two stitches together

ssk: Slip, slip, knit (slip one stitch knitwise, slip the next, put both back onto the left-hand needle, and knit them together)

k4tog: Knit four stitches together

k4togtbl: Knit four stitches together through the back loop

BO: Bind off

WS: Wrong side of the work

N.B:

The odd rows form the right side of the work.

The are no edge (selvage) stitches (the first and the last) included in the stitch count. If you like to have them add two stitches.

For a better result, don’t forget to use pointy needles #ad

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The Old Shale knitting stitch pattern

CO multiples of 17 st; i.e.: 17, 34, 51, etc.

Row 1 (RS): K across

Row 2: P across

Row 3: *[k2tog] 3 times, [yo, K1] 5 times, yo, [ssk] 3 times*. Repeat from * to *, to end

Row 4: K across

These four rows create the pattern. Repeat them until the desired length is reached.

When finished, BO knitwise after row 2 (RS).

This is the other side of the work:

Enjoy the video tutorial:

How to knit the Old Shale stitch

Now, let’s see how to knit the other one:

The Feather & Fan knitting stitch pattern

CO multiples of 14 st; i.e.: 14, 28, 42, etc.

Row 1 (RS): *k4tog, yo, [K1, yo] 5 times, k4tbl, P1*. Repeat from * to *, to end

Row 2: K across

These two rows create the pattern. Repeat them until the desired length is reached.

When finished, BO knitwise after row 1 (WS).

This is the other side of the work:

If you want me to record a video showing how to knit the Feather & Fan stitch, let me know in the comments of today’s video tutorial 😉

Thank you for watching!

Hugs, and happy knitting 🙂

Carolina – So Woolly

PS: Do you know how to knit the Lacy Chevron stitch? Take a look!