How to Knit an Open Shell Edging
Knitting doesn’t lend itself to certain edging patterns — such as an open shell edging — as readily as crochet does. However, if you’re handy with a backwards loop cast-on, you can knit an open shell edging along the cast-off edge of almost anything: table runners, top-down hats or even sweater sleeves. This edging is worked in multiples of four stitches, plus one, when worked flat. If you’re working in the round, the edging is worked in multiples of four stitches. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Knit one stitch, then cast off three stitches.
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Repeat the knit one, cast off three, pattern all the way to the end of the row. Turn your work.
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Knit one stitch, then cast seven stitches onto your right-hand needle using the backwards loop method, sometimes called the single cast-on.
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Knit the next stitch from your left-hand needle, then cast seven more stitches onto your right-hand needle. Continue the knit one stitch, cast on seven, pattern until you knit the last stitch at the end of the row. Turn your work.
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Knit one stitch, then knit the next stitch — one of the freshly cast-on stitches — through the back loop. Use the tip of your left-hand knitting needle to draw the first stitch up and over the second, leaving only one stitch on your right-hand needle. This begins the cast-off process.
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Knit the next stitch through the back loop, then draw the previous stitch up and over the most recent stitch. Continue casting off, working newly cast-on stitches through the back loop, until you’ve cast off the entire row.
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Tips & Warnings
To do the backward loop cast-on, drape the working yarn over your left index finger, from back to front. Then poke the tip of the right-hand knitting needle through the middle of the “drape,” from left to right, or knitwise. Draw the loop you just made tightly against the needle, then repeat as needed.
You can knit this edging all the way around the edge of a table runner or placemat, as long as each edge satisfies the multiple of four, plus one, stitch count. Just pick up stitches all the way around the circumference of the piece before you start knitting. Because you’re working all the way around the item’s circumference, you won’t turn your work; just work the pattern in concentric rounds.
