What Is Entrelac?
Take it from me: A gal who tried to tackle a whole baby blanket as her first double knitting project (would not recomend!), you wanna take it easy when learning something new in knitting! That’s why I thought this cute little bandana slash headscarf was a perfect “first entrelac” project!
What is entrelac you might ask? Wikipedia defines it as…
a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern. While the result resembles basket-woven strips of knitted fabric, the actual material comprises interconnected squares on two different orientations
Meaning, you knit a bunch of little squares and join them to other squares as you go! I wanted a something quick and small to try this technique out on besides a pot holder. Most of the time, you see entrelac done in squares but I wondered how it would look as a triangle!
After loads of searching I decided to try to figure it out on my own and came up with this method of making a garter stitch, entrelac triangle.
It can be quite fiddly, working back and forth and back and forth across five stitches over and over so fortunately, I’ve got a video tutorial for you! Trust me, it demonstrates this idea much better than words.
Overview
When knitting entrelac, “rows” refer to rows that you work back and forth in each block of color. “Tiers” refer to sections or “rows” of blocks in one specific color. So tier one will have one block consisting of 10 rows. Tier two will have two blocks with 10 rows each.
SSK in the pattern refers to the slip, slip knit decrease and this will always be done by slipping one stitch in your current color and one stitch in the previous color.
You’ll have to cut your yarn and fasten on a new yarn each tier if you change color.
Materials
For my bandana, I used about 50 yards each of two colors of a DK weight yarn and 4mm knitting needles. You can work on straight or circular needles, flat. I think it could look cute in many yarn weights, since we grow our triangle as big as we need it to be, so just use a needle size appropriate for your yarn.
Pattern
To begin, in color A cast on 5 stitches and knit for 10 rows (first block).
Tier 2:
With color B, use the knitted on cast on to add 5 stitches. K4, SSK (slip 1 st in color B, 1 in color A). *Turn your work, Knit 5. Turn your work, K4, SSK.* Repeat between ** until all sts from the previous block have been bound off (first block of tier 2).
Pick up 5 stitches along the edge of the block from the previous tier, and knit only those 5 stitches for 10 rows of garter stitch (2nd block of tier 2).
Tier 3:
With color A, use the knitted on cast on to add 5 stitches. K4, SSK. *Turn your work, Knit 5. Turn your work, K4, SSK.* Repeat between ** until 5 sts of the previous color have been bound off.
Pick up 5 stitches along the edge of the block below. *Turn your work, Knit 5. Turn your work, K4, SSK.* Repeat between ** until 5 sts of the previous color have been bound off.
Pick up 5 stitches along the edge of the block below and knit only those 5 stitches for 10 rows of garter stitch.
Repeat tier 3, alternating colors each tier and repeating the middle portion of the instructions as your section of middle blocks grows and grows.
Continue until your work is about 18 inches ( 46cm) on the longest side. For me, this was about 12 total tiers in my DK weight yarn.
Bind Off Triangles
In your final color, again knit on 5 stitches. K4, ssk. *Turn, K all sts. Turn and K2tog, k to the last stitch in current color, ssk.* Repeat between ** until two sts of the current color and one stitch in the previous color remain. Slip the first st, SSK, PSSO (pass the slipped stitch over).
\\Pick up 5 sts along the edge of the block below. *Turn, K all sts. Turn and K2tog, k to the last stitch in current color, ssk.* Repeat between ** until two sts of the current color and one stitch in the previous color remain. Slip the first st, SSK, PSSO (pass the slipped stitch over).
Repeat from \\ until you’ve got one last corner triangle to work. Pick up 5 stitches and knit 10 rows, k2tog at the beginning of every other row until you’ve bound off all of your remaining stitches.
Finishing
Weave in all those little ends you have at the beginning of each tier and make two small cords or chains to fasten on the corners for easy tying. For a helpful video of several ways to make such a cord, check out THIS post!
There you have it!
Thanks for diving into this cooky thing called entrelac with me and I hope you enjoyed this pattern! Make sure to check out the video tutorial and let me see your projects on social media ‘cuz I’d love to see what you do with this pattern!