May is for Flowers

The May clue is here! And it is the beautiful Estonian flower stitch that Susan Pandorf designed as part of her LOTR themed series. We contacted Susan before putting together the clue and she was quite gracious to let us use it.
And to help you with the tricky M7 in K3tog stitch, I put together a little pictorial. I apologize for the quality of the photos, but I figured out something was better than nothing. I use the [k1p1] method, which to me gives the tidiest appearance, although the moving back and forth of the yarn can be a bit tricky. It is not by any means the only way to make this stitch.

Step 1: insert right needle through the next three stitches as if to knit them together.

Step 2: Knit through the three stitches together, but don't drop them off the needle.

Step 3:  bring your yarn forward, in front of your work

Step 4: Insert right needle through the three stitches on the right needle as if to purl.

Step 5: Purl one stitch, but do not drop the stitches off the left needle. Now you have two stitches on the right needle (one knit, one purl) and three stitches together on the left.

Step 6: Bring the yarn to the back of the work











Step 7: Insert right needle as if to knit, and knit one stitch without dropping the three stitches on the left needle.

Now there are three stitches on the right needle - A knit, a purl, and a knit

Repeat steps 3-7 twice more, until you have 7 stitches on the right needle:
k-p-k-p-k-p-k

Now you can drop the three stitches on the left needle. The seven made stitches should all form a tidy little ring.
On the purl side, you will knit each of those new stitches individually. Be careful that they are knit in the right order, as they sometimes can be quite crowded. Knitting loosely is very helpful.

Here is the stitch after one purl row.

And here is the completed flower motif - unblocked yet. The seven made stitches will go on to be later knitted together in three separate groups, forming the flower petals. Quite clever! In fact, this stitch is a variation on a nupp or a bobble, and if you chose nupps in March, you will be well prepared for this.

Many thanks to Susan Pandorf, of course, and also to my husband (photographer extraordinaire) and our bodacious Russian translator Olga who got it all done in a short time. Many, many special thanks to my great knitting friend Sherry, English teacher and queen of the perfectly finished knitted garments, who was a pinch-hitter editor while other mods were on vacation. Her command of English writing is superb, and she is no doubt cringing while reading this blog...

And many thanks to YOU, the wonderful knitters who waited with patience and understanding while life in general put our clue release schedule on hold. I can't wait to see all your WIPS.

Well, I can't leave without a little yarn show: three beauties from Sanguine Gryphon: Bugga in Sharpshooter Leafhopper, Skinny Bugga in a one-off colorway (with a lot of sage green and soft lilac) and SB in Emerald Swallowtail.