Furballs' Holdiay Ornament

Here comes again the holiday seasons and some of us are ahead of the game while others try to play catching up.  For the furballs, they just don't care much as long as their bowls are full all day and litterbox clean on time.

This month featuring Furballs' Holiday Ornament which is basically an extension of Furballs' Moon Stone.  Surly nothing to write home about.  The "high" point of this pattern is to knit in the closed loop while bind off instead of add yarn to crochet a closed loop with  more yarn tails to hide.
Beside hanging up on trees, the FO could also be used as facial scrubby or kitchen scrubby in its small size and surface texture.

When I was doing the test knit, I noticed that tester felt difficult to understand how to make that closed loop.  My personal thought is that it is not a common way to add a loop to a FO.  The mental block is there.  Usually we will add yarn to crochet a closed loop.  I, instead, use knitting all through (no need to pick up crochet hook if you don't want to, but of course, part of this could be done in crochet when making the one (1) stitch i-cord).  Also identifying certain stitch to knit into it might also post some challenge.  So in the pattern when making the one (1) stitch i-cord, one can use a detachable marker to mark Stitch M which will be referred to when joining the loop.

Furballs has rated this pattern, need three (3) paws and best to knit after a long and satisfying nap.

Have fun knitting the ornament and please remember to donate generously to local cats and animals shelters when you use part or whole of the pattern in your FO.  Furballs and I thanks you in advance.

Have a wonderful holiday until next year.  In 2020, we will start with Furballs' Heart of Stone to see how the granite stitch could be short rowed in another way as side border in bias knitting.

Furballs' Holiday Ornament

Materials

Yarn, worsted weight, non mercerized 100% cotton (0.3 oz./ 8.8 g, 14.1 yd. / 12.8 m) OR acrylic (0.3 oz. / 8.8 g, 14.7 yd. / 13.4 m)

Knitting needles, straight, circular or double point, size 3.50 mm / US 4, one (1) pair
Scissors and yarn needle

Gauge (Pre block, granite stitch in situ)

4" x 4" / 10 cm x 10 cm          24 sts x 32 rows (cotton)
                                                 28 sts x 36 rows (acrylic)

Measurement (Pre block)

Length x Width          6" x 4" / 15.2 cm x 10.1 cm (cotton)
                                    5 ¹/₂" x 3 ¹/₂" / 14.0 cm x 9.0 cm (acrylic)

Abbreviations

CO          Cast on

k2tog       Knit two (2) stitches together

kfb           Knit the front and back loop of the same stitch

k               Knit

m1l           Make one (1) stitch leaning to the left

m1r           Make one (1) stitch leaning to the right

m1p         Make one (1) stitch in purl

m1ptbl    Make one (1) stitch in purl through back loop

p2tog       Purl two (2) stitches together

p2togtbl  Purl two (2) stitches together through back loop

p              Purl

ppso        Pass previous stitch over

psso         Pass slipped stitch over

RS            Right side

sl1            Slip one (1) stitch purlwise with yarn in front

ssk            Slip, slip, knit

st(s)          Stitch(es)

WS           Wrong side

 

Specialty stitch: Slip one (1) stitch purlwise / part of selvedge (sl1)

Working on both RS or WS,

Step 1    With the first stitch on the left (holding) needle, use the right (working) needle and slip the stitch purlwise holding the yarn in front of the right needle

Step 2    To start knitting,  bring the yarn to the back through the left side of the slipped stitch.  To start purling, leave the yarn in front

Continue to knit according to pattern

Specialty stitch: Make one (1) stitch in purl through the back loop (m1ptbl

Working on WS and knitting up to m1ptbl in pattern,

Step 1    Using left (holding) needle, pick up the strand of yarn running in between the stitches on the left (holding) and  right (working) needle from front to back and left to right such that the front arm of the pick up strand is leading

Step 2    Using right (working) needle, bring the working yarn to front and purl into the back arm of the pick up strand, i.e., from back to front and left to right.  The right (working) needle will exit to the back and right of the front arm of the strand

Step 3    Wrap the working yarn around the right (working) needle as in normal purl, i.e., over and under needle

Step 4    Retract the right (working) needle and the wrapped yarn through back loops and drop the loop on left (holding) needle

Continue to knit according to pattern

Using 3.50 mm knitting needle, CO 8 sts using long tail cast on

Start knitting in normal rows (knitting at the end of written instruction),

Row 1 (WS)  sl1, k1, k2tog until last 2 sts, k2 (6 sts)

Row 2 (RS)   sl1, kfb until last st, k1 (10 sts)

Row 3    sl1, m1ptbl, p until last st, m1p, k1 (12 sts)

Row 4    sl1, m1r, k until last st, m1l, k1 (14 sts)

Row 5    sl1, m1r, k2tog until last st, m1l, k (10 sts)

Row 6    sl1, kfb until last st, k1 (18 sts)

Row 7    sl1, m1ptbl, p until last st, m1p, k1 (20 sts)

Row 8    sl1, m1r, k until last st, m1l, k1 (22 sts)

Rows 9, 13      sl1, k2tog until last st, k1 (12, 14 sts)

Rows 10, 14    sl1, m1r, kfb until last st, m1l, k1 (24, 28 sts)

Rows 11, 15    sl1, p until last st, k1

Rows 12, 16    sl1, m1r, k until last st, m1l, k1 (26, 30 sts)

Row 17    sl1, k2tog until last st, k1 (16 sts)

Row 18    sl1, kfb until last st, k1 (30 sts)

Row 19    sl1, p until last st, k1

Row 20    sl1, k to the end of row

Row 21, 25   sl1, k2tog until last st, k1 (16, 14 sts)

Row 22, 26   sl1, k1, kfb until last 2 sts, k2 (28, 24 sts)

Row 23, 27   sl1, p until last st, k1

Row 24, 28   sl1, ssk, k until last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (26, 22 sts)

Row 29, 33   sl1, k2tog until last st, k1 (12, 8 sts)

Row 30, 34   sl1, k2, kfb until last 3 sts, k3 (18, 10 sts)

Row 31, 35   sl1, p2tog, p until last 3 sts, p2togtbl, k1 (16, 8 sts)

Row 32, 36   sl1, ssk, k until last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (14 , 6 sts)

Row 37, 38, 39    sl1, k5 (6 sts)

Row 40    sl1, k1, psso, k1, ppso, m1l, ppso, One (1) stitch i cord, (k1, ppso) to the end of row

Specialty Technique: One (1) stitch i cord 

Working on RS and knitting up to One (1) stitch i cord in the pattern,

Step 1    Slip the stitch on right (working) needle onto left (holding) needle

Step 2    Knit the stitch and drop the mother stitch (Stitch M)

Step 3    Slip the resulting stitch from Step 2 knitwise back to left (working) needle

Step 4    Repeat Steps 2 - 3 fourteen (14) times (fifteen (15) times in total) or until i cord reach desirable length

Step 5    With the last stitch (Stitch A) from Step 4 on right (working) needle, use left (holding) needle, pick up and knit into the left arm of the original mother stitch (Stitch M) from the base of i cord and pass Stitch A over to form a closed loop

Continue to knit according to pattern

Cut yarn leaving 6" / 15 cm tail

Pull yarn tail through the stitch to secure

Weave in all loose end(s)

Blocking optional