"The Heidi Stitch"

I think I've buried this in posts over the last few months, but I've had a few inquiries about "the Heidi Stitch", so I thought I'd devote a whole post to it! It still cracks me up because the stitch was a complete fluke. I thought I was doing an actual stitch until my yarning buddies (who have far more expertise in all things fiber) asked me what the heck I was doing. I probably blushed and stammered something about lace.

This was also about the same time that I was informed that I knit a weird way - actually twisting all of my stitches (essentially knitting through the back loop). Oops. An embarrassing discovery but also a really fast way to learn the anatomy of a stitch!

So for this stitch, you cast on multiples of 3 plus 2.

K1, *yo, S1, K2(tbl)*, K1

I don't really know how to read (therefore write) patterns, so I'm not sure if that was the correct translation, but basically:

Knit your first stitch of every row. Then yarn over, slip one, and knit through the back loop for all of your stitches until the last one. Knit your last stitch.

This is only meant to be done when knitting flat - not in the round. You'd probably have to work pearls in there and backward yo's (is that even a real thing?) or something. ... Complicated.


So if you stretch out the stitches, this is what it looks like:
In lace weight on big needles:

With handspun novelty-type yarn. This one varies greatly in thickness:

With Malabrigo Silky (merino and silk blend - gorgeous!)

With Malabrigo bulky:

It's really fast and give the garment a thick enough body to be warm, but lazy enough to drape well. I recommend picking your needle size and then going up a few numbers - you get the best drape when your needles are a bigger.

My favorite yarn to use this stitch with is still the Sublime Organic Cotton.

Enjoy!