Half Linen Stitch

Some might say I have an unnatural obsession with half linen stitch. While I was aware of half linen stitch, it 1st caught my fancy after a class I took with Sally Melville. The topic was colorwork, half linen stitch was only a small section of the class, but afterward I started playing with it.

There are a number of things which appeal to me about this stitch. I like the somewhat woven appearance, the texture and that it is flatter than stockinette stitch. It looks different if you do it all with one color vs. alternating colors every 2 rows. If you use a larger knitting needle than required for a yarn, it can also look lacy.

My 1st professional design which featured half linen stitch was for Artful Yarns. It is a poncho knitted as one rectangle, folded in half and then seamed along one shoulder. Both ends of the knitted piece start with a furry yarn, so when it is folded the fur ends up on only one side of the poncho. The body of the poncho is knit in Artful Yarns Cinema and the fur yarn is Galaxy. I think ribbon yarns are well suited to half linen stitch because you get a nice flat float across the front, which is why I used Cinema for this design.