Slip Stitch/Mosaic Knitting
 
Sample 1
Sample 2
BondSlpSt1
BondSlpSt2
Click Here for Chart 2
Click Here for Chart 1
Knitting Instructions

This is a two-color slip-stitch pattern from The Harmony Guide to Machine Knitting Stitches. I did this on the Bond with Red Heart Baby Pompadour Sport Yarn, colors White and Raspberry, using the intarsia keyplate (No.2 setting) minus the metal yarn guide. (Or choose your own yarn, colors, and whichever keyplate you will need). The pattern has a 24-stitch repeat but since I like making swatches a little larger, I am showing 33 stitches, just enough for the small hem weight. The pink lines show where the stitch repeat begins and ends if you are making larger items.

Cast on 33 stitches with waste yarn and knit several rows. Following the chart and beginning with Row 1, push all needles represented by black cross stitches to holding position. Leave all needles represented by pink half-cross stitches in working position against the bed. With green card, push all needles that are in holding position back to forward working position (latches will usually have opened as they were pushed out to holding position, but check to be sure they are). Lay the white yarn (or whatever color you prefer) across the hooks and knit across.

Row 2, which I left blank, is an exact repeat of Row 1, same needles are pushed to holding position then back to forward working position, same needles as in Row 1 are left in working position against bed. Knit across with white yarn again.

Knit Rows 3 and 4 using pink yarn (or second color you have chosen) and follow the same steps as in Row 1. All the blank rows are knitted the same way and with the same color as the row below. I could have added the symbols but thought it would be easier on the eyes without them. On my own chart I wrote the numbers over the cross stitches in the blank rows so I could see at a glance how many of them to push to holding position and as a matter of fact, it is much faster to keep looking at the chart and push the needles that are to be knitted forward just by feeling the needle butts, leaving the ones that will slip in place, and mentally counting them as you go. If you end up with the right number of needles at the very end of the row, you know you got them all right!

Repeat Rows 1 through 14 throughout changing yarn colors every two rows. It will take two repeats before the white yarn will be used in Row 1 again, I just thought this would make a shorter chart. It is also more practical not to have slip stitches as first or last stitches, so I knitted those when I came across them at the beginning or end of the row.

Another method would be to use the regular keyplate and push all the needles that are to be slipped to holding position. For this particular pattern you could knit for two rows with the needles in the same position, then slip the floats that have formed on top of the needles below the needles where they would be had they been slipped. This will give you floats that are just slighly longer than those in true slip knitting. You will have to replace your yarn behind the wire guide every two rows unless you knit with two carriages.

A third method would be to use the intarsia keyplate with the wire guide in place. This will put your needles in forward working position each row and you will then have to lift the stitches that are to be slipped on the next row back into the needle hooks and push them back to working position. I tried this method but had a lot of problems with the carriage jamming. For me it is faster to simply push out all the needles to holding position, then back to FWP with the green card. There is no hand-manipulation of stitches necessary and I can keep my eyes on the pattern as I am setting up the row.

This is the first time I tried this on the Bond and I thought this pattern knitted up pretty quickly. I never knew you could do slip-stitching on the Bond, learn something new every day!!
Chart 1
 
BondSlpSt1Chart
Chart 2
 
BondSlpSt2Chart

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