So in a kit planning meeting long, long ago, it was decided that we’d do an entrelac kit. It’s an interesting technique that can yield very pretty results. When it was decided that I would be writing this pattern, I thought, well, darn – I have no idea how to do that!

Turns out, it’s really easy. And Yvette is the result.

Considering I had to learn Entrelac before writing the pattern, I was concerned that I’d get frustrated with it and not come up with anything very nice. But what I found was that it’s strangely addictive. Especially in Andean Silk, which is about the best yarn ever. It’s actually much, much easier than I expected – if you can pick up stitches, then you’re ready to go!

Entrelac is formed by knitting a small mitered section of stockinette, then picking up stitches from a previous section and knitting another little bit, and so on. I imagine you could do each square in a different color if you really wanted to, or knit the whole piece in one color. In this case, the colors change after a whole round of squares is completed. Not only does that give it a neat look, but there aren’t that many ends to weave in!

Both the mittens and the beret in the kit feature decreasing areas of entrelac squares. What’s unique about entrelac decreases is that you don’t really decrease that much at all; you simply pick up fewer and fewer stitches per round of squares.

If you’ve never done entrelac, this is a deceptively simple project to start with. You’ll learn to work a set-up round of triangles, regular right- and left-leaning rectangles, decreasing rectangles, and how to end with a round of triangles. It also really, really helps to know how to knit backwards. That, incidentally, was another thing I leaned so that I could learn entrelac, and was again surprised at how easy it was. All those squares and no purling? Sign me up!

While I don’t think I’m going to run out and knit an entrelac elephant cozy anytime soon, I’m really glad to have learned this technique – it’s really fun, and non-knitting friends will be astounded by how difficult it looks. Give it a try! I won’t guarantee, thought, that you won’t get addicted to it, too!

<