Diamond Afghan Recipe by Marian Poller

The sample on the left was knit using the  method described below. I cast on 15sts for  each diamond Picture: Sarah Bradberry	The sample on the right was knit  following the instructions below exactly  Picture: Marian Poller
	The diagram on the left shows where to pick up the stitches for the second row of diamonds. Each diamond on the first row is knit separately (work as many diamonds as desired for the width of your afghan), then the stitches are picked up as shown (along the row of O's) for the first diamond of the second row.

My DD underwent surgery today and while sitting around in the corridor, I started a new project
which I think of as my Diamonds afghan. This is a new technique most closely related to entrelac but easier. You don't need to purl on this one unless you want to. I first ran up against this on a
sweater kit I bought at Stitches East designed in Sept 98 by Nancy Wiseman and called Falling
leaves. But a month later in my house, a knitting pal walked in wearing a sweater which apparently was designed by Irene York back in Sept 97. I know Irene sold me the Horst Schultz books and her website has a lot of stuff influenced by those books. I have written to her as I'd like to get the kit. But not having heard anything, I got impatient. Some of you may recall I wrote a few days ago asking how it would work to make the rambling rows afghan in leftovers. I got some great enthusiastic letters from others who had done it successfully and they told me what they did. So I tried it last night but the first square calls for 96 stitches and after a few rows, I lost interest!

So then I moved on to the diamonds. I decided to work a sample diamond. The only thing you need to know is that you start with an uneven number of stitches and the number used will cause the size to be larger or smaller. Nancy uses 29 stitches for her largest diamond, but I wanted to make an afghan so I started with 43 stitches. Nancy worked hers in st st which has a lovely center line which is less obvious in garter stitch. But garter stitch has other advantages so I went for that. So you knit away. With 43 stitches on the needle, I knit 20 stitches.

Now what you do with the next three is this: you pass the next two together to the right needle and then knit the third stitch. Then you pass the two stitches over thus decreasing two. And then you finish knitting the row. The next row is just knitted. That's all it is. Every other row you do the decrease at the center until you reach only 3 stitches. You do a decrease on that and the last stitch left can just be finished off giving you a lovely diamond.

Next you make another one exactly the same. At this point you should measure them at the widest
point. Mine came out to be 7" wide. I used dk yarn and size 3.5mm needles. So I decided I need to have a total of 5 diamonds on the first row.

The second row: You pick up stitches on the side of one diamond making sure the center decrease line matches the second diamond because you then continue picking up stitches on the next diamond but on the opposite side. Pick up the exact amount you started with when you made your first diamond. In my case it was 43 stitches. Now do all the decreasing just as before.

For those familiar with entrelac knitting, you can see there's no purling or picking up on the purl
side. It's a lot easier. As for the bottom, top and sides. Well, since it's an afghan, I could
just leave the sides as is. Or I may decide to fill them in with triangles which are half diamonds and require either k2tog or ssk. It would be the same as in regular entrelac patterns.

Colors: I'm using my leftovers. I think one ball of dk will do a row so at this point, each row
will have one color but I may change my mind as I go along. As for colors: I just dumped about 6 bags of leftovers out on the carpet and will grab and knit. If it doesn't look right, I'll try
another one.

One of the things I like about this diamond is that it's a lot faster to work it than the big
square in the Rambling Rows afghan. So the gratification is faster.

Now if anyone has done this already, please let me know about it: what you did, etc.

Yours,
Marian in Herzlyia, Israel

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