Hooked on Needles: Diagonal Seed Stitch in Knitting

Recently I had the pleasure of being the last knitter on one of the Northeast Region Oddball Preemie Blankets called Tutti Frutti. The stitch I used was Diagonal Seed Stitch on a Stockinette background.

This is what the last section looked like when it was finished and the pattern is included below.

On these oddball blankets, each knitter gets to choose whatever design they want to stitch. The only requirement is the type of yarn for the specific blanket and that the beginning and ending 3 stitches of each row must be knit. This provides a uniform garter stitch border around the blanket for the crocheted border to be worked into.

Tutti Frutti is a preemie blanket so it is worked in sport or DK weight yarn. The yarn I used is Bernat Softee Baby and the color name is Pink Marls.

The Diagonal Seed Stitch is a very simple stitch to work, being basically stockinette stitch with purl stitches spaced evenly on the right side, offset by one on each subsequent row. This is how I worked the diagonal pattern:

Row 1 (right side): K3, K0 (this is simply a placeholder to which the Row 3 instruction will refer), P1, (K10, P1) until there are 13 or fewer stitches left on the needle, K remaining stitches.

Row 2 (wrong side) and all even number rows: K3, Purl across until only 3 stitches remain, K3.

Rows 3 - 21: K3, K one more than on previous right side row (for instance: for row 3 K1, for row 5 K2, for row 7 K3, etc) , P1, (K10, P1) across, K remaining stitches.

Row 23: Begin again with Row 1.

This design could very easily be incorporated into a plain stockinette stitch pattern to add a little texture and interest to the knitted fabric. It would look nice worked into a sweater, hat, scarf or blanket. The distance between the diagonal lines could easily be changed to whatever you like, either closer together or further apart. Experiment a little with scrap yarn to come up with something you like, or an even easier way to work out your own design is to use graph paper to mark where you want your purl stitches. Then knit a sample to see if you like it before working it into a larger piece. Use worsted weight cotton like Peaches 'N Cream for your sample and make up a dishcloth with your design. That way, even if you don't like your design, you will still have something usable.

Happy Stitching!