“Flower Meadow” lace pattern by Dorothy Shaw

Extension to Estonian Starflower pattern includes bottoms of flowers

Example uses Stylecraft Wondersoft Baby 2-ply and 2.75mm single-pointed needles.

I found the instructions for the traditional Starflower lace pattern on Ravelry, worked out by Megan
Mills. This pattern consists of the top three petals of flowers separated by abstract shapes. I
wanted to work out how to make complete flowers.

The original pattern is 2 sets of 8 rows long and all the lace stitches occur on knit rows. In order to
fit in the lower 3 petals, I have extended this to 2 sets of 10 rows and the last purl row of each 10
also consists of lace stitches.

I have reproduced some of her abbreviations here and used and extended the same abbreviations
for my alterations to the pattern.
Abbreviations
K, P knit or purl (if there is no number as well it means knit or purl 1)
St.st. Stocking stitch i.e. K 1 row, P 1 row (or K all rows if knitting in rounds)
sts stitches
[…] Square brackets denote the repeating part of the pattern; i.e. 1 whole flower’s width.
( …) x n Means to do whatever is in the preceding round brackets a total of n times
O yarn over
T together, (for example, K2T means knit 2 together)
Slip 1 knit-wise, slip another 1 knit-wise, insert the left-hand needle into the 2 just-slipped
SSK
stitches from left to right so that you can now knit them together
SK2P Slip 1, K2T, pass the slipped stitch over
m/n Make m stitches from n thus: KnT, (O, K the same n stitches together again) as many
where m times as necessary. Ensure that you pull each of the m stitches up to an even, slightly
and n are tallish height as you make them. (See the picture, you might have to experiment a little to
numbers find a height that works just right for you.)
Knit into the front and back of the stitch, pulling the stitches up to the same height you
M
use for m/n.
M2T K2tog thro’ front and back of same sts (as for M)
sl. 1, sl. 1, pass LH needle through stitches just slipped and K2T thro’ front and back of
SSM
both sts. (as for M)
PnT Purl n stitches together
PLPR P, pass to LH needle, pass next st. over, pass back to R needle
For back-and-forth knitting, pattern needs multiple of 12 sts + 1, but stitches increase to multiple of
14 + 1 during the course of the pattern.

Separate bottoms (to start with):

Work 2 rows st. st. then start flowers:

Row 1: [K3, SSK, O, 3/3, O, K2T, K2], K

Rows 2 and 4: P. Note Row 6 (also rows 10 and 20 over) are not plain purl rows!!

Row 3: [K, O, 3/4, O, K3, O, 3/4, O], K ** (see end)

Row 5: M, [O, K2, SK2P, K3, K3T, K2, O, 3/1]; last time M instead of 3/1.

Row 6: [(P, O) x 2, P, (P3T) x 3, (P, O) x 2], P

Start starflower stitch immediately on the next row.

New flower bottoms intermeshed with tops of previous band of flowers (new band includes
half-flowers on both edges):

As per starflower pattern rows, with 2 extra rows added per band of flowers (altered stitches are in
bold):

1: K2, [SK2P, 9/3, SK2P, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

Even rows up to 8: P

3: [K, K2T, (K3, 0) x 2, K3, SSK], K

5: SSM, [SK2P, O, K, O, K3, O, K, O, SK2P, 3/3]; end with M2T instead of 3/3.

7: K2 [O, 3/4, O, SK2P, O, 3/4, O, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

9: K2, [SSK, K2, O, K3, O, K2, K2T, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

10: P2T, [P3T, (P,O) X 4, P, (P3T) X 2]; end w. P3T, PLPR.

Next band of starflowers (these start in interstices between previous starflowers):

11: 5/2, [SK2P, K3, SK2P, 9/3]; replace last 9/3 w. 5/2.

Even rows 12-18: P

13: K2, [O, K3, SSK, K, K2T, K3, O, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

15: K2, [O, K, O, SK2P, 3/3, SK2P, O, K, O, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

17: SSK, [O, 3/4, O, K3, O, 3/4, O, SK2P]; end w. K2T instead of SK2P

19: K2, [O, K2, K2T, K3, SSK, K2, O, K3]; end with K2 instead of K3.

20: [(P, O) x 2, P, (P3T) x 3, (P, O) x 2], P

Finish work with either rows 1-8 or rows 11-18 as for original starflower pattern:

Row 5 / 15: Replace stitches in bold with SK2P, SSK or K2T as appropriate.

Row 7 / 17: Replace stitches in bold with K3.

Dampen, wring gently with a towel, then pin out on blocking mat until dry.

Iron on medium heat under a damp cloth if work tends to shrink back to original size.

Changes to traditional pattern © Dorothy Shaw 2021

** To avoid knitting 4 sts together, one can substitute rows 2 and 3 with:

2: P3, [P2T, P3, PLPR, P3]

3: [K, O, 3/3, O, K3, O, 3/3, O], K

Similarly for rows 6, 7, 16 and 17 adjusting start of rows accordingly.