Knitters – Don’t try this with most lace!
It’s usually not an Upside Down World in lace without some design finesse.
Filet lace is an exception to the norm that rows cannot just be knit in reverse order to produce a vertically symmetrical, upside down lace design.
The Directional Nature of Knitting Lace
The stitch sequences used for knitting most lace are directional; i.e. they are not vertically symmetrical.
See what happens with Barbara Walker’s popular “Lace Bat” design in her Charted Knitting Designs book.
Lace Bat knitted from Barbara Walker’s _Charted Knitting Designs_ page 179.
Here is the above pattern with rows reversed. Vertically aligned yarn overs are ok but everything else is quite off from the original.
Barbara Walker’s lace bat – as per original instructions on bottom; knitted with rows in reverse order on top
Turning the 2nd attempt 180 degrees to wing-down reveals even further just how dis-similar it is from the original.
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