Substituting a single yarn over for a double yarn over eyelet

This week’s article for Tips & Techniques continues on from last week’s Double Yarn Over. Please read that article first (or again as a reminder), as my discussion and photos will not be covering some of the steps shown in that article. This will just show a variation that you might want to substitute.

The double yarn over can make quite a large eyelet that to some people’s tastes (or knitting style) is too large. If you prefer a smaller yarn over, try this tip.

When a yarn over twice is called for, substitute just a single yarn over. Then, on the return row, work your k1 and p1 into that single yarn over. Here are some step-by-step pictures of that return row —

This is the start of the return row (i.e. Row 2 of the Lace Bug Bookmark pattern) after having done a single yarn over rather than a double yarn over on the previous row 1.

Ready to work into the single yarn over of the previous row

Knit into the yarn over of previous row, but don't remove the yarn over loop from left-hand needle yet

Then proceed to work a purl stitch into that same yarn over loop.

The purl stitch has been completed and the yarn over loop has been dropped off the left-hand needle

It’s as simple as that. Just continue to knit the remainder of the pattern repeat as usual. Here is a photo showing the slightly smaller eyelets using this ‘single yarn over’ substitution on the last 2 repeats of the pattern compared to using ‘yo twice’ called for in the pattern.

Note: The eyelet closest to the needle looks even a bit smaller than the one I did prior to that because the most recent eyelet is still hugging the needle and hasn’t been stretched out.

So, what do you think? For this particular pattern, I like the scale of the original double yarn overs to be more in keeping with the width of the lace faggot heading. But I have had occasion in lace patterns where I am knitting in a yarn fiber that just stretches out too much when doing a full two yarn overs. This ‘single yo’ substitution trick is what I use to compensate.

Whether you find a use for it now or later, I hope you find this a useful tip to have in your growing lace knitting bag of tips and tricks.