Lace into Spring: Blocks 1 & 2 (The Fern and The Aspen) | Oh La Lana!
Spring has a way of arriving quietly before you even notice it. One morning the light shifts, the air carries something green and alive, and suddenly you find yourself reaching for lighter yarn, finer needles, and patterns that breathe. That’s exactly where this new series begins — with Lace into Spring, a block-by-block journey into the delicate, rhythmic world of lace knitting, right here at Oh La Lana!
This series is designed for knitters who want to build their lace skills one manageable block at a time, with each new design inspired by the natural world waking up around us. Whether you’re a confident knitter dipping your toes into lace for the first time or someone returning to those fine-gauge projects with fresh eyes, these blocks are meant to welcome you in rather than intimidate. Today we’re diving into Blocks 1 and 2 — The Fern and The Aspen — and there is a lot to love about both of them.
Why a Block-by-Block Lace Series?
Before we get into the stitches themselves, let’s talk about why this format works so well for lace knitting in particular.
Lace can feel overwhelming when you approach it as a large, all-or-nothing project. A shawl with 400 stitches and a 32-row repeat is beautiful in finished form, but it asks a lot from the knitter upfront — sustained concentration, a willingness to tink back several rows when something goes wrong, and faith that the crumpled fabric on your needles will eventually become something airy and lovely after blocking.
A block format changes the experience entirely. Each square or rectangle is its own complete thing. You can finish Block 1 in an evening or two, hold it in your hands, feel the rhythm of the pattern settle into your muscle memory, and then decide whether you want to continue or pause. There’s no obligation, no looming deadline, and no anxiety about committing to something before you understand what it involves.
Beyond that, working multiple blocks in sequence naturally builds skill. The techniques introduced in Block 1 reappear in Block 2, slightly expanded. What felt unfamiliar in The Fern will feel like second nature by the time you’re halfway through The Aspen. By the time this series wraps up, you’ll have a collection of lace swatches that work beautifully together as a sampler throw, a wall hanging, a series of framed textiles, or simply an archive of your own growing confidence.
Materials and Notions for the Series
Before jumping into the individual blocks, here’s a quick overview of what you’ll want to have on hand for the series as a whole.
For yarn, a smooth, plied laceweight or fingering weight works best when you’re learning lace. The twist in the yarn keeps stitches defined and makes it much easier to see what you’re doing, especially when working yarn-overs and decreases back to back. A high-twist merino, a merino-silk blend, or a merino-tencel blend are all wonderful choices. Look for something with a bit of sheen if you want the finished blocks to catch the light. That sheen is especially beautiful in The Fern, where the repeating motif creates a dimensional, almost sculptural texture.
Avoid anything too fuzzy or loosely spun for your first attempt at these blocks. Mohair is stunning in lace but it’s unforgiving when you need to tink or frog — save it for once you’ve worked through the pattern at least once in a cleaner yarn.
In terms of yardage, each block uses approximately 150 to 200 yards depending on your gauge, so a single skein of laceweight will comfortably yield one block with a little to spare.
For needles, the blocks in this series are worked on a US 4 (3.5mm) needle, which gives a somewhat open fabric without becoming so loose that the structure collapses. That said, lace is wonderfully flexible about gauge — if you prefer a tighter fabric, go down a needle size. If you want maximum drape and airiness, go up. The pattern will still work beautifully either way. Use whatever needle type feels comfortable in your hands; interchangeable circulars work well if you like working flat on a longer cable, and straights are perfectly fine too.
You’ll also want blocking wires and pins. This is non-negotiable with lace. The transformation that happens when you wet-block a finished lace piece is genuinely magical — what looks like a crumpled mess on the needles opens up into something that barely resembles the unblocked version. Invest in a set of blocking wires if you don’t already own them; they make it much easier to block straight edges cleanly.
Other useful notions: a row counter, stitch markers to separate pattern repeats, a tapestry needle for weaving in ends, and a lifeline. A lifeline — a length of smooth, contrasting thread run through your live stitches on a good row — is one of the best habits you can build as a lace knitter. If something goes wrong, you can pull back to the lifeline without losing your place or having to rip all the way to the cast-on. It’s the safety net that makes confident lace knitting possible.
Block 1: The Fern
There’s something deeply satisfying about a fern motif in knitting. The branching, arching structure of a fern frond translates so naturally into the language of yarn-overs and decreases that it almost seems like lace was invented with ferns in mind. This first block is named for exactly that connection.
About the Pattern
The Fern is a centered, symmetrical lace motif built around a central vertical axis with mirrored decreases fanning outward on each side, creating the impression of a frond unfolding. It’s worked flat over an odd number of stitches, with a simple garter border on all four sides to keep the edges tidy and prevent curling.
The repeat is an eight-row pattern, which means you have eight rows to learn before the pattern begins to feel familiar. Rows 2, 4, 6, and 8 are wrong-side rows worked plain — just purl across the center stitches and knit the border stitches — which gives you a built-in rest between pattern rows. This is one of the kindest things a lace pattern can offer a newer lace knitter: the opportunity to pause, count, and breathe on alternate rows.
Key Techniques in The Fern
The Fern introduces the three foundational moves of most lace patterns: the yarn-over (YO), the knit-two-together (K2tog), and the slip-slip-knit (SSK). If you’ve worked any lace before, these are already friends. If you haven’t, this block is a gentle introduction because the motif uses them in a predictable, symmetrical arrangement.
The yarn-over creates the hole — the eyelet — that gives lace its characteristic openwork appearance. Each yarn-over adds a stitch, and each decrease (K2tog or SSK) removes one, so the stitch count stays consistent from row to row. The direction of the decrease is intentional: K2tog leans to the right, SSK leans to the left, and together they create the visual lines that define the fern frond’s shape.
One thing to pay attention to in The Fern is the double yarn-over that appears at the center of the motif on certain rows. A double yarn-over creates a larger eyelet and is worked slightly differently on the following row — you’ll typically knit into the first loop and purl into the second. The pattern notes explain this clearly, but it’s worth flagging here so it doesn’t catch you off guard the first time you encounter it.
Tips for Knitting The Fern
Use stitch markers on either side of the pattern repeat, inside the border stitches. This makes it much easier to spot a mistake early — if you arrive at a marker and your count is off, you know immediately that something went wrong in the section you just worked.
Place a lifeline after completing Row 8 the first time, once you’ve verified your stitch count is correct. From that point on, you have a safety net and can work with more confidence.
If you find yourself losing track of which row you’re on, a magnetic board with a printed copy of the chart can help enormously. The visual representation of the lace pattern — seeing where you are in relation to where you’ve been and where you’re going — makes the logic of the pattern much easier to follow than written instructions alone.
When you bind off The Fern, use a stretchy cast-off. The Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off is a popular choice and works beautifully here. A tight bind-off at the top of a lace block will resist opening up during blocking, and you want every row of that motif to spread freely when the pins go in.
Blocking The Fern
Wet blocking is ideal. Soak the finished block in cool water with a small amount of wool wash for about twenty minutes, gently squeeze out the excess water without wringing, roll it briefly in a towel, and then lay it flat on your blocking surface. Pin out the corners first to establish the dimensions, then work your way around the edges, pinning at regular intervals. The lace will look dramatically different once dry — more open, more defined, and far more like the finished thing it always was underneath all that compressed fiber.
Block 2: The Aspen
If The Fern is about organic symmetry and branching lines, The Aspen is about movement. Aspen trees are famous for the way their leaves tremble and shimmer even in the lightest breeze, and this second block captures something of that quality — a flowing, diagonal lace pattern that creates a sense of motion across the fabric.
About the Pattern
The Aspen uses a traveling lace motif, which means the eyelets and decreases shift position from row to row, tracing a diagonal path across the block rather than sitting in fixed vertical columns. This is a step up in complexity from The Fern, but because you’ve already internalized yarn-overs and mirrored decreases in Block 1, you’ll find that the new challenge here is primarily about following the diagonal movement rather than learning new techniques.
The block is worked over an even-row repeat, again with plain wrong-side rows to give you that helpful rhythm of work and rest. The border treatment is slightly different from The Fern — the garter border is narrower, allowing more of the surface area to be taken up by the motif itself, which means a finished Aspen block has a slightly more delicate, open appearance than The Fern when the two are held side by side.
Key Techniques in The Aspen
In addition to the YO, K2tog, and SSK from Block 1, The Aspen introduces the concept of the traveling repeat — a section of the pattern that shifts by one stitch with each right-side row. Following a traveling repeat requires a bit more active engagement with the chart or written instructions because you can’t rely on muscle memory alone to put your yarn-over in the same place every time. This is actually wonderful practice for lace knitting more broadly, because most lace patterns use traveling elements of some kind.
The Aspen also introduces a short section of what could be called a double decrease row — rows where two decreases appear close together with a single yarn-over between them, creating a more prominent diagonal line. These rows require a little more attention, but they’re also the rows where the pattern really starts to look like something, which makes them satisfying to work.
Tips for Knitting The Aspen
Because the motif travels, it’s especially helpful to use a chart for this block even if you’re comfortable with written instructions. Being able to see the diagonal lines on paper makes it much easier to anticipate where the next yarn-over falls. Print the chart large enough to read comfortably and use a sticky note or ruler to track your current row.
Place your lifeline more frequently with The Aspen than you did with The Fern — every two repeats is a reasonable rhythm. The traveling nature of the motif means that if something goes wrong, it can take a moment to figure out exactly where you are in relation to the pattern, and having a recent lifeline to fall back on removes a lot of stress.
One common stumbling block with traveling lace is accidentally adding an extra yarn-over or missing one and not noticing until two or three rows later when the diagonal line looks crooked. A quick count of stitches at the end of every right-side row will catch these errors before they become complicated to fix.
Blocking The Aspen
Block The Aspen the same way you blocked The Fern — a good soak, gentle pressing, and careful pinning. You’ll want to pay particular attention to the diagonal lines of the motif when pinning: follow the visual path of the eyelets and encourage the fabric to open along those lines. The finished Aspen block, once blocked and dry, has a lovely windswept quality that pairs beautifully with the upright symmetry of The Fern.
Putting the Blocks Together
One of the joys of working a block series is the ongoing question of what the finished collection might become. The Fern and The Aspen are designed to be the same dimensions once blocked, which means they sit together neatly without any fudging or adjustment. Their visual contrast — one vertical and symmetrical, one diagonal and flowing — creates a natural balance when displayed side by side.
As more blocks are released throughout the spring, you’ll have more options for arrangement. A simple join-as-you-go seam works well for lace blocks; a mattress stitch along the garter borders keeps the join tidy without adding bulk. Alternatively, if you’d prefer a more decorative connection, a crochet slip-stitch join or a three-needle bind-off through the border stitches both create a visible seam that can become its own design element.
For now, block your two finished pieces, photograph them, pin them to a corkboard side by side, or simply stack them in a bowl on your side table and feel pleased — because you’ve done something genuinely lovely.
A Few Words on Learning Lace
There’s a particular kind of knitting confidence that lace builds over time, and it’s different from the confidence that comes from mastering colorwork or cables or even complex construction. Lace asks you to trust the math, to follow the logic of a pattern even when you can’t yet see where it’s going, and to accept that the unblocked fabric on your needles is only a rough draft of the finished thing.
Working through blocks like The Fern and The Aspen is one of the best possible ways to build that trust. Each small completed piece is evidence that the process works, that the math adds up, and that the hours you spend with fine yarn and careful attention result in something worth holding onto.
So cast on, find your rhythm, and let spring come in stitch by stitch. There are more blocks to come — and each one will carry you a little further into the season, and a little deeper into the quiet pleasure of lace.
Stay tuned to Oh La Lana! for Block 3 coming soon. In the meantime, share your finished Fern and Aspen blocks in the comments or tag us on Instagram — we love seeing your work and cheering you on at every stage of the journey.
