An Education in Grafting Lace Edgings: Edging Pattern 1

There is a moment in every knitter’s life when they look at a finished piece — a shawl, a blanket edge, a collar — and realize that the edging is either the thing that elevates the entire project or the thing that quietly lets it down. Lace edgings have been decorating textiles for centuries, and grafting them onto a finished piece is one of the most satisfying and nuanced skills a fiber artist can develop. Today we’re diving deep into the world of grafting lace edgings, with a close look at Edging Pattern 1 — what it is, how it works, and how you can master the technique of joining it seamlessly to your knitting.

Whether you’re completely new to lace knitting or you’ve been working with yarn for years and simply haven’t tackled grafted edgings yet, this guide is written for you. By the time you finish reading, you’ll understand not just the mechanics of the technique but the why behind each step, which is what transforms a knitter from someone who follows instructions to someone who truly understands their craft.

What Is a Lace Edging, and Why Does Grafting Matter?

Before we get into the specifics of Edging Pattern 1, it helps to understand what a lace edging actually is and why grafting is the preferred method of attaching it for many experienced knitters and lace enthusiasts.

A lace edging is a strip of decorative knitting — almost always worked lengthwise — that features openwork patterns created through a combination of yarn-overs and decreases. These strips have one straight edge, which gets attached to the main piece of fabric, and one ornamental edge that hangs free, showing off the lacy scallops, points, or waves that give the edging its character.

Historically, lace edgings were knitted separately and then sewn onto fabric. You can still do this, and many knitters do. But grafting — specifically, working the edging simultaneously and joining each right-side row to the live stitches of the main fabric — creates a join that is nearly invisible when done well. There are no seams, no awkward mattress stitches, no thickness where two layers of fabric overlap. The edging appears to grow organically from the main piece.

This matters aesthetically, of course. But it also matters structurally. A grafted edging distributes stress more evenly across the join, which means it’s less likely to develop a visible ridge or to pull unevenly after blocking. For heirloom pieces, for fine lace shawls, for anything you want to look truly handmade in the old-fashioned sense of meticulous craft, grafting is worth learning.

Understanding the Anatomy of Edging Pattern 1

Edging Pattern 1 is one of the foundational lace edging designs that appears across multiple classic knitting traditions, including Victorian lace pattern books, Shetland lace references, and modern collections that draw from those traditions. It is typically a fairly simple repeating motif — accessible enough for someone just beginning to work with lace, but with enough visual interest to reward the effort.

While the specific stitch counts and row instructions of Edging Pattern 1 vary slightly depending on the source you’re working from, the pattern follows the general structure of all lace edgings. It’s worked on a small number of stitches — often somewhere between seven and fifteen — and features a right-side row that includes yarn-overs to create the lace holes, with corresponding decreases that keep the stitch count balanced. The wrong-side row is typically purled across or worked simply, without shaping, so that the pattern reads cleanly.

What makes Edging Pattern 1 particularly useful as a teaching example is its combination of simplicity and transferability. Once you understand how this edging works, you have the conceptual framework to understand most other lace edgings. The skills you build here — reading the pattern, maintaining the stitch count, managing the selvedge, and executing the graft — apply directly to more complex patterns down the road.

The Typical Stitch Components

Without transcribing a specific copyrighted pattern, we can talk about the types of moves you’ll commonly encounter in an edging like this one:

Yarn-overs create the deliberate holes that give lace its airy appearance. In a basic edging, you might see a cluster of two or three yarn-overs near the outer edge to create a deep scallop or a series of eyelets running along the pattern.

Knit-two-together (k2tog) and slip-slip-knit (ssk) decreases are the balancing counterparts to yarn-overs. Every yarn-over adds a stitch, so every decrease removes one, keeping the row-to-row stitch count stable — unless you’re in a shaping section of a scallop, where you might intentionally increase or decrease over several rows before returning to the base count.

Slip stitches at the beginning of rows, worked with yarn in front or yarn in back depending on the pattern’s requirements, create a neat, consistent selvedge along the straight edge of the edging — the edge that will be grafted to your main fabric.

Setting Up to Graft: What You Need to Know Before You Begin

Grafting a lace edging is not something you want to dive into without preparation. The setup matters enormously, and a little time spent getting things right before you join your first stitch will save you from having to rip back and start over.

Your Main Fabric Must Have Live Stitches

This is the fundamental requirement for grafting an edging onto your work. The main piece — your shawl body, your blanket border, your collar — needs to be on a needle with its live stitches waiting. You will be consuming one of these live stitches with each right-side row of your edging, which is what creates the join.

The number of live stitches on your main fabric needs to correspond to the number of right-side rows in your edging pattern. Since most lace edgings have a two-row repeat (one right-side row and one wrong-side row), you’ll use one live stitch per repeat of the edging. This is why, when patterns tell you to pick up stitches along an edge before adding an edging, they give you very specific numbers — the math has to work out.

If you’re working from a pattern that specifies how many stitches to pick up for a grafted edging, trust those numbers. If you’re adapting or designing your own, you’ll need to calculate how many right-side rows your edging has per repeat and make sure your picked-up stitch count matches.

Cast On Your Edging Stitches

Your edging begins with a provisional cast-on or a backward loop cast-on, depending on the source pattern. A provisional cast-on is often preferred because it leaves the beginning stitches live and available for grafting once you’ve completed the edging — this allows you to join the cast-on end and the bind-off end seamlessly, which looks beautiful at the corner or join point of a circular shawl.

Use a smooth, contrast-color waste yarn for a provisional cast-on, or use a crochet provisional if you’re comfortable with that method. The goal is simply to get your stitches onto the needle without committing to a permanent edge that you can’t later access.

Needles and Yarn Considerations

Lace is always worked at a looser gauge than most knitters’ instinct suggests. If you’re used to following gauge swatch recommendations for garments, those instincts will tend to make you knit too tightly when working lace. Go up a needle size from what feels comfortable. The stitches need room to breathe, and the yarn-overs need to be open enough that they’ll show up as actual holes after blocking rather than puckering shut.

For the edging itself, use the same yarn as your main project, or at minimum the same weight. Mixing yarn weights in a grafted edging creates tension problems that no amount of blocking will fully resolve.

Working Edging Pattern 1: A Conceptual Walkthrough

Let’s walk through what the actual process of working and grafting Edging Pattern 1 looks like, conceptually, so you have a clear mental picture before you cast on.

You begin with your edging stitches on your needle and your main fabric’s live stitches on a separate needle, held parallel to the edging needle with the wrong sides of both pieces facing each other, or set up however your specific pattern instructs.

On the right-side rows of the edging, after working across the edging stitches as the pattern directs, you come to the final stitch of the edging — the selvedge stitch that lives right next to the main fabric. You work this stitch together with the first live stitch from your main fabric needle. This might be a k2tog, an ssk, or simply slipping both stitches and working them together in some way. The method varies by pattern and by the knitter’s preference, but the result is the same: one stitch of the edging and one stitch of the main fabric have been consumed together, forming one stitch that holds both layers together at that point.

Then you turn your work and work back across the edging on the wrong side, purling or working as directed. No joining happens on wrong-side rows — you simply work the edging stitches and turn again.

You continue in this rhythm — right side: work edging, join one stitch from main fabric; wrong side: work edging only — until all the live stitches from the main fabric have been consumed. At that point, your edging is complete.

What you’re left with is a lace edging that appears to flow seamlessly from the main fabric. The join line, when blocked, is virtually invisible.

Blocking: The Step That Makes Everything Make Sense

If you’ve never blocked lace before, prepare yourself, because what happens to lace during blocking feels close to miraculous the first time you experience it.

Before blocking, lace looks like a crumpled, confused tangle. The yarn-overs are squished against their neighboring stitches, the points and scallops haven’t opened up, and the whole thing looks unworthy of the work you put into it. This is completely normal, and it means nothing about the quality of your knitting.

Blocking lace requires water, blocking wires or pins, and patience. Soak your finished piece in cool water with a small amount of wool wash, then gently press out the excess water without wringing or twisting. Lay the piece flat on blocking mats and begin pinning.

For a lace edging with pointed tips, thread blocking wires through the tip stitches before pinning, then stretch the entire edge out to the dimensions specified in your pattern and pin the wires down. For scalloped edgings, pin each scallop individually, pulling the points outward and spacing them evenly. This is where the patience comes in — rushing the pinning creates an uneven result.

Once pinned, let the piece dry completely. This can take anywhere from a few hours to overnight depending on the fiber content and the ambient humidity. When you remove the pins, the lace will hold its shape, the pattern will be crisp and clear, and the graft join will be practically invisible.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Every knitter who learns to graft lace edgings makes some predictable mistakes. Knowing what to watch for means you can catch problems early rather than discovering them after blocking.

Losing count of where you are in the edging repeat is probably the most common issue. Lace patterns demand attention, and it’s easy to get distracted and miss a yarn-over or accidentally work an extra decrease. Use a row counter religiously. Some knitters also use a sticky note or paper clip to mark their place in the written pattern, moving it down each time they complete a row.

Twisting the work when you turn is another frequent problem, especially for knitters who are new to working with two needles in this configuration. Before you begin each row, take a moment to ensure that neither needle has been flipped or twisted, and that the right side of the edging is facing you when it should be.

Working the join too tightly creates a puckered seam that no amount of blocking will flatten. If you notice your join looking gathered or ruffled, consciously loosen the stitch where you join the edging to the main fabric. Some knitters go up an additional needle size just for the joining stitches.

Miscounting the live stitches on the main fabric is a setup error that causes problems throughout the entire edging. Before you begin grafting, count your live stitches and compare them to the number of right-side rows in your edging repeat. If the numbers don’t match, figure out why before you begin rather than trying to fudge it partway through.

Adapting and Personalizing Edging Pattern 1

Once you’ve worked through Edging Pattern 1 at least once as written, you’ll start to see how the pattern is constructed and where there’s room for personalization.

The depth of the edging can often be adjusted by adding or removing stitches at the outer edge. Adding stitches makes the lace deeper and more dramatic; removing them creates a more delicate, narrow trim. When you change the stitch count, you’ll need to recalculate which decreases and yarn-overs need to shift accordingly, but with a basic understanding of lace construction this becomes manageable.

The density of the yarn-overs can be varied to change the visual character. Clusters of yarn-overs create bold, open holes; single yarn-overs create a more refined eyelet look. Combining both in a single pattern creates textural interest and rhythm.

You can also experiment with different fiber content for different effects. A fingering-weight wool will block to a soft, full lace. A cotton or linen yarn will produce a crisper, more defined pattern with less drape. Silk adds sheen and weight. Each choice changes the character of the finished edging significantly.

Why Learning This Skill Is Worth the Investment of Time

Learning to graft lace edgings is one of those skills that exists at the intersection of technical knowledge and artistic intuition. It takes time to develop — most knitters find the first attempt a little awkward, the second much smoother, and by the third they’re wondering why they ever thought it was intimidating.

But beyond the technical accomplishment, there’s something deeply satisfying about this particular technique. It connects you to a long tradition of textile craft that predates industrial manufacture, a tradition in which skilled makers produced items of extraordinary beauty using nothing but fiber, needles, and accumulated knowledge. Working a grafted lace edging is participating in that tradition.

The things you make with this skill will last. Lace edgings worked in quality wool or linen, properly blocked and cared for, can survive generations. Heirloom knitting is a real category for a reason — people keep these pieces because they are genuinely beautiful and genuinely skillful, and because they connect us to the people who made them.

Edging Pattern 1 is a beginning. It’s the first step in an education that goes as deep as you want to take it, from simple repeating motifs to complex Shetland gossamer lace with dozens of stitches and intricate charted patterns. But every expert lace knitter started exactly where you’re starting now — with a small number of stitches, a two-row repeat, and a willingness to learn.

Cast on. Take it row by row. Let the blocking reveal what you’ve made. You might surprise yourself.