Oyster Stitch

In her post today for Wovember, Kate Davies showed off her new pattern that is sort of like a swingy, loose coat sweater.  Not planning to knit such a garment, but I was intrigued by the stitch she described.  It is an old stitch, apparently, and inspired by the grey bi-valved oyster.  She says it has an easily remembered cadence to the pattern.

That certain book that Davies referenced for the stitch pattern was a paperback, and I have pretty much vowed to not yet again buy tangible books that sit on shelves waiting for dust to grace their tops. So I rummaged through my stitch pattern dictionary that still huddles in a bookcase with older books that were mercifully saved from a prior trip of donations to Good Will.  (Some beloved books just cannot be parted from their owners); The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns was one such relic.  Alas, no oyster pattern to be found within its pages.

YouTube did show how to knit that stitch, courtesy of NewStitchADay.

Kate Davies knitted her sweater from a grey color, naturally.  Oysters are grey. But there is a voice in the back of my head that echoes from an older woman, even older than I, that whispered once "grey is not a pretty color for a woman to wear".  I am trying not to listen.

Regardless of that little voice trying to dissuade me from using the color grey in knitwear, there are some gorgeous, classy looks using that neutral shade.  It seems to be quite the favorite color now, even for baby clothes and blankets.

source

Thinking about oysters, they have lots of colors, not just grey.  Browns, blacks, greens, yellows, ivory, all make up the ubiquitous grey of the oyster.  We saw lots of oyster farms while in Shetland this summer.  And we even ate a few, which were quite delicious.  Oysters Rockefeller are a favorite holiday appetizer for the hub and me.  Soon.

So using a pretty grey one ply merino yarn, I may make up something in an oyster stitch...perhaps mittens from a free pattern supplied on Ravelry by Rebecca Blair.  We shall see.  There are two other projects on the needles still needing a bit of attention before we sally off on another adventure.