Star Pattern

These stars are a fun way to learn stacked increases. You may have seen these in the Fox Paws or Solarita patterns and wondered how they work. You can use these fun stars to practice stacked increases before jumping into a more complex project, or just make them because they're a lot of fun.This technique can be used to create lobed edging, flame stitch motifs, and shaping. Stacked increases are worked by slipping stitches back to the left needle to work them again.

Finished Size: Approx. 6" (15 cm) in diameter.

Yarn: Approx. 5 yards (4.8 m) of worsted weight yarn in 3 different colors.

Needles: Size 10 (6mm) needles, or one size up from size on label.

Gauge: 16sts and 32 rows for a 4 x 4" (10 x 10cm) square.

Other Materials: Sewing needle, steamer, blocking surface, pins, starch (optional).

Pattern Edited by Liz Rolle
Photos by Beth Shepherd Peters

 Pattern instructions

Star is knit flat and seamed together to make a circle. The cast on edge will end up on the inside, and the bind off is the outer edge.

CO 25 sts in first color using the long tail method.

Rows 1-3: Knit.

Row 4: Switch to second color, Knit.

Row 5: K1, *K1, [KYOK, SB2] x 5, KYOK, K7, rep from * 5 more times.

Row 6: Switch to third color, Bind off.

Finish by sewing the star into a continuous ring using the cut ends of yarn. Block gently, starch stiff if desired.

Stitch definitions

CO - Cast on

K3tog - Knit 3 stitches together.

K5tog - Knit 5 stitches together. Or use S2K3P2SO instead.

S2K3P2SO - Slip 2 stitches knitwise together, K3tog, pass slipped stitches over.

SB - Slip back to left needle.

If you prefer to download a PDF version of this pattern, you can get it on ravelry.
For a video showing how to do the increases in this pattern, follow this link.
This article will help if you want to use stacked increases in other projects.