Day 4- Leaves

I can already tell that the blogging is going to be the most difficult part of this challenge for me, but thanks to the magic of the interwebs I can post date this entry and pretend that I put it up yesterday, don't even need a TARDIS. Anyway, as part of the top secret project for Saturday I need leaves, lots and lots of leaves. Leaves are pretty easy to design with simple shaping and I already had the leaf pattern I created for my Immaculate Heart of Mary design, but I didn't really like the way it transferred to large leaves. Instead I created a new leaf that is simple enough to work on anywhere and won't curl like stockinette leaves. I also like that it is easily identifiable, even out of context. This pattern can be used with any size needle and yarn, but I used a light worsted on US6 needles for mine.

Basic Leaf

CO 3sts
Row 1: knit
Row 2(and all even rows): knit
Row 3: k1, m1, k1, m1, k1
Row 5: k2, m1, k1, m1, k2
Row 7: k3, m1, k1, m1, k3
Row 9: k4, m1, k1, m1, k4
Row 11: knit
Row 13: k3, k2tog, k1, ssk, k3
Row 15: knit
Row 17: k2, k2tog, k1, ssk, k2
Row 19: knit
Row 21: k1, k2tog, k1, ssk, k1
Row 23: knit
Row 25: k2tog, k1, ssk
Row 27: knit
Row 30: sl1, k2tog, psso and pull yarn through.

For those who don't want to deal with a pattern you simply start with 3 stitches, make a set of mirrored increases every other row until you have 11 stitches. Then you will make mirrored decreases every fourth row until you are back down to 3 stitches.