How to knit the eyelash stitch

This week has been all about adding texture to your knits. We’ve explored rosettes, which are petite versions of bobbles. We’ve tried wrapping stitches and twisting stitches and crossing stitches as well. We’ve even bound off stitches in the middle of the row, only to pick them up on the way back. Today we’re going to learn how to knit the eyelash stitch, which is actually a variation on the tuck stitch.

As you can see in the photo below, the eyelash stitch gets its name quite literally from the appearance it has in the finished fabric. A panel of eyelash stitches would be a fun design element to place along the edge of a V-neck sweater, or as the cuffs or waist band, too. It can be easily incorporated into a scarf or cowl or the cuff of a sock.

The eyelash stitch shows up the best on a background of reverse stockinette. So for your practice swatch, you’ll need a panel of an odd number of stitches to make the motif. The central 7 stitches will be where you will knit the eyelash stitch, so you may want to set them apart with stitch markers.

Work 5 rows in plain reverse stockinette stitch. The first row of the motif is the 6th row which is a wrong-side row. Work to the center 7 sts, knit 3, yarn over, ssk, knit 2, and continue the rest of the row. Then work 4 more rows plain.

The next right-side row is where all the fun happens. Here’s where we work the tuck stitch. Work to the center 7 sts, purl 2 sts, insert the right needle into the eyelet 4 rows below and bring up a loop of yarn quite loosely. The loop should be pulled up past the height of the current row. See the photo for an idea of what it should look like. If the loop is too tight the fabric will pucker.

Then, purl 2 sts, repeat the tuck stitch and pull up the loop to the same height as the other. Then purl 2 sts and repeat the tuck stitch once more; purl 1, and continue across.

If you study the right-side of the work you’ll see 2 sts between each tuck stitch loop (green arrows) and from the wrong side the strands down to the eyelet appear to be a half-stitch off, but there are still 2 stitches between the gaps (pink arrows)

Now working across the wrong side of the fabric, come to the center 7 stitches, [k1, purl the loop and the next st together], repeat between [ ] twice more, and then knit the last of the 7 sts, and continue across.

Work 3 more rows plain and you’re ready to make another eyelash stitch.

And that’s all there is to this cute stitch motif. I hope you enjoy knitting the eyelash stitch. The next time I design something, I’m going to try this with a yarn dyed in a long colorway to see if the eyelashes contrast well against the stitches behind them.