# keffiyah fishing net pattern

posted on May 26, 2025 by Lee Cattarin

- knit

## give

this pattern is offered at no cost, but I highly encourage giving to Palestinian relief work.

- Palestine Children's Relief Fund

## abbreviations

abbr | term
--- | ---
MC | main color (light in swatch shown)
CC | contrast color (dark in swatch shown)
RS | right side
WS | wrong side
k | knit
sl | slip
wyif | with yarn in front
p | purl

## techniques

### knit into a float

in this pattern, you will be creating floats on the front of the work, then picking them up and knitting into them 3 rows later. Do this as part of the stitch you are working, not instead of! You should have the same number of stitches afterwards.

when you pick up a float, you want it to sit in front of the worked stitch, and untwisted. To achieve this, I have been catching the float on my right needle by dipping the needle down and under the float, from the front to the back. From there, I work the stitch, then slip the float over the new stitch on my right needle.

## knit flat

### cast on

knit flat, the pattern repeat uses 6n + 1 stitches. In the swatch shown, I cast on 29 stitches - 2 on each side for selvedge, then 25 -- 6 * 4 + 1. To simplify things, I'll write the pattern for the swatch, selvedge and all - but please adapt as you see fit.

with MC, cast on 29 stitches.

### establish the pattern

- row 0 (WS): with MC, knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif
- row 1 (RS):
  - with MC, k2
  - [with CC, k1; with MC, k5] * 4, then with CC, k1
  - with MC, k1, sl1 wyif
- row 2 (WS):
  - with MC, k1, p1
  - [with CC, k1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, p5] * 4, then with CC, k1 and bring working yarn back to WS
  - with MC, p1, sl1 wyif

### pattern repeat

- row 3 (RS): with MC, knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif
- row 4 (WS): with MC, k1, purl to last stitch, sl1 wyif
- row 5 (RS):
  - with MC, k5
  - [with CC, k1 into the float from 3 rows below; with MC, k5] * 4
  - with MC, k4, sl1 wyif
- row 6 (RS):
  - with MC, k1, p4
  - [with CC, k1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, p5] * 4 -- on the last repeat, move working yarn back to WS before purling
  - with MC, p4, sl1 wyif
- rows 7-8: repeat rows 3-4
- row 9 (RS):
  - with MC, k2
  - [with CC, k1 into the float from 3 rows below; with MC, k5] * 4, then with CC, k1
  - with MC, k1, sl1 wyif
- row 10 (WS):
  - with MC, k1, p1
  - [with CC, k1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, p5] * 4, then with CC, k1 and bring working yarn back to WS
  - with MC, p1, sl1 wyif

### close the pattern

end after rows 5 or 9 of the pattern repeat. replace row 6 or 10 with the following:

- row 6 alteration:
  - with MC, k1, p4
  - [with CC, k1; with MC, p5] * 4
  - with MC, p4, sl1 wyif
- row 10 alteration:
  - with MC, k1, p1
  - [with CC, k1; with MC, p5] * 4, then with CC, k1
  - with MC, p1, sl1 wyif

to end my swatch, I did the following:

- row (RS): with MC, knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif
- row (WS): with MC, k1, purl to last stitch, sl1 wyif
- row (RS): with MC, bind off

## knit in the round

### cast on

with MC, cast on a multiple of 6 stitches. knit in plain stockinette until you are ready to start the pattern.

### establish the pattern

- row 1:
  - [with CC, k1; with MC, k5] repeat to last 6 stitches
  - with CC, k1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k5
- row 2:
  - [with CC, p1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k5] repeat to last 6 stitches
  - with CC, p1 and move working yarn to WS; with MC, k5

### pattern repeat

- rows 3-4: with MC, knit all stitches
- row 5:
  - with MC, k3
  - [with CC, k1 into the float from 3 rows below; with MC, k5] repeat to last 3 stitches
  - with CC, k1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k2
- row 6:
  - with MC, k3
  - [with CC, p1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k5] repeat to last 3 stitches
  - with CC, p1 and moving working yarn to WS; with MC, k2
- rows 7-8: repeat rows 3-4
- row 9:
  - [with CC, k1 into the float from 3 rows below; with MC, k5] repeat to last 6 stitches
  - with CC, k1 into the float from 3 rows below and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k5
- rows 10:
  - [with CC, p1 and leave working yarn on RS; with MC, k5] repeat to last 6 stitches
  - with CC, p1 and move working yarn to WS; with MC, k5

### close the pattern

end after rows 5 or 9 of the pattern repeat. replace row 6 or 10 with the following:

- row 6 alteration:
  - with MC, k3
  - [with CC, p1; with MC, k5] repeat to last 3 stitches
  - with CC, p1; with MC, k2
- row 10 alteration: [with CC, p1; with MC, k5] repeat for all stitches

with MC, knit in plain stockinette until you want to bind off, then bind off.

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