Vandyke Pattern

Anthony Van Dyck with his signature beard.

            I missed a day I know I'm terrible, I really just didn't want to post after running yesterday. Also I may have been distracted by magicarp jump. I should've written it up whilst waiting for GoT episode 2 but I was being lazy :O
Speaking of GoT much prefered this episode to episode 1, more stuff happened and it actually feels like important characters are going to meet and not get distracted on the way. *SPOILERS* Although I think Davos is going to be a bit miffed that Mel is on dragonstone working with Dany, hopefully that wont get in the way of Jon and Dany dealing with the wars to come *SPOILERS END*

            An interesting pattern with an unclear history today. The likely origin of the name is from a 17th century artist called Anthony Van Dyck. He had a penchant for collars with a sawtoothed or scalloped edge, and often painted people wearing such a collar given it was also fashionable at the time, and so along with his signature pointy beard the collar with a pointed trim was named after him. Later the trim would be known as vandyke trim, which is the anglicised version of his name.
            The pattern features parrallelograms and rectangles, both of which can be formed from sawtooth triangles. With no other obvious explanation that's likely why this pattern has it's name. I don't think Van Dyck knew how to knit given he would be too busy painting dudes with pointy collars; it's more likely the pattern was invented during the regency period after the lace collars with a van dyke trim became more popular amoungst women.

Swatch is as Follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 32st x 44st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 8st
*Left leaning parrallelograms*
Row 1 - *K*
Row 2 - *K4,P4*
Row 3 - P1*K4,P4*end P3
Row 4 - K2*P4,K4*end K2
Row 5 - P3*K4,P4*end P1
Row 6 - *P4,K4*
Row 7 - *K*
*First set of squares*
Row 8,9,10 & 11 - *K4,P4*
Row 12 - *P*
*Right leaning parrallelograms*
Row 13 - *P4,K4*
Row 14 - K1*P4,K4*end K3
Row 15 - P2*K4,P4*end P2
Row 16 - K3*P4,K4*end K1
Row 17 - *K4,P4*
Row 18 - *P*
*Second set of squares*
Rows 19,20,21,22 - *P4,K4*

I've organised the pattern into the sections if you knit the rows in the order shown you get the van dyke pattern but you can re-arrange it to make horizontal chevrons (put the left leaning and right leaning one after another) or just one type of parrallelogram in the pattern with the squares, the pattern is really easy to change. Happy Knitting!