Frankie’s Knitted Stuff

Helicopters
Take three shades of yarn, knit some
garter stitch shapes and then sew them
together to make this three-dimensional
knitted fabric.

I’ve knitted a table runner but you could

turn your shapes into a blanket or a
cushion cover too.

In the quilting world this design is

called ‘Inner City’ but I’ve named mine
after the Sycamore keys which, as children, we used to throw
into the air and watch spin to the ground. We called them
helicopters.

Useful Stuff

You could use any yarn and needles to knit your helicopters;
here are the details of mine. I chose Rico Creative Melange DK
(200 m / 50 g) which is a soft, subtly variegated yarn; with solid
colours I think the 3D effect would be even more striking.

Tension: 12 stitches and 24 rows = 5 cm / 2"², working in

garter stitch on 3.75 mm / US size 5 needles.

My finished runner measures 50 × 100 cm / 21 × 39", including

a 2.5 cm / 1" border. I used about 250 g of yarn all together;
there was quite a lot left as I had to buy two balls of each shade.
If you want to use the same yarn as me but decide to knit more
blocks I think three 50 g balls of yarn (one in each shade) will
give you about 30 blocks. You’d then need to buy one or two
more balls of whichever colour you use for the knitted border.
The Knitting

Each block consists of three ‘wings’, one in each of the three

colours. Stitches are picked up from the first wing to knit the
second and from the first two to knit the third, thus cutting down
on the sewing up. The cast off tails from each wing will be used
to sew the blocks together.

Your three colours should be light, medium and dark shades for
the 3D effect to work. I used three shades of Rico Creative
Melange:

L shade 6
M shade 1
D shade 3

Light Wing

Using the cable method and L, cast on 33 stitches.

Row 1: K15, S2KP2, K15 (31 sts).

Row 2: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (29 sts).
Row 3: Knit.
Row 4: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (27 sts).
Row 5: K12, S2KP2, K12 (25 sts).
Row 6: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (23 sts).
Row 7: Knit.
Row 8: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (21 sts).
Row 9: K9, S2KP2, K9 (19 sts).
Row 10: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (17 sts).

Cast off, working S2KP2 in the middle of the row (cast off 6,
S2KP2, pass first stitch over), cast off to last 2 stitches, K2tog,
pass the first stitch over and fasten off.
Darn in the cast on tail of yarn but leave a cast off tail of about
20 cm / 8" for joining the blocks later.
Notes

 It’s important to use the cable method when casting on.

Not only does this help to define your knitted shape, it also
makes picking up the stitches for the other wings easy.
 The even numbered rows are the right side of the knitting.
 All even numbered rows are the same, with a stitch
decreased at each end.
 The odd numbered rows alternate between plain knitted
rows and rows with a double decrease in the middle.

Medium Wing

With the right side facing (the bumpy side of the cast on edge
should be uppermost) and M, pick up and knit 16 stitches across
the cast on edge of the light wing. Begin at the edge and work
towards the centre of the wing.

Now cast on 17 more stitches using the cable method. Work into
the back loop to cast on the first stitch, then through both loops
as normal for the rest of the stitches.

Knit the ten rows of the wing, exactly

as you did before and cast off.

Don’t worry if the middle of this

second wing sticks out a bit, that will
disappear after the third wing has been
knitted.
Dark Wing

With the right side facing and D, pick up and knit 17 stitches
across the cast on edge of the medium wing and 16 across the
light wing.

Complete this wing as you did the others. The only difference is
that you should work the first stitch of Row 1 into the back of
the loop to avoid a blip of the old colour showing on the right
side.

That’s the first Helicopter block finished. Remember to leave

the cast off tail from each wing to join the blocks together.

Sewing the blocks Together

If you are using solid colours you can sew your blocks together
as you finish them. With variegated yarn like mine you might
like to wait until you’ve knitted all the blocks so that you can
arrange them in a pleasing order.

This Bit is Important

Each seam will join a single colour cast off edge to a two colour
‘point’. If you make sure that you always use the tail of yarn
from the cast off edge, then all your yarn tails will be used up.

I sewed my blocks into a long, thin rectangle to fit my table so I

arranged them in alternate rows of three and two blocks.
 My yarn tails weren’t really all the same colour;
I’ve drawn over them so you can see them better.

As you can see, there are four seams to sew, starting from the
bottom of the cast off edge for two of them and from the top for
the other two.

Join the blocks with mattress stitch, working through the edges
of the knitting. Bring your needle vertically up through the
stitches on the cast off edges but work sideways through the
other edges.

Don’t worry if your seams look a bit lumpy and bumpy, all that
will be dealt with by the blocking later.

Here’s the next row of blocks lined up ready to be sewn on.

Keep adding rows of blocks like this until you have a finished
piece of knitting, albeit one with very odd edges.

Filling in the Gaps

This is the fiddly part of the pattern. In order to end up with

straight edges, you have to knit some partial shapes and guess
what? They’re different shapes for each of the four sides.

The Right Side

To even up the right side you’ll need to knit shapes using two
colours, L and D.

Using the cable method and L, cast on ten stitches. Leave a tail
long enough to sew a short seam.

Row 1: Kf&b, K to end.

Row 2: SSK, K to end.
Work these two rows four times in all.

Next row: Kf&b, K to end (11 sts).

Change to D.

Row 1: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (9 sts).

Row 2: K1tbl, K to end.
Row 3: SSK, K to end (8 sts).
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: SSK, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (6 sts).
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: SSK, K4 (5 sts).
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: SSK, K1, K2tog (3 sts).
Row 10: Knit.

Cast off with the double decrease cast off:

Slip one stitch knitwise, knit two stitches together, pass the
slipped stitch over and fasten off.

Darn in all the tails except the cast on one. Use this to sew your
shape into the bottom of the space; the rest of the shape is sewn
in with the tail of yarn from the side of the main piece of
knitting. Look at the photo on the last page to see how this
works.

You’ll also need to add one of these shapes to the top and
bottom of this right hand side.
Don’t worry if your finished edge is a bit (or even very) wavy;
we’ll deal with that later.

The Left Side

The shapes for the left side are a reversed version of those for
the right, this time knitted with M and D.
Using the cable method and M, cast on 10 stitches.

Row 1: SSK, K to end.

Row 2: Kf&b, K to end.

Work these two rows four times in all.

Next row: SSK, K to end (9 sts).

Change to D.

Row 1: Knit.
Row 2: SSK, K to end (8 sts).
Row 3: Knit.
Row 4: SSK, K to end (7 sts).
Row 5: SSK, K to end (6 sts).
Row 6: SSK, K to end (5 sts).
Row 7: Knit.
Row 8: SSK, K to end (4 sts).
Row 9: SSK, K2tog (2 sts).
Row 10: Knit.
K2tog and fasten off.

Sew the shapes to the side of the knitting in the same way as you
did for the right side.

The Top

This is where it starts to get a bit more complicated.

First, let’s fill those big gaps, using L and M.

Using the cable method and L, cast on 20 stitches.

Row 1: K15, S2KP2, K2 (18 sts).

Row 2: Kf&b, K to last 2 sts, K2tog.
Row 3: K16, kf&b, K1 (19 sts).
Row 4: Kf&b, K to last 2 sts, k2tog.
Row 5: K12, S2KP2, K2, kf&b, K1 (18 sts).
Row 6: Kf&b, K to last 2 sts, k2tog.
Row 7: K16, kf&b, K1 (19 sts).
Row 8: Kf&b, K to last 2 sts, K2tog.
Row 9: K9, S2KP2, K5, kf&b, K1 (18 sts).
Row 10: Kf&b, K to last 2 sts, K2tog.

Cast off six stitches, S2KP2, cast off to end.

Using M, pick up and knit 16 stitches from the cast on edge of

the L shape. Then cast on four more stitches (20 sts).

Row 1: K2, S2KP2, K15 (18 sts).

Row 2: SSK, K to last 2 sts, kf&b, K1.
Row 3: Kf&b, K to end (19 sts).
Row 4: SSK, K to last 2 sts, kf&b, K1.
Row 5: Kf&b, K3, S2KP2, K12 (18 sts).
Row 6: SSK, K to last 2 sts, kf&b, K1.
Row 7; Kf&b, K to end (19 sts).
Row 8: SSK, K to last 2 sts, kf&b, K1.
Row 9: Kf&b, K6, S2KP2, K9 (18 sts).
Row 10: SSK, K to last 2 sts, kf&b, K1.

Cast off eight stitches, S2KP2, cast off to the end, working
K2tog on the last two stitches.

Darn in the cast on tails of yarn but leave both cast off tails.

Sew the shape in place using three cast off tails, two from this
shape and one from the main piece of knitting.
There are two more tiny sets of shapes to knit to fill in the top.
The first one, worked in L and M goes on the top of the blocks.

Using L cast on two stitches.

Row 1: Kf&b, K1, (3 sts).

Row 2 - 4: Knit.
Row 5: Kf&b, K2 (4 sts).
Rows 6 – 8: Knit.

Change to M.

Row 9: Knit.
Row 10: K1tbl, K3.
Row 11: Knit.
Row 12: K2, K2tog (3 sts).
Rows 13 - 15: Knit.
Row 16: K1, K2tog (2 sts).
Row 17: Knit.

K2tog and fasten off. Darn in all the ends.

The last little shape fills in the top

corners.
Use L for the top right corner and M for
the top left.
Cast on two stitches.

Row 1: Kf&b, K1 (3 sts).

Rows 2 – 4: Knit.
Row 5: Kf&b, K2 (4 sts).
Rows 6 – 8: Knit.
Row 9: Kf&b, K3 (5 sts).

Cast off. Use the cast off tail to sew the shape to the corner;
you’ll need to flip it over for the top left corner.

This is what the completed top edge should look like.

The Bottom

This time there are two sorts of shapes to knit, some big ones
using all three colours and lots of little triangles in D.

Let’s start with the big shapes. First of all, knit a complete wing
in D.
With the right side facing and using L, pick up and knit 16
stitches across the cast on edge of the D wing, starting at the
edge and working towards the centre. Cast on another four
stitches (20 sts).

Row 1: K2, S2KP2, K15 18 sts).

Row 2: SSK, K to end (17 sts).
Row 3: Knit.
Row 4: SSK, K to end (16 sts).
Row 5: K1, S2KP2, K12 (14 sts).
Row 6: SSK, K to end (13 sts).
Row 7: Knit.
Row 8: SSK, K to end (12 sts).
Row 9: S2KP2, K9 (10 sts).
Row 10: SSK, K to end (9 sts).

Cast off, working SSK at the start of the row and K2tog at the
end.

Using M, pick up and knit four stitches across the cast on edge
of the L shape and then 16 stitches across the D wing (20 sts).

Row 1: K1tbl, K14, S2KP2, K2 18 sts).

Row 2: K to last 2 sts, K2tog (17 sts).
Row 3: Knit.
Row 4: K to last 2 sts, K2tog (16 sts).
Row 5: K12, S2KP2, K1 (14 sts).
Row 6: K to last 2 sts, K2tog (13 sts).
Row 7: Knit.
Row 8: K to last 2 sts, K2tog (12 sts).
Row 9: K9, S2KP2, (10 sts).
Row 10: K to last 2 sts, K2tog (9 sts).

Cast off, working SSK at the start of the row and K2tog at the
end.

The little triangles are knitted in D.

Cast on six stitches.

Row 1: Kf&b, K3, K2tog.

Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: K4, K2tog (5 sts).
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: Kf&b, K2, K2tog.
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: K3, K2tog (4 sts).
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: Kf&b, k1, K2tog
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: K2, K2tog (3 sts).

Cast off with the double decrease cast off.

At some point when sewing the shapes to the bottom of the

knitted piece I ran out of ends but I can’t remember when.
Never mind, the system worked so well nearly to the end.

If you’ve got this far you deserve a cup of tea before proceeding
to the border.
The Border

There may be a lot of stitches but this will feel like light relief
after all those little shapes.

First you need to know how many stitches you knit in 5 cm / 2";
for me this was 12. Now measure one of your edges and place
pins every 2". Smooth the knitting flat but don’t stretch it.

With the right side facing and using a long circular needle
(3.75 mm), pick up and knit 12 stitches for every 2" along the
side. If your side measurement doesn’t divide into 2" chunks
you’ll have to do a bit of Maths to work out the odd stitches.

Every row: Kf&b, K to end.

Work 11 rows (about 1") or any odd number of rows.

I cast off with a narrow I cord edge to give the finished edge a
bit of body.

I Cord Cast Off

Cast on two stitches.

*K1, K2tbl, slip two stitches back on to left needle purlwise.

Repeat from * until you only have two stitches left. Knit those
two stitches through the back of the loop and fasten off.

Darn in the cast on tails of yarn

but leave the cast off tails to join
the corners of the border.
The only thing left to do is to block your finished knitting. Take
care over this as it makes all the difference. That knitted border
will have helped to straighten up all those wavy edges but the
blocking will smooth the whole thing out.

I washed my knitting in warm water and then pinned it out to

shape, using lots and lots of pins. A dressmaker’s yardstick is
useful here to keep the whole thing square.

Abbreviations

st / sts stitch / stitches

K knit
S2KP2 slip two stitches as if to knit them together, knit one stitch
and pass slipped stitches over (two stitches decreased)
SSK Slip two stitches knitwise (or knitwise followed by
purlwise) one at a time, insert tip of left needle into
stitches from above, put yarn round right needle and
knit both stitches together.
K2tog knit two stitches together
kf&b knit into the front and back of the stitch
K1/2tbl knit one or two stitches into the back of the stitch

© Frankie Brown, 2018.

My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale.
Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.