I wanted to make an elegant, simple lap rug in dark tones, that would suit a modern stylish household, and that a guy (my brother, in this case) would like – white and lacy was definitely out. It needed to be a pretty quick knit, and a simple pattern with enough interesting bits that I didn’t go nuts. I also didn’t want to have to sew anything together at the end.

After searching through stitch dictionaries, and knitting quite a few swatches, I came up with this combination, which is easy to memorize, simple to figure out where you’re up to in the pattern if you set it down for a while, knits up quickly, has a wonderful understated texture, and was a pleasure to knit. I hope you enjoy it too!

by Denise Sutherland

An Easy Knit: suitable for beginners

Materials For The Knitting Pattern

8 x 50g balls of an Aran or Worsted weight / 10 ply wool blend. I used Paton’s Inca, colorway 7008 (58 meters / 63 yards per ball). Inca is a 50% wool, 30% acrylic, and 20% alpaca blend.
It’s a good idea to choose a yarn that can be washed easily, especially if this is a gift for non-knitters who might just chuck it in the washing machine!

• 6 or 7 mm needles;
• an 80 cm circular works well (knit back and forth, not in the round)
• 2 stitch markers
• Darning needle

Gauge

About 10 stitches: 10 cm / 4″ – not important (isn’t that nice for a change?)

Size

About 70 x 120 cm (26″ x 47″)

Abbreviations

K: knit
P: purl
wyif: with yarn in front
slip 1: slip one stitch from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle without knitting it
RS: right side of work facing you
WS: wrong side of work facing you

Elegant Lap Rug Free Knitting Pattern Instructions

Cast on 69 stitches.
Row 1: Purl (Wrong Side)
Row 2 (Right Side): (Knit 1, with yarn in front, slip 1, return the yarn back to back of work), repeat to last stitch, Knit 1
Row 3 (Wrong Side): Purl
Row 4 (Right Side): Knit 1, (Knit 1, with yarn in front, slip 1), repeat to end of row
Row 5 (Wrong Side): Purl
Rows 6–13: Repeat Rows 2–5
Row 14 (Right Side): (Knit 1, with yarn in front, slip 1) 4 times, Knit 53, (with yarn in front, slip 1, Knit 1) 4 times
Row 15 (Wrong Side): Purl
Row 16 (Right Side): Knit 1, (Knit 1, with yarn in front, slip 1) 3 times, Knit 1. (Knit 1, Purl 1) to last 9 stitches. Knit 1 (Knit 1, with yarn in front, slip 1) 3 times, Knit 2
Row 17 (Wrong Side): Purl
Repeat Rows 14–17 until you get to a length of about 7 cm / 3 inches from the desired final length

Repeat Rows 2–13 as written above
Bind off. A nice one is Knit 1, (slip stitch back to left-hand needle, knit two together), repeat to end. Cut yarn, and pull tail through last stitch.
Darn in all those ends!
Block if so desired, then snuggle up with it and a loved one on the couch and stay cosy warm all winter!

Concise instructions for more experienced knitters

This is basically a Purl Ridges body with a Linen Ridges border. Cast on 69 stitches. Knit 12 rows of Linen Ridges, then knit the length you want keeping 8 stitches at the start and end of each row in Linen Ridges, and with Purl Ridges in between. Then 12 rows of Linen Ridges at the end. Then do a stretchy bind off.

Border Pattern: Linen Ridges

Row 1: Purl
Row 2: Knit 1, *(with yarn in front slip 1, Knit 1) repeat from * to end
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: With yarn in front slip 1 *(Knit 1, with yarn in back slip 1), repeat from * to endBody Pattern: Purl Ridges
Row 1 (Right Side): Knit
Row 2 (Wrong Side): Purl
Row 3 (Right Side): (Knit 1, Purl 1) across row