The Mountain Laurel Counterpane looks like a field of solidly knit star-shaped flowers floating on a lacy background. In between the petals are triangles of seed stitch (mostly obscured, but leaving a nice contrasting texture) pierced by 4-eyelet diamonds.

The main motif is knit in the round on double pointed needles. I started out with three 6-inch ones (plus one to knit with) – two petal repeats per needle. After Row 11 I switched to six (plus one) so that each petal repeat was on its own needle. Eventually I found a set of 10-inch long dpns, and went back to using 4 of these longer needles. Those who aren’t as dpn-happy as I am might want to use the smallest size circular after row 11 or so. The half-hex and triangle filler pieces square the edges, and are knit on single points, as is the coordinating cable border.

by Kim Brody Salazar.

Find the free knitting pattern here: link