PurlbedPleats and folds › Diagonal and V folds
Herringbone / Zigzag (V-pleat) Fold
A vertical accordion base (alternating front and back fold bands). Diagonal folds cross it as a horizontal chevron. Each diagonal starts at one vertical fold and travels to the next. When it arrives, the pattern repeats with the opposite bed, so the chevrons alternate M and V.
- Two beds
Machine types that can knit it
Demo swatch
Drawn for: Double-bed hand flat (V-bed)Approximate preview worked out from the bed chart, not a photo.
The full card
- How it behaves
- Self-folds into a compact faceted block. Stretched, it rotates into curves. Joined edges form self-supporting faceted vessels.
- How it works
- A vertical accordion base (alternating front and back fold bands). Diagonal folds cross it as a horizontal chevron. Each diagonal starts at one vertical fold and travels to the next. When it arrives, the pattern repeats with the opposite bed, so the chevrons alternate M and V. In the charts, segments of a vertical fold change bed where a chevron crosses them, as the origami parity requires.
- Machines
- Needs a double bed with transfers. Workable on a domestic machine with ribber at half the stitch count. A good first origami project, because any diagonal angle works (the default 1:2 rate is fine).
- Parameters
- P (panel width between vertical folds), F, rate, V-band height Hv = (P+F)·r/s, plain accordion rows between V-bands Hgap (0 to 40+). 1. Set the vertical accordion layout. 2. V-band 1: from each vertical fold, run diagonals on bed X toward the adjacent vertical fold, mirrored so that pairs meet and form V points. 3. On arrival, switch the vertical segments as charted and run the next diagonals on the opposite bed. 4. Knit Hgap rows of plain accordion. 5. Repeat.
- Charting
- Vertical red and blue columns plus stepped diagonal bands forming chevrons. 1 square = 1 needle × 1 row. Mark where a column's colour changes along its length.
- Limits and common problems
- Loose natural yarn forms the shape but loses it when handled. A 1:1 rate in loose yarn gives very steep, weak folds.
- Combines with
- stepped-herringbone, mirrored-v-and-x-pleat, horizontal-v-pleat, colour-in-folds.
- Pieces and assembly
- Join the panel edges into a tube to make a vase. A collection of such vases was knitted as herringbone tubes.
Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.