7-into-5 Cluster

Working on Evelyn Clark’s Trellis Scarf (Interweave Knits Magazine, Spring 2006), early on you will come across the 7-into-5 cluster step. Some people dread it and for others it’s not that big of a deal. For me, I misplaced my instructions while out of town and had nothing to go on, so I looked online; that was a mistake, because by reading other’s accounts, it sounded much worse than it really is. In reality, it just amounts to a minor speed bump in the whole project, and if anything, it makes the project more interesting. Although I found the instructions for the cluster hard to visualize, once I understood it, it was easy. As the instructions suggest, I highly recommend using a small crochet hook to accomplish it.

Here are some step-by-step pictures of the 7-into-5 cluster (pictures taken with one hand on the camera!):

1) Insert the crochet hook into the 7 stitches on the left needle.

2) Hook the yarn and pull it through the 7 stitches.

3) Place the new stitch on the right needle while leaving the 7 stitches on the left needle.

4) Make one yarn-over (yo) stitch on the right needle.

5) Place the crochet hook through the 7 stitches again, hook the yarn and pull it through the 7 stitches. Although not pictured, this new stitch is then placed on the right needle, along with the preceding 2 stitches (that’s 1 hooked st and 1 yo st).

6) At this point, it’s just a matter of repeating steps 1-5 until there are 5 new stitches on the right needle (that’s 3 hooked sts and 2 yo sts, alternating), while you still have the original 7 on the left needle.

7) The original 7 sts can be removed from the left needle, and the rest of the pattern chart can be followed. Here is the row with the new 5-sts clusters that replaced the 7-sts.