2021 Hand-knit Tomato Trellis

Another spring, another hand-knit tomato trellis.

It certainly is a California rainbow over the garden plot!

Unlike past tomato trellises, this one is made of bulky acrylic yarn, knit on US 19 knitting needles. It's super easy to make.

Cast on 82 stitches -- or more if you want and your needles are long enough. Knit it in stockinette stitch: knit the first row, purl the second, and repeat until the piece is as long as you like.

On the last row, bind off four stitches, then drop a stitch. Repeat this, keeping the first stitch that you bind off after a dropped stitch loose, until you come to the end of row. Thread yarn through the last stitch and weave in the end. Voilá, a tomato trellis.

I experimented with dropping off more than a single stitch, but it seemed to make the trellis too loose. I also stitched on fabric casings for the poles that support the trellis. There are about four, evenly spaced casings. It makes it easier and more stable to string up the trellis. The sides were tied to the pole.

Now that it is up, I see some things I'll do differently next time:

I used Caron Chunky Cakes, Rainbow Jellys for the yarn. Yarn is much easier on your hands when you're knitting. But yarn stretches. That makes the trellis a little saggy as the weight of the tomato vine is put on it. It's good to stretch the trellis out as tightly as possible.
Next time, I'll go back to construction twine or string or something that doesn't stretch.
Dropping more stitches might be a good idea. You don't want to risk breaking the tiny branches of the tomato vine as you weave it through the openings in the yarn. Or, using bigger needles.

From past experience, I've learned that it doesn't pay to get too fancy with your stitches. Patterns hardly show up at such a big scale. Once the vine grows up the trellis, you'll hardly see the knitting. If you want to make a lace trellis, knock yourself out, but it won't make a visual statement by the middle of the summer.

In an ideal world, I'd have some jumbo circular needles custom made for these kind of projects. Regular straight needles tend to be short for such a large project. You have a lot more freedom with the circulars.

We'll have to see if such a colorful trellis confuses the bees, the butterflies and the humming birds.

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