This is my mini version of the 90-row Barleycorn motif in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 3, ca. 1890. The 90-row version is also in Motifs, Borders and Trims in Classic Knitted Cotton by Hewitt and Daley, 1993. Baby Barleycorn has 55 rows with only 1 row of barleycorns (small bobbles). I changed the barleycorns to reverse stockinette and “choked” the barleycorns to make them stand out more from the rest of the motif. Barleycorns are grains of barley and an archaic term for 1/3 of an inch.
The sample - 4 triangular motifs sewn together - is 7 inches square at gauge. It took about 90 minutes to knit 1 Baby Barleycorn triangle.

Skills needed: cast on, slip, knit, purl, yarn over, k2tog, kf&b, (knit front and back of 1 stitch), p3tog, make barleycorn/bobble and bind off in knit stitch. The “choking” technique is optional.

Gauge is not important in this pattern. Any block-able thread/yarn will work. Make a swatch to check size and appearance.