This pattern from 1892 Butterick’s The Art of Knitting, p.39, #40 gave me fits! I eventually corrected all 9 errors in the original pattern and altered a few stitches to neaten up the central panel. There are 27 stitches to start in this insertion and 8 pattern rows. Butterick called for 7 yarn overs in the middle of a row but I changed those to cast-on stitches to control tension. I also changed the 7 stitches to 6 due to overcrowding: 7 stitches wouldn’t allow the strip to lie flat even with aggressive blocking. I used an e-wrap/invisible cast-on for those mid-row stitches but you can use yarn overs or any cast-on method that works mid-row.
In the instructions, I separated the middle stitches from the edge stitches (the strip’s headers) for clarity. This also makes it easier to work multiple columns of peacock’s eyes in one strip, if desired.
The swatch is 3.25 inches wide at gauge.

Skills needed: cast on, cast on in the middle of a row, slip, knit, purl, YO, k2tog, SSK, p2tog, p2togtbl and bind off.

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

44 yards of Aunt Lydia’s Classic 10 thread will make 10 inches of a 27-stitch-wide strip at gauge.