Knitting Friday

(Note: The patterns below have been edited for ease of understanding.)

Mohair comes from the Angora goat and a cuter goat I have never seen. It’s the kind you want to take home and make into a pet which will probably lead to a disaster for you, the goat, and your house.

But the breed is a cutie. The yarn it produces is a bitch. I guess it may be the closest thing to glue that comes in yarn. Once you start to knit with it, it adheres to itself so that certain stitches like the picot cast-on become impossible to frog.

Saying all this: the Dollar Store had a sale on Patons Lacette which is 25% mohair and I can never resist a bargain - well, almost never. This is the yarn I’ve mentioned before in a “What was I thinking?” section. But I bought 6 skeins in pink, no less, and began a shawl.

While, this yarn was impossible to frog in certain stitches, with others it was more forgiving and I had quite a few starts before I hit on this simple triangular shawl pattern.

Mesh Garter Stitch Triangle Shawl
CO 3 (Mark the Row 1 side of your work.)
Row 1: Kfb, *P* end Kfb
Alternative Row 1: K1 *K* K1 (this makes the pattern all knit)
Row 2: K1, *K2tog*, end K1
Row 3: Kfb, *K1, YO* end Kfb
Row 4: K1, *P* or *K* end K1
Row 5: Kfb, *K2tog* Kfb
Row 6: K1, *K1, YO* end K1
Repeat these 6 rows and increase every other row (EOR) to the size you want. You mark the first Row 1 side because this is really a 3-row pattern done in 6 rows. So while the increases are all done EOR, they are done in different rows. Notice that Row 1 and Row 4 are the same but you increase only in Row 1 and not in Row 4. After the 6 rows, you begin the sequence again.

So simple. There I am, knitting along, making a pink, fuzzy, triangular shawl. Paging Miss Marple. It wasn’t until I had 172 stitches on the needles before I realized that never, ever in this lifetime was I going to wearing a pink, fuzzy, mohair triangular shawl.

What to do? With some tugging I might be able to frog back but that wasn’t an option. I knew I would wear this shawl wrapped around my neck as a very large scarf. The problem was turning this pattern into a rectangle knit on the diagonal.

My solution brings me to my knitting tip/pattern for today: Making a diagonal shawl when the increases and decreases change in the different sections of the pattern.

As you know, I try to make diagonally knit shawls; I like the drape so much better than in straight knitting. I’ve discussed before how you can make this conversion easily with any two stitch pattern (and four stitch with slight modifications) if you have EOR as a straight knit or purl row. This time I had a "straight" row only one row out of three. This was different. So I had an idea; I made a swatch; it worked; and here’s the final pattern:

Mesh Garter Stitch Rectangle Shawl Knit Diagonally
Supplies: yarn, needles (appropriate for yarn or larger for an airy look), row counter, markers
Abbreviations: Kfb = knit in the front and back of the stitch; K2tog = knit 2 stitches together; YO = put yarn over R needle and knit next stitch on L needle, gives you an airy increase; *...* = repeat between the stars
Work the following pattern to your desired width. Put a marker on the Row 1 side of your work (increase side.)
CO 3 stitches (sts)
Width Section:
Row 1: Kfb, *P* end Kfb or Alternative Row 1 for garter look: Kfb *K* Kfb
Row 2: K1, *K2tog*, end K1
Row 3: Kfb, *K1, M1* end Kfb
Row 4: K1, *P* or *K* end K1
Row 5: Kfb, *K2tog* Kfb
Row 6: K1, *K1, YO* end K1
Continue this 6-row pattern to your desired width. End after Row 6.

Now you are ready to begin the length section of the shawl. Note: Keep your original marker on the increase side and add a marker to the beginning edge of Row 1.
Length Section:
Row 1: Kfb, *P* end K2tog or Alternative Row 1: Kfb *K* K2tog
Row 2: K1, *K2tog* end K1
Row 3: K1 *K1, M1*end K1
Row 4: K2tog, *P* or *K* end Kfb (this is a backward Row 1)
Row 5: K1, *K2tog* K1
Row 6: K1, *K1, YO* end K1

Continue these 6 rows to your desired length.
In this section you are only doing your increases/decreases in Row 1. While you increased EOR in the width section; you are now increasing/decreasing only in 1 row out of 3 rows in the length section.

Why the marker on the beginning of Row 1? When you see it there and your counter tells you this is Row 1, you'll know to Kfb first. But when your counter tells you that you are starting Row 4 and you see the marker at the end of the row, you'll know to K2tog first and Kfb at the end by the marker.

Continue knitting the pattern this way till you are happy with the length ending ready to work Row 1. Now your pattern changes back and you will make your decreases EOR. (Your original marker on the increase side for the Width Section will now be on the side where the decreases go.)
Final Section:
Row 1: K2tog, *P* end K2tog or Alternate Row 1: K2tog *K* K2tog
Row 2: K1, *K2tog* end K1
Row 3: K2tog *K1, M1* end K2tog.
Row 4: K1, *P* or *K* end K1
Row 5: K2tog, *K2tog* end K2tog
Row 6: K1, *K1, YO* end K1
Continue to 3 stitches. Bind off. I don’t think you need to block. Your choice.

That’s it. It works. One final note: In the width section it’s important not to add or lose stitches. Any pattern can get more or fewer stitches along the way but a pattern with a *K1, M1* row has a better chance of this. I know I didn’t want to count 172 stitches every row so I divided the stitches into 20 - 60 - 70 - 22 with markers at each division. That way I just counted the 20 and 22 stitches section after every Row 1 That had to add up to 42 stitches (assuming you didn't mess up your 60 -70 sections.) Another final note: You will see that this is a very forgiving pattern and most of the time you can add or subtract one stitch to get back to the count without much or any frogging.

Happy knitting.