Knitting Friday

I know I promised pictures for this week’s Knitting Friday and, yes, there will be a picture but not what I planned or probably what you expected.

The short row, short sleeved cardigan in garter which is still being knitted as a sample (the "find all your mistakes" sample) is coming along. I love short rows but I don’t do them much. This cardigan is going to be very warm so I can save that picture till the fall.

I’m “around the corner” in my lace weight wool crocheted 3-double crochet-cluster shawl on a K hook worked on the diagonal. (Say that fast.) That is, I have done the width and turned the corner to crochet for length. The only problem is that although it’s lace weight, it’s warm on the lap in 90 degree summer weather. So that can also wait for cooler weather.

But the picture du jour will be of a pattern I never even dreamed of last Friday. You may remember that I bought scads of black cotton fingering/sport weight yarn. I am/was sure that I needed a summer black shawl. (Though it’s getting close to August and there hasn’t be a day when I wept over not having the perfect black shawl to wear.) Unfortunately, I have little luck with dark yarn knitting so I knew I needed a very simple pattern. Unfortunately, with any color yarn, I seem to have no success with simple lace patterns. I can work stockinette because mistakes are so easy to fix but plain black in stockinette? Boring. And, even though garter is brain-dead knitting, mistake fixings always seems to produce a noticeable sag in the stitch for me. So that left the simplest of lace patterns: *YO, K2tog* for one row and *K2tog, YO* for a second row (with K rows in between.) However, pay me a dollar for every time I mix up the order of those two rows and I’d be rich.

(Pictured right: airy lacy pattern stitch, unblocked. The picture does not capture the diagonal slant of the stitch.)


Then can’t the epiphany. Saul on the way to Damascus had nothing on this. I was looking at a free pattern for a scarf (simple one - CO xxx stitches and work straight up to the length) and the designer used only a three row lace pattern (one row lace, 2 rows knit) and not the four row pattern I use. A light went off! With three rows the lace row was always: *YO, K2tog* (or always *K2tog, YO* - it doesn’t matter) and you never have to remember: Do I start with YO or K2tog this time? since every other lace pattern row will start from the opposite side of the row and eliminate the diagonal slant.

(Pictured left: Right and wrong side of the shawl.)

Here is my lace pattern in three rows: (Note: I know a lot of knitters consider their patterns original. To me, original must be more complicated so use this pattern freely. If you can, sell the finished product. But please don't copyright it. I worked hard on this pattern and that wouldn’t be nice.)

Odd Row Lace Triangle Shawl/Scarf: 55" x 20"
Beginning notes:
1. This is a stockinette pattern and the bottom tip has curled slightly. This may be fixed with slight blocking but I’ll give you my fix for the sample shawl pictured at the end of the pattern.
2. However, another way to prevent the dreaded st st curling is a 4 seed stitch border on each side. If you do this you would start your shawl this way: Set-Up Row 1: CO 2, (K1, P1) in 1 stitch, (P1, K1) in 2nd stitch (4 sts)
Row 2 & 3: Work increase in each stitch by K & P or P & K in them to keep the seed stitch pattern. (8 sts) then (16 sts) Then:
Start Pattern: Row 1 RS: Seed st on 4 sts, place marker (PM), *YO, K2tog* across, PM, seed st on last 4 sts.
Row 2: 4 seed sts, Slip Marker (SM), Pfb, *P*, Pfb, SM, 4 seed sts
(Continue as below keeping the border 4 stitches in seed and working all your increases just inside the markers.)
**You can always slip the first stitch as K, even in seed for an even edge.
3. Another way to prevent the bottom curling is to CO with even larger needles (see below about needle size) and work a few rows before you change to your regular needles.
4. Your first stitch is always slipped as K, even though the edges are seed stitch.
5. You are increasing 4 stitches every three rows instead of 4 stitches every 4 rows. I think this gives the shawl less of a point and more width more quickly.
Equipment: Yarn: Any yarn of your choosing with slightly larger circular needles than recommended for the weight
Yardage: I can’t list the yardage yet since I’m still working with scraps. But I would say 400 yards will give you a nice sized triangular shawl.
Notions: a Row counter: this is a must and use a marker to denote the knit side.
Pattern Stitch A= 1 row lace followed by 2 rows in stockinette
Row 1 RS: Sl1, *YO, K2tog* K1
Row 2: Slip 1 as K, Pfb, *P* end Pfb, K1
Row 3 RS: Slip 1 as K, Kfb *K* end Kfb, K1
Pattern Stitch B = 1 row lace followed by 2 rows in stockinette
Row 1 WS: Sl1, *YO, P2tog* K1
Row 2: Slip 1 as K, Kfb *K* end Kfb, K1
Row 3 WS: Slip 1 as K, Pfb, *P* end Pfb, K1
Note: Every three rows Pattern with switch from Pattern A to Pattern B. So you work A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, etc.
Finally, the actual pattern:
CO 2 sts.
Set Up Row 1: Kfb both stitches (4 sts)
Set Up Row 2: K1, Kfb 2xs, K1 (6 xs) Then:
Start Pattern A with Row 1: Be sure to mark the right side of your work; you will always do knit stitches on this side. Work Pattern A for three rows. Then work Pattern B for three rows, Continue switching from Pattern A to Pattern B till the shawl is big enough for you.
Final notes:
1. Be sure to use a row counter and a marker. The row after the one divisible by 3 is always the lace pattern row. However, because this pattern has only 3 rows, some times you will K2tog across and other times you will P2tog across for this row. If you have your right side (K side) marked and are using a row counter, you'll be fine.
2. Although this shawl has a knit and purl side so technically there is a right and wrong side, the lace row makes both sides look good. See picture below.
3. For the slight curling at the bottom of this shawl I did a chain 3 and slip stitch around the sides of the shawl with an N hook and then did the crab stitch across the top. The shawl is airy so the loops look appropriate and they weigh down the curling point.
4. This shawl can easily be knit on the diagonal into a rectangular shawl but I didn’t have enough yarn.
5. I didn't block this shawl. You can block it or leave it unblocked.

That’s it. This is a great “grab and take” project. Enjoy.