The Knitting Fiend

I had a great Fourth of July and I finished the first wedge of my Lucia sized shawl!

Ok, I know this doesn’t look any different from the photo I showed two days ago. There are two big differences though: This is bigger and the final row is on a lifeline.

To set the lifeline, I threaded a tapestry needle with fine yarn and then ran the yarn through every stitch on the needle. The most common use of lifelines is to provide safety when knitting lace. If you screw up and need to rip back the lifeline lets you pick up the stitches on a single row very easily. That’s not why I use it here. I use it to make knitting the second and later short row wedges mindless; I know when I hit the lifeline, I’m at the end of the row, knit 1 more stitch then turn.

I began the second wedge. Planning to take a photo, I laid the shawl out and went to find the camera. When I came back, I found him stretched out.

I could have shooed him away, but let’s face it, this shawl is going to grow s_l_o_w_l_y. I’m not a fast knitter and it’s 4 times as long as Colocha’s shawl– which means it’s got 16 times the number of stitches. I suspect it will consume 6 calendar weeks of knitting. I’m aiming for 1 wedge a week. The lace will be added when I’ve finished the 5 wedges.

Oh, by the way, do you notice I marked the angle of the corner as 36 degrees? I bet you’ve often heard the “rule” that two rows of garter stitch are equal to the width of 1 stitch? And so short rows knit this way form a 45 degree angle? In fact, I bet you’ve seen zillions of 90 degree mitered corners using two garter stitch turns; you math tells you 90 degrees= 2* 45 degrees, so you think garter stitch turns always create 45 degree angles, right? You’ve also seen all sorts of blankets and purses made out of mitered squares that seem to form squares, right?

Well, in reality, garter stitch increased at 1 stitch every two rows doesn’t always form a 45 degree angle. It sometimes does, but usually, it doesn’t! This fact becomes pretty obvious if you want to knit a semi-circular shawl, finish 4 wedges, lay the fabric flat without blocking. Most times you will notice it is absolutely not a semi circle! You’ll need to knit a fifth wedge.

Ok, so why do mitered corners (or squares) work? One reason they work is because garter stitch is very stretchy. So, you can block garter stitch out to form a 45 degree angle! This means when mitered squares are sewn together, the garter stitch rows will automatically stretch to form the 45 degree angle. You won’t evenn notice any problems when washing and blocking; it will “self block” into the shape you like.

Unfortunately, this self-blocking won’t happen with a shawl which has entirely free ends. If you want to own a wearable pie-wedge shawl you can wash, lay flat, pat gently and watch as it dries, planning on knitting five wedges!

Colocha got her shawl; now it’s time to make mine. Mine’s going to be a pie-wedge shawl knit using almost the same method as I used to knit Colocha. Of course mine is larger since I’m 4 times taller than she is!

If you look to the left you can see I began my first wedge. I cast on 144 stitches with red waste yarn (which I will eventually remove), then I attached the white shawl yarn and began knitting short rows to make a triangle, or “wedge”. I’ve reached row 200 now which means I knit 101 stitches across the most recent row; meanwhile 44 of those waste yarn stitches have never been knit into.

Ok, those of you who read as I knit Colocha’s shawl have probably noticed there is no edging on this wedge. That’s right! I figured out I can add the edging afterwards. So, on this festive fourth of July weekend I’m knitting the garter stitch portion of the shawl as I eat, drink and socialize.

But it’s late now, so I’ll set aside my knitting, sleep so I can wake early tomorrow ready for the third day of this four day weekend.

I found directions this unnamed edging at www.knitting-and.com; they said the edging directions came from an unknown Australian source from the 40’s and were in the public domain. I’ve decided to call it “Lace Flounce Edging”; if you know the real name, let me know!

When I followed the directions posted, there appeared to have a few errors, which I corrected. I also reorganized the directions to help the knitter incorporate this edging into their own design.

I fiddled with this at knit-club. We all agreed that, while pretty, we prefer the sharks tooth edging for the shawl I plan. I think this edging might be nice on the hem of sleeves; the bottom would flare making a tulip effect.

Here’s how I knit the portion below the blue line:

• Cast on 33 sts and knit one row.
• Row 1: k5, place marker, p16, (yo, k2tog) to last 2 sts, yo, k2. (– 34 stitches.)
• Row 2: k29, turn. (You will reach the marker and turn.)
• Row 3: p17, (yo, k2tog) to last 2 sts, yo, k2. (– 35 stitches.)
• Row 4: k to marker, slip marker, k5.
• Row 5: k5, slip marker, k16, (yo, k2tog) to last 2 sts, yo, k2 (– 36 stitches.)
• Row 6: k13, p18, turn. (You will reach the marker and turn.)
• Row 7: k1, (yo, k2tog) to last 2 sts, yo, k2. (– 37 stitches.)
• Row 8: k18, p14, slip marker, k5.
• Row 9: k5, slip marker, knit to end of row.
• Row 10: Cast off 4, k to marker, slip marker, k5.(– 33 stitches.)
• Repeat rows 1-10.

Notice that rows 2 and 6 are “short”; when you turn, the five stitches on the other side of the marker remain on the left needle. Turning like this results in a slightly ruffled flounce attached to a 5 stitch wide garter stitch strip.

If you want to attach to the edge of a piece you’ve already knit, as I did for the portion above the blue line, and which I don’t recommend, do the following:

• Cast on only 29 stitches.
• On the first knit row, work up to the final stitch. Then work a “k2tog”, working the last edging stitch and the first shawl stitch.
• On all odd rows except 3 and 7 change k5 to slip 1. (You will be slipping that k2tog.
• On all even rows except 2 and 6, replace “k5″ with “k2tog” ; the k2tog will involve the last edging stitch and a stitch from the shawl edge.

Why don’t I recommend attaching afterwards? Well, I think the small series of holes at the attachment point class with the rest of the edging. In contrast, this series of holes looked nice when I attached the sharks tooth edging. So, I advise knitting attaching this some other way.

Still looking for more and better edgings. (And kinda having fun doin’ it!)