The Knitting Fiend

I tend to knit in binges, and I’m afraid Barbara launched me into a shawl binge. Since I compulsively create all my own patterns, this means I need to begin exploring nifty shawl techniques. Today, I experimented with a a “picot edge bind off”.

I read some instructions for this bind off and interpreted them a few ways. I could explain why I thought the directions I found ambiguous, but I’ll just explain the organization I found prettiest. If you know a different way to do this, let me know!

Anyway, here’s what I did:

Starting at the beginning of the row, bind off 3 purlwise. (To me, bind off 1 purlwise means: p2tog, transfer stitch from right needle tip to left needle tip. The right tip is now empty. )

Now, we’ll start the “repeating” part:

1. P2 tog. You now have a stitch on the right needle tip.
2. Insert right needle tip between the first two stitches on the left needle tip as if to purl (See below left.) Yarn over purl — stitch created. Put this stitch back on the left tip.
3. Repeat. You will be inserting the right tip to the left of the stitch you just created. Put the stitch you just created on the left tip. Below right, stitch 1 is the stitch that was on the left tip originally. Stitches 2 & 3 are the ones you just created.
4. Place stitch 4 on the left tip.
5. Now, p2 tog. Repeat 4 times (You’ll do this a total of 5 times.)
6. Repeat from step 1.

I think this is much prettier than the plain old bind off I did on Colocha’s version of Barbara. I’ll be working this for future incarnations of Barbara (and pretty much all future pie wedge shawls.)

Doesn’t Colocha look elegant in her mohair shawl? Colocha named her shawl “Barbara” to thank Barbara J. for prodding me to elaborate on how to knit pie wedge shawls by posting at The Knitting Fiend Forum.
 

I’ll be fully documenting this shawl, but I figured I should begin by posting the directions for the edging, since you’ll want to swatch this. Here are the directions for “Modified Loop Edging”, it’s based on “Loop Edging” in Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting.

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Modified Loop Edging:
The edging itself requires 8 stitches. It’s must be attached to a long strip of knitting, which in these directions are 3 stitches knit in garter stitch. When knitting a shawl, you would replace these with the directions for shaping the main part of the shawl.

• Cast On 11 stitches; knit 1 row. (–3 “main” stitches, 8 edging stitches.)
• Row 1: K3, (yo, k2tog, k1) twice, (yo) twice, k1. (– 15 stitches on the needle.)
• Row 2: (K2, p1) 4 times, k3. (The double yarnovers are treated as two stitches. Knit into the first loop then purl into the second one. Notice that you purl into the single yarn overs.)
• Row 3: K3, (yo, k2tog, k1) twice, k6.
• Row 4: Bind off 4 stitches, k3, p1, k2, p1, k3. (– 11 stitches on needle. I bound off by p2tog, slip stitch back on left tip, p2tog.)

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Ok, how did I modify this compared to Walker? Her directions use ’ssk’ to decrease in rows 1 and 3. I found those to be a pain in the neck, so I substituted k2tog which I find faster. This modifies the appearance very slightly. When swatching, try both methods and decide which you prefer.

Since this trim is used as an edging, I use a maker to separate the “main or shawl” stitches from the edging stitches. When you use this to edge a shawl, replace the directions for knitting the edge stitches with the directions for the full shawl. I marked that “main or shawl” stitches in blue to show which stitches you need to replace with your shawl directions.

Now, I suspect some people may be wanting to make Barbara. Here is a tip for swatching to make “Barbara”: Replace the k3 stitches with enough stitches to create a 3″ to 4″ wide garter stitch swatch; knit your swatch until it’s 3″ to 4″ long. Wash and block your swatch gently. Then, measure the gauge from the garter stitch portion. Measure the width of the lace. (These bits of information will be used to figure out how many stitches you need to cast on.

Oh, guess what? I’m actually going to make a full size Barbara! I’ve just bought Mohair in white for this purpose. I haven’t measured the remaining yardage on my mohair skein, so have no clue how much it takes, I’ve ordered a very generous amount. (Hmmm… maybe for the sake of others who might want to knit this, and don’t want to buy way, way too much yarn, I should set up my yarn meter, measure the remaining yardage and make sure the program I’m writing has a yardage estimator? Hmmm…)

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Yarn: Taiga Caress Mohair. This 50% mohair- 50% acrylic blend is very soft lusterous, and, unlike many mohair yarns, strangely easy to rip. I find it easier to knit than many mohair yarns.

“Clove Stitch” (picture top) and “Berry Stitch” (picture bottom) are both interesting stitches with a three dimensional texture. They are worked very similarly; in fact, you can create the directions for clove stitch by simply deleting 1/2 the rows in Berry Stitch.

Both stitches require you to work a “(k1, yo, k1) in same stitch”. It’s easy, but I’ll show you anyway!

Here are the directions for Berry Stitch:

• Cast on a multiple of 4 stitches and knit a row.
• Row 1: *(K1, yo, k1) in same stitch, p3 tog; repeat from *. (Wrong side row.)
• Row 2: *K1, p3; repeat from *.
• Row 3: *K3, p1; repeat from *. (You will be knitting all knit stitches and purling all purl stitches.)
• Row 4: *P1, k3; repeat from *. (You will be purling all knit stitches and knitting all purl stitches.)
• Row 5: *P3 tog, (k1, yo, k1) in same stitch, ; repeat from *.
• Row 6: *P3, k1; repeat from *.
• Row 7: *P1, k3; repeat from *.
• Row 8: *k3, p1; repeat from *.

Here are the directions for Clove Stitch:

• Cast on a multiple of 4 stitches and knit a row.
• Row 1: *(K1, yo, k1) in same stitch, p3 tog; repeat from *. (Wrong side row.)
• Row 2: *P1, k3; repeat from *. (You will be purling all knit stitches and knitting all purl stitches.)
• Row 3: *P3 tog, (k1, yo, k1) in same stitch, ; repeat from *.
• Row 4: *k3, p1; repeat from *. (You will be purling all knit stitches and knitting all purl stitches.)

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Here’s how to work the (K1, yo, k1) in same stitch. You’ll see you just do exactly as told.

1. Work a knit stitch, but don’t pull the old stitch off the left needle tip. See photo above and to the left.
2. Yarn over by bringing yarn to front passing underneath the right needle tip, then insert the tip of the needle back into the stitch you already knit into. See photo above and to the left.
3. Take yarn to back of work by passing it over the right hand needle; this forms the full yarn over. Now, yarn over as you normally do when you knit a stitch, and draw yarn through to form a stitch. There will now be three loops coming out of the old stitch on the left needle tip; (see photo to the right.)
4. Now, pull the old stitch off the left needle tip.

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Like most my stitch pattern demons, this is filed in stitch patterns.