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!