The Knitting Fiend

I’ve received a few emails asking for help adapting shrugs. When responding, I explained how to use my “classic shrug” pattern generator to do the calculations. So, I thought I’d post links to if you see a shrugs at another sites, so people could get ideas for different shrugs.

As you look at these, you’ll see you can get a variety of looks with the same basic shape. Different appearances are obtained by using different stitches, making the back deeper, or substituting ribbing for garter stitch cuffs. But, if you find a shrug, ask in comments, and I can explain how to enter the correct values in the pattern generator to create the pattern of your choice. It’s actually easier to answer here at the web where I can show pictures and insert calculators if necesary.

To help, I’ll show classic shrug shapes that could be adapted easily. Here are some I’ve found:

• Alpaca Plus. How is it different from mine? Well, it has 1 x 1 ribbing at the cuffs instead of garter stitch. You want ribbing? Well, ignore the part where my pattern directions calling for garter stitch and work ribbing! Not a big deal. The big difference between that shrug and mine is the length of the back and the width of the top sleeves. Their shrug is 21″ wide at the center back, mine is about 18″ depending on the size you selected. The top of their sleeves is the same as the back width is also 21″; mine are 17″. Ok, so pick “custom” and reprint the directions. Voila! You’ve got the shape you want.
• Like Planet Shoup’s shrug? Once again, we see ribbed cuffs. Otherwise, very similar to mine, with the major difference being they knit it back and forth, and later seamed. They also reorganized the kitting so you don’t need to pick up stitches around the back opening.
• A frilly shrug.from Planetshoup. This is a classic shrug with frilly cuffs added.
• Take a look at Mango Moon Yarn’s shrug. Once again, it’s a classic shrug, but in this case, they attached a big collar to the back. Where I had 2 rows of garter stitch all around, they knitted what appears to be a 5″ deep collar and sewed it on. (I think it looks pretty neat!)
• Here’s Keridiana’s tiny shrug. Use my shrugulator to chart a really short shrugs, use ribbing at the cuffs and knit in a fancy stitch.
• Jenessa’s Drop Stitch Shrug is knit in elongated stockinette, and has ribbed cuffs.
• Craft Yarn Council’s classic shrug!

That’s all I’ve found so far. If you find other shrugs, or you want to use my calculator to rechart these using different yarn, post in comments.