KarenJoSeattle

Silken Shawl

I started this version  of my Pinnate Shoulder Shawl yesterday on the bus to the Lavender Festival. The yarn is Handmaiden's Silken (scroll right) that I'm knitting loosely on US4s.

   

   

   

 

This 100% silk has a lot more give than the 100% wool Lola did. I plan to ask Amy Singer about that during her No Sheep for you class at Churchmouse on Tuesday evening. How do I anticipate the stretch during blocking on different fibers and yarns? By the way, the class still has a few spaces available.

         

My knitting teacher and buddy Karen Alfke is also knitting my shawl and experimenting with needle sizes. We usually knit at very different gauges, so this'll help me figure out the needle sizes to recommend.

    

   

    

We also talked about figuring gauges and finished size for different yarns so the pattern can be used for lots of those one-off or expensive but lovely things that need a one or two skein pattern. This should be a great adventure in knitting.

   

I knit a few more rounds on my current socks. When I went to start the gusset increases a few days ago I didn't have all the figuring I'd done for the gauge change or the pattern itself with me, of course. Based on my memory of the numbers, I started to wing it and realized that the way I'd set up the pattern on the front interfered with redistributing the stitches for the gusset and heel. That part got winged, too.

      

I made notes on more things I want to change and to try on Sock #2. And I thought about how OK I feel with knitting an 11 spi sock that may be just a bad prototype. I enjoy the whole process of designing, including the discoveries, lessons, and failures.

I think the socks are on hold for a bit, though.

Pinnate Shoulder Shawl Pattern

Yarn Used: one skein Schaefer Lola, 280 yards, 100% merino wool

Gauge: ~4.7 spi in pattern stitch after blocking on US4 (5 spi US2-3 on ball band per The Loopy Ewe and US8 per Schaefer web site) NB I'm a relatively loose knitter.

Finished size after blocking: 13" x 41" (about 11 x 32 slightly stretched before blocking)<<Note corrected number of stitches to cast on below.>>

Pattern based on Gate and Ladder stitch in The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches from Reader's Digest. Repeat of 9 stitches (plus some edge stitches and half repeats) and 2 rows. The right side rows include YO twice and K3tog stitches. The wrong side is mostly purl stitches with the second of the YOs knitted. The 2-stitch garter edge frames and holds things flat.

I had one medium-sized skein of a one-of-a-kind yarn which I wanted to make into something other than socks. The yardage of the skein determined the finished size.

In this pattern I wanted a simple lacy stitch that would show off the hand-dyed yarn without looking too busy or loosing the pattern in the variegations. I also wanted a shawl just big enough to cover my shoulders in air conditioned spaces, but also small enough to function like a scarf when needed or to fold up  and stash in my bag when not needed.

Pinnate Shoulder Shawl

Cast on 61 60 stitches using a crochet cast-on (crochet edge cast-on). Keep your cast-on fairly loose as you will do some K3togs into it.

Row 1 (Right Side): K3, K2tog, K3, YO twice, K3, [K3tog, K3, YO Twice, K3] x 5, K2tog, K2

Row 2 (wrong Side): K2, P5, K1, [P8, K1] x 5, P5, K2

Cast of loosely. Wet block.