Stasia's Place Of Grace

Friday, August 08, 2003

 

Finished Object!

Please Note Changes To Pattern Below, In Red

Koigu Kersti Shawl
Enjay has christened this the Magical Mystery Shawl!

This is a shawl I made up, using Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe DK yarn in color K334 (six 50g skeins of 114 yards used). It hasn't been blocked yet.

I thought that I was knitting it from the bottom point up. For some reason, when I cast off, what I thought was the bottom point decided it was the center of the neck - go figure. This is the first shawl I've made, and I was just winging it, so I guess I didn't really "do the math!"

The general recipe is this:

1) Cast on one stitch. Turn.
2) Knit twice into that stitch (2 sts). Turn.
3) Knit twice into first stitch, YO, knit twice into last stitch (5 sts). Turn.
4) Knit across. Turn.
5) Mark as right side with safety pin. K1, YO, K1, YO, K1, YO, K1, YO, K1. (9 sts.) Turn.
6) Knit across, placing markers before and after 5th stitch to mark it as center stitch. Turn.
7) K1, YO; K to 1st center marker, making a YO before it; pass marker, K center stitch and pass second center marker; YO, K to 2nd to last st, YO, K1. Turn. (See explanation of this standard right-side row below.)
8) Knit across.

Explanation: on right side rows, I continued to increase (with yarnovers) one stitch next to each end stitch, and one stitch on each side of the center stitch - 4 increased stitches every right-side row. All wrong-side rows are knit.

After 8 garter ridges (16 rows), I did a row of YK 1 *YO, K2tog*, repeat between *s across, ending with YO, K1 to make the lacy holes. I just fudged at the ends, or where it didn't come out evenly, to make sure every lacy YO had a corresponding K2tog., so that I didn't increase any more than the four typical stitches needed in that right-side row (but those four YOs do not need corresponding decreases!)

I finished the bottom (what I thought was the top) by doing, after a lacy row, a couple more rows in garter stitch and then just binding off very loosely. Oh, yeah, I stopped when I measured the center line at about 38" when laid flat on the bed, and the last lacy row was about 130 big holes across, including the center and end ones.

This went very quickly - the gauge is about 3.5 sts./inch on a size 10.5 (7mm), 30" circular needle (I used a Susanne's Rosewood and loved it!) I have no idea what the blocked size will be, but just laid out, it is a good 76" wide by 38" deep. I have wet it and pinned it to the bed, using EZ Blockers blocking wires from Fiddlesticks Knitting, and it is pinned at 94" wide by 53" deep. Hopefully it'll spring back slightly when unpinned. I will keep you posted... but if you're making one, you may wish to stop increasing sooner, or not block as severely as I have.

Special thanks to Mary Hoge for her editing skills, and for the initial inspiration and concept of this project!

You can do it in a weekend if you're a fast knitter! Enjoy!

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