Newborn Hat and Mitts

Recently, I saw a cartoon where a woman was knitting and the caption read “I’m knitting you a sweater. Do you want it too big or too small?” It is funny because it is true. I have knit hats and sweater for newborns before, only to have them turn out too big. So I decided to try to work up a pattern for a newborn hat and little mitts to match.

This pattern is quick and easy. I think the sizing is just right for newborns but could be adjusted for an older baby.

The yarn is from my stash of baby weight yarns.

Here are the patterns:

 

I tried an alternate top by decreasing until there were just 3 stitches left and then knitting a 2″ i-cord. It was cute but I like the rounded top pattern better.

I plan to make a few more sets in different colors and patterns. So look for an update with more pics.

I hope you like the pattern. As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

 

Bubble Knit Winter Olympics Hat

Recently, I saw a video of the bubble knit stitch. It looked fun and not too hard so I knit a sample. It was really hard for me to knit a bunch of rows and then purposely drop stitches to do the K4B (knit four below) stitch. The instruction videos I found on line are pretty good though and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Once I felt confident, I decided to make this hat for my young friend, just in time for the winter olympics. It only took a few hours, so you would still have time to make one if you get busy!

The bubble stitch is done in sets of four stitches. You need to cast on multiples of 4 plus 3 additional stitches. The “bubbling” is shifted by 2 stitches every other sequence so the bubbles fit together like bricks. The first bubbling row starts with K3 and the next starts with K1. Then back and forth. I wanted a K1,P1 ribbing so I had to cast on an even number, 58, and then add a stitch by knitting front and back to bring the count up to the correct 59 stitches.

I am not including the directions for the bubble stitch itself, I could not do any better than the videos and explanations already available on the internet. But here are the instructions for the hat and a few more pictures.

 

To make the hat larger, just add bubbles. To make the hat larger diameter, increase the number of stitches in groups of 4 and adjust the rest of the pattern. You can make the longer by adding bubbles six rows at a time.

I think the bubble stitch is fun and I love the way the hat turned out. I hope you enjoy the pattern. Be sure to visit the internet instruction sites and thank them for their work!

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

 

 

 

18” Doll Cardigan with Lacy Raglan Seam

18” Doll Cardigan with Lacy Raglan Seam

After knitting two little baby sweaters in the “top down” raglan design, I decided to try a couple variations. One way to practice a concept is to make doll clothes. The 18” dolls, like the American Girl Dolls and those like them are large enough to judge results, but small enough to work the project up quickly without too much material. Here is picture of the finished sweater and the pattern for making it.

This is the story of this pattern for a lacy cardigan for an 18” doll. My approach to many projects is like sighting in a gun. Try it, fix it, try it, fix it again.

I had been using US 5 needles for the baby sweaters so I had a gauge for them using baby yarn. I really wanted to use worsted weight since I have so much of it so I measured the dolls and guessed at the gauge. If you are a regular reader you know that I am lazy and optimistic when it comes to gauge.

My plan was to cast on some stitches (40), knit some ribbing (K1P1 for 3 rows), use a single stitch as the raglan “seam”, increase before and after each seam with a YO stitch (to create holes in a lacy pattern), create front plackets (K4) at the start and end of each row, create buttonholes with YO (4 evenly spaced), and finish the body and sleeves with ribbing (K1P1 for 4 rows). Easy peasy, right?!

Here’s how I came up with 40 stitches to cast on:

Front Placket – 4

Front – 3

Seam – 1

Sleeve – 6

Seam – 1

Back – 10

Seam – 1

Sleeve – 6

Seam – 1

Front – 3

Front Placket – 4

I first guessed that the raglan region should be about 16 rows. That would give me 8 increases since increases are only done every other row on the right (knit) side. Each increase row adds 8 stitches, one before and one after each of the 4 seams. Half of those stitches are in the body and half are in the sleeves. That gave me a body of about 58 stitches and that seemed like a good starting point.

When the body was done and the sleeve stitches were still on their holding yarn, I tried it on the doll. Big moment.

It was passable. If I were in a hurry to give the sweater to someone I would have finished it, sewn on the buttons and sent it away. But I was really interested in perfecting the pattern so I didn’t even finish the sleeves. There were several things I didn’t like about this first attempt and set out to fix them.

1. The worsted weight yarn on the small size 5 needles was so bulky that it filled in the spaces around the raglan seam and holes obliterating them visually. The lace didn’t show up.
2. The sweater is generally just too big.
3. The buttonholes were created in the front placket by K2, YO, K2tog. To space them evenly I tried to recreate this look working back across on a purl (WS) row. As you can see from the picture, I did not get the horizontal spacing right. Sometime I will work on that issue, but for now, all buttonholes should be created in the same direction, at the start of the knit (RS) rows.

There really was not choice but to switch to a lighter weight yarn. I guess the worsted weight yarns will just have to wait for a different project. I chose a Lion Brand  Wool-Ease sportweight yarn (5 oz = 435 yards) color 232 “Wood” and knit the exact same pattern with no changes. There was really no quick way to tell how much effect the lighter yarn would have on the sweater’s fit. So this was shot number 2.

The sweater was too small. I was starting to feel like Goldilocks. So I decided to extend the raglan seam 2 rows, extend the length of the body 4 rows and extend the length of the sleeves.

This third attempt was pretty close to the target. I think the sleeves are still a little short. Four to six more rows and they will be perfect.

I like the pattern and I think the details in the raglan seam show up much better with the lighter weight yarn.

Just for fun, I have included these two pdf documents to show how to make a pattern reader that acts as both instructions and a row counter.

Doll Cardigan Reader Version

Pattern Reader

Full Disclosure – This was not my idea!

Print the instructions and trim them. Print the reader and use a sharp cutter to slice along the lines. Insert the instructions into the gap. As you can see, only one row at a time is visible. At the end of each row, slide the instructions up to the next line. Using this device, there is no need for a separate row counter. In this example I figured out exactly how many stitches were in each row and described what to do with them. You may think this is excessive in detail, but I’m sure some new knitters (or those who get disturbed often) will appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy the sweater pattern. Post a picture of your sweater in the comment section if you make one. I would enjoy seeing them.

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

Sewing for 18″ Dolls – Pants

Sewing for 18” dolls is fun, doesn’t take much material and is a good way for new sewers to understand clothing construction. The only really expensive part are purchased patterns which can cost $20 or more. But you really don’t need purchased patterns to start sewing doll cloths. In a previous post I tried to show how you can make simple skirts and dresses for the dolls, and even their human girls, just by measuring.

Today I would like to show you another technique. You can use clothes the dolls already have to make a pattern.

For the first example, I chose a pair of knit capri pants with an elastic waist. I found them in a bag of clothes I bought at a garage sale. The nice thing about this is that it doesn’t matter if the garments is old or stained or torn. They will work equally well for making a pattern.

Notice that the store bought clothes are not really “high quality” sewing. The seam allowances are small and the seams unfinished.  The hems are just roughly turned under once with cut edges showing. Most of these clothes are mass produced using as little fabric and notions as possible.

But these are just doll clothes. No one is going to prom or a job interview here. So try to keep this in mind when you are sewing. Of course make things as neat as you can, but don’t go overboard trying to make them as good as human clothes. Also, the dolls are not really concerned with comfort, so a thick seam won’t bother them. The goal of this post is to show how young sewers can make inexpensive doll cloths. They should be easy for little hands to get on and off the dolls.

The first step is to take apart the garments. This little device is called a seam ripper. It fits nicely under stitches to break them.

Carefully pick the seams apart and when you are done, you will have a pile of loose thread, two cut garment pieces, and a piece of elastic. Measure the elastic. In this case it is 1/8” wide and 8 3/4” long. It is actually is pretty good shape so you could use it again. Looking closely at the two fabric pieces reveals that they are identical. We can copy one to the pattern and use it to cut two pieces.

The fabric piece is wrinkled and bent, so iron it carefully to make it flat and easy to trace. You can use the fabric directly to cut a new garment or you can trace it to create a reusable pattern. Sometimes I use wax paper but if you want to make more than one garments you will need to use something more durable. Non-fusable interfacing works very well. It don’t unravel, it can be ironed, and it can be written on.

I usually make the first item out of some scrap material just to make sure the garment will fit and that I like the length and style. I this case I used some cheap lightweight knit. Remember to cut two. This is often the case with purchased patterns as well.

To construct the new pants:

1. Stitch the center front seam. I have used a slight zigzag stitch here as I often do on knits to provide a little “give” in the seam. The materials stretches so its nice if the seam can, too.
2. Turn down the material at the waist and sew across to create the elastic casing.
3. Insert the elastic. Use a bodkin or safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing. Be sure to stitch the elastic in place when the end reaches the edge of the fabric. Continue pulling the elastic through and secure the second end in place with a few stitches.
   

   

   

   

   
4. Stitch the center back seam.
5. Turn up the hem on each leg and stitch in place.
6. Align the inseam and sew the pant legs. Sometimes I start at the center and sew each direction. Sometimes I sew from one pant hem to the other along the entire inseam. It depends on whether the pieces line up well or if they are being difficult.
   

   
7. The practice pants are done. Try them on the dolls and check the fit. These seems to fit fine.

There were a couple things about the pattern that I did not care for so before making additional pairs, I would make the waist area a little higher and use 1/4” elastic. It would be easier to thread through and make the casing easier to sew.

It would also be easy to make these legs shorter to make shorts or longer to make pants. I used wax paper to make a couple quick adjustments.

Here is the pattern that I made for the knit capri pants. I put it on the scanner and created a pdf that you can print. Set your printer to print the image at 100%. There is a reference line 2” long that you can use to make sure that your printout is the same size as my original pattern.

Knit Capri Pattern

The knit fabric was definitely easy to sew and fit. I didn’t know if the pattern would work as well with woven fabric, which has less stretch, so I made a pair of shorts in woven fabric. They did not fit and I could not get them on the doll. So I found a pair of woven pants and repeated the process. This gave me new patterns for doll pants out of woven material. I am including those patterns as well.

Unfortunately the pattern pieces are wider that the 8” paper most printers and scanner use. So those patterns are included in two pieces. Print them out and tape the two pieces together along the “tape line”.

I have included some pictures of the pants, capris, and short made from these patterns as well.

This is the first pair of pants I made in woven material. Here is the pattern. It is in two parts which should be printed and tape together.

woven pants part 1

woven pants part 2

These denim shorts are cut from the leg of an old pair of work jeans. The faded denim is great! This pattern is also in two pieces which should be printed and taped together.

woven shorts part 1

woven shorts part 2

These board shorts use the same pattern as the other shorts, but I cut them a little shorter in the waist and added a band of contrasting material. The ends of the band are folded under and come together at the front, not quite touching, to allow for the insertion of a string or ribbon. Once the ribbon/string is inserted I usually stitch it at the back center so little hands won’t pull the string out.

These khaki shorts (maybe part of a school uniform) have the traditional “flat felled” seam found in store bought pants. I had the legs of a pair of pants that I had cut off for shorts. So I just centered the pattern pieces on the seam so it would look like I had sewn the sides this way. Nice trick!

As you can see from the pictures, I decided to make these shorts a little shorter so I folded up the pattern a bit. Also, to make the garment symmetrical I cut one piece, flipped it over and used it for the pattern from the second piece. In that way I could line up the seam and make sure they would end up in the same position on both legs.

I hope you enjoy the patterns and that you learned to use old doll clothes to make new ones.

Post any pictures you take in the comments section. I would love to see what you make! If you create some patterns that you like, consider sharing them so others can benefit from your efforts.

Next time I am going to use the same process to make some patterns for tops. Watch for them if you are making doll clothes with little friends!

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

Knitting Needle Cases – Free Pattern

I recently had an old spool chest refinished and plan to store my knitting supplies in it. I decided to sew some needle storage cases to keep my knitting supplies neat in the drawers. I had seen cases for sale but never any that I liked. They looked poorly made and seemed pricey. You will find the instructions for making these two cases and two others (for circular and DP needles) in this post.

The chest had belonged to my mother for as long as I could remember. It had been painted green at some point. Later someone began to strip the paint but only removed a little from the top. When I heard good things about a local refinisher, I decided to have it restored. It turned out really well.

Some of the green paint remains on the handles. I like it that way.

It seems appropriate that if it is not going to be used to store thread, that at least it should be used to store fiber craft supplies. There are enough drawers for knitting, crocheting, and weaving tools and instructions booklets.

To help organize the knitting needles I sewed four separate cases. One case for long straight needles, one for short straight needles, one for circular needles, and the last for double pointed needles. Each can lay flat in a drawer or be folded, stacked, and carried in a bag.

The fabric is cotton duck (sometimes called canvas). It is sturdy, inexpensive, and has a nice industrial look that I like. The binding on the edges is black, half inch wide, double fold bias tape.

Large and Small Straight Needle Cases

The two cases for straight needles are made in exactly the same way as each other. They are the same width, but have different lengths.

1. For the smaller case for 10” needles, cut a piece of fabric 13” wide and 24” long. For the larger case for 14” needles, cut a piece of fabric 13” wide and 33” long.

2. Sew a piece of bias tape on one of the short sides. No need to finish the edges as they will be covered up.

3. Fold the side with the bias tape up 9” as shown for the small case and 13” for the large case.

4. At two places, mark the center 6 1/2” from each edge as shown.

5. Mark the center line with a straight edge and pin the fabric in place so it won’t slip as shown.

6. Stitch along the center line. I ran the stitching back and forth at the bottom and at the bias tape. This is not a prom dress that needs to “hang and flow”. It is a case that may get some tugging so no harm in making it sturdy.

7. Mark the rest of the divider lines, each 1 inch apart as shown. The outer sections will be a bit wider since this is where the bias tape edges will be applied.

8. Stitch each dividers as you did the center divider. Stitch back and forth at the top and bottom to make them sturdy.

9. Cut and sew a piece of bias tape on the top edge. No need to finish the ends as they will be covered up.

10. Cut pieces of bias tape to finish the edges. Cut each piece about 26” long so you will have about an inch at each corner to fold under. This will give you a finished corner.

11. Draw a light pencil line as a guide for the numbers. I thought I had a stencil but couldn’t find it. So I just wrote the numbers free hand with a black Sharpie.

The flap folds over to keep the needles in place. The case can be folded in half or rolled up.

Case for Double Pointed Needles

This case is made specifically for the DP needles that I have. I did not make a slot for every possible size like I did for the straight needles. You can adjust the widths of the slots for your own collection. I also have not numbered the slots yet, but will.

1. Cut a piece of fabric 20” wide and 22” long.

2. Sew pieces of bias tape on both 22” sides. No need to finish the edges as they will be covered up.

3. Fold the side with the bias tape up 9” as shown and mark the slots. I decided on two 3” pockets, four 1” pockets, four 3/4” pockets, and three 2” pockets. Starting at the left edge, make marks at the following distances from the left hand edge in inches.

3 1/2  – 6 1/2  – 7 1/2  – 8 1/2  – 9 1/2  – 10 1/2  – 11 1/4  – 12  – 12 3/4  – 13 1/2  – 15 1/2  – 17 1/2

4. Mark and stitch slots. Sew forward and back at the top and bottom of each slot to make it sturdy.

5. Cut pieces of bias tape to finish the edges. Cut each piece about 26” long so you will have about an inch at each corner to fold under. This will give you a finished corner.

This case can be folded in thirds, inward from each edge. It is then the same width as the other cases. The fourth case, the one for circular needles can also be folded in thirds so the stack of all four cases is only 7” wide.

Case for Circular Needles

The circular needle case has 15 pockets, each 6” x 6” to hold the needles. This case is a little different in that I tried to use the selvedge edge of the fabric in several places to avoid fraying. I cut the original piece of fabric with a selvedge edge at the top and didn’t apply bias tape because I was not sure I was going to have enough tape to finish. In the end, I did have enough and added it across the top just to make all the case look the same. Otherwise it would have bothered me. Some of you know what I mean.

I also cut the four 6” rectangle that make up the layered pocket with a selvedge edge. In this way, I could sew them to the main fabric piece without finishing them (which would add extra bulk) but also without having to worry that they would fray and come loose.

1. Cut a piece of fabric 20” wide and 28” long. Cut four other pieces 20” wide and 6” long. Try to use the selvedge edge along the 20” side of these smaller pieces. If you cannot, cut them 6 1/2” long and fold the edge under 1/2” and stitch. This will create a finished edge to sew onto the main fabric piece.

2. Stitch bias tape along the top and bottom of the large piece and along the top edge of the other four pieces.

3. Draw four lines on the large fabric piece for placement of the smaller pieces. The lines should be measured from the bottom edge 14”, 12”, 10”, 8”. Sorry the ruler is backwards in the picture. Sometimes I think in unusual ways.

4. Place the bottom edge of one small piece on the top, 14″, marked line of the large piece as shown. Stitch in place close to the selvedge edge.

5. Place another small piece on the 12” line, sew in place. Continue in this way until all four small pieces are sewn to the large piece.

6. Fold the bottom of the large piece up 6” and pin it.

7. Draw stitching lines measuring from the left hand side at 6 1/2” and 13 1/2”.

8. Stitch these lines, stitching back and forth at the top and bottom to reinforce the stitching.

9. Cut pieces of bias tape to finish the side edges. Cut each piece about 30” long so you will have about an inch at each corner to fold under. This will give you a finished corner.

This case can be folded in thirds, inward from each edge. It is then the same folded width as the other cases. Remember, I didn’t add the top piece of bias tape until the end so it is not shown in some  pictures.

Here is what the set of four cases look like with my needles in them. They all fold in half or thirds and are then 7” wide.

Even thought I plan to mostly keep them in the spool chest, I did sew up a matching bag to slide them all in for travel.

Now that I have the pattern designed, I plan to make more. I think I will try denim next. The bias tape was the most expensive part of the project so I think I will try to make my own bias tape next time. If I do, I will be sure to write about it.

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome!

Color Strand Ear Warmer / Headband

Sometimes you don’t need a whole hat, just something to cover your ears.

My last post was a pattern for an easy cozy headband. This is a slight variation of that pattern. Instead of alternating 3 rows of knit with 3 rows of purl across the whole headband, I replaced the center section with all knit rows and used color strand knitting (sometimes called Fair Isle).

Wrong Side of Color Strand Headbands

Because the color strand section carries two threads across ( and also because I have not yet gotten the hang of leaving the strands loose enough) these bands fit a little more snuggly than the Cozy Ear Warmers from the last post. They are also a little heavier and warmer. The dark red one is made from a lighter weight wool yarn so it looks smaller when un-stretched.

Right Side of Color Strand Headbands

But they still fit all the adult women who tried them on so I think the pattern is fine the way it is. If you like your band a little looser, just add a few more stitches in groups of 2 for the for the red patterns, 3 for the orange pattern, and 4 for the blue pattern.

 

 

I chose these stitch patterns because they never had more than two stitches of the same color in a row. If you have more stitches of the same color in a row, this means that the other color is “carried” on the wrong side for a longer distance, leaving loose, hanging yarns. There are ways to prevent this, but I haven’t mastered them yet. So for now I use patterns with small motifs.

This is a great “stash buster” and they don’t take long. Try any color combinations you want! I was surprised how much I liked the orange and yellow band.

I will finish weaving the ends on these three and place them in my Etsy store, GoodForGoodnessSake. If you don’t have time to knit your own you can buy them there. Remember, all profits from the site are donated to veteran’s charities.

If you make one, post a picture in the comments section. It would be fun to see!

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

Easy Cozy Ear Warmer / Headband

Sometimes you don’t need a whole hat, just something to cover your ears.

Here is an extremely easy pattern that goes quickly and is a great stash buster. Unstretched it measures 18” around and 3.5” wide. It easily stretches to 6” wide when worn. It requires about 75 yards of medium weight yarn.

 

 

 

Knit Rows – No Dots

Purl Rows – Dots

The picture above shows the difference between switching colors between two knit rows and switching colors between purl rows.

Separate Pieces Before Assembly

Here is what the two separate pieces look like before assembly.

I made three bands, all the same except for color. The gray one got snatched up before I could get a picture of all three together. The other two will be for sale in my Etsy store GoodForGoodnessSake. So if you are too busy to knit them yourself you can buy them there. Remember, all the profits from the store are donated to veteran’s causes.

This is one of the early prototypes. I knit it and asked several people to try it on. The consensus was that it was too narrow and too loose. So I decreased the number of stitches to 65 and added another 6 rows. Again, I asked several people to try it on and they liked it so this is the pattern I have settled on.

Spoiler alert: Here is a preview of the new style of bands I am working on. Stay tuned for new ideas!

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

 

Cozy Cowl Hood

While shopping in Portland OR a few years ago, I saw a knit cowl hood in an outdoor store. It could be worn loosely around the neck like a scarf (one that doesn’t fall off) or could be raised and worn like hood.

After a few experimental attempts, I came up with this pattern. It is one of the most requested items I make. I think I have made about a dozen so far.

It is easy, but takes a while, so leave yourself enough time if you are making one as a gift. There are 10,912 stitches. You will need about 350 yards of medium weight yarn. I really like Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash 100% wool. But I have made it with lots of other yarns as well. Some of the new ombre yarns are pretty.

These are some leftovers of the Superwash colors I have used.

 

I hope you enjoy the pattern. As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

Snowy Day Hat

It has been unusually cold and snowy for December. Although the bad weather makes it difficult to get around, the snow is beautiful.

I was inspired to design a new hat, actually two new hats. The wide white brim reminds me of the beautiful snow drifts and the white color strand stitches represent the falling snow. I chose colors that reminded me of the winter sky.

The brims of the two hats are a little different, but both are wide, soft, and white.

The photos do not do the hats justice. The foam heads are not as big as real heads so the hats look looser than they really are. I guess I will have to work on my photography.

I hope you enjoy them. If you want to make your own snowy day hat, I am sharing the patterns here. I swear one of these days I am going to go through my posts and retype the instructions in a more conventional format. But for now, I think these instructions will do.

If you like them, but don’t want to make them, you can buy them at my Etsy store: GoodForGoodnessSake. Remember, all the money raised at the Etsy store is donated to veterans charities.

 

 

Silvery Shawl

I recently made this super soft, knit shawl for my daughter. Looking at the finished project, you might never guess how the project evolved.

I saw this beautiful shawlette on Brittany’s B.hooked Crochet blog. I loved the way the shawl looked and the way it draped. The pattern uses a yarn called Shawl in a Ball.

I have been trying to learn to crochet after knitting for decades. I have known how to crochet a chain since I was a child. But crocheting the second row always proved difficult. I could never see where you were supposed to insert your hook. When you knit, all the stitches stay on your needle and you deal with each as you go back across the piece. But with crochet, you have to find each stitch again. I would alway miss some stitches making each successive row shorter and shorter. In this way everything I tried to crochet ended up with a rainbow shape. Recently, I have been getting the hang of it but still find it easier with some yarns than with others.

I looked for the “Shawl in a Ball” yarn at Michael’s since they carry it on their website but could not find it in the store. I was excited to get started over Thanksgiving so I chose a different yarn, called Unforgettable, of the same weight and bought 2 skeins to get the correct yardage. If the project worked out I would look for the pretty rainbow yarn later for a second shawlette.

I really like the silver/gray variations. But I found it impossible to crochet. The yarn is so fluffy that the stitches ran together visually and I couldn’t figure our where to insert the hook.

It was interesting to read that Brittany didn’t always follow the instructions, but rather drew inspiration and created her own techniques. I decided to do the same. I knew that the double crochet (DC) stitch that she used would produce an open airy pattern and that by increasing one stitch each row, along the same edge each time, a triangle shape would result. So I decided to see if I could reproduce those same characteristics in a knit pattern.

To make the pattern open and airy I chose large, size 15, needles. To make the shawlette flat without the edges curling, I chose a garter stitch, all rows knit, and increased one stitch at the beginning of every other row. This placed all the increases along the same edge. I used the Make One (M1) stitch for the increases.

The original crochet pattern increase to 91 stitches, so 91 rows. The size of the crocheted version is 31 inches wide and 50 inches long.

Here I must admit that I am a rather lazy, yet confident, crafter. I KNOW it is important to pay attention to gauge but I always think that my projects will turn out alright without testing it. True to form, I started knitting just to see what would happen. After a time, I laid the work out flat and checked the gauge. In a 4” x 4” section there were 16 rows wide and 11 stitches long. I did some quick calculations.

*If 16 rows = 4 inches, then 200 rows would equal 50 inches (the desired width).

*Starting with 3 stitches and increasing every other row for 200 rows yields 103 stitches in the last row

*11 stitches are 4 inches long so 100 stitches would be 38 inches long.

Ultimately, I decided on 184 rows. I kept trying it on and decided then it was big enough.

An interesting outcome of increasing the stitches in each row  as the project goes along is that the color variation bands become more and more narrow. What a pretty effect!

 

So here is the pattern for my version of this cute shawl:

Using size 15 needles and a medium weight yarn, cast on 3 stitches.

Row 1: K1, M1, K across

Row 2: K across

Repeat rows 1 and 2 92 times until there are 95 stitches.

Bind off and weave the ends.

Straight Edge

Edge Where Increase Occur

Edge That is Bound Off

Here are pictures of each of the three edges.

Shawl-In-A-Ball has enough yarn in one package to make an entire shawl while the yarn I used, Unforgettable, came in smaller packages and I had to use two. That meant that I would have to join two pieces. When you are working with a yarn that has a color variation, variegated or ombre, you should pay attention to the pattern when joining. You wouldn’t want to join the end of a dark region with the beginning of another dark region or you would have twice as much dark yarn in that part of your project as elsewhere.

As I approach the end of one ball I lay it out next to a section of the next ball and try to find a place to join them that will make the pattern continuous. The cat is always nearby to help. 🙂

This time it worked out that I could just join the end of one to the start of the other. It doesn’t usually happen that way. I usually have to cut some off.

This yarn, the color is called Bistro, has some variation that surprised me. Occasionally there was a little extra chunk of black fiber spun in with some lighter fiber. It made some dark spots in the pattern that from a distance look like errors. Hmmm. I make enough mistakes without the yarn making it look like I made even more.

Brittany’s original shawlette pattern used the entire package of Shawl-In-A-Ball which has 150 g and 473 meters of yarn (518 yards).

When I was finished I decided to see how much yarn I had used. Each package of Unforgettable is 100 g and 246 meters (270 yards). I weighed the shawl using my kitchen scale and found it to be 124 grams. That means I used 305 meters. My shawl is lighter weight than the original pattern. It is also very stretchy.

So I took a bunch of pictures for this post and then called my daughter to come get her shawl. It can be worn in a variety of ways, as shown.

It occurs to me that now that I know the pattern, it would be easier to knit in reverse. Start with 95 stitches and decrease one stitch every other row. If I make another, I will try it that way and add a picture to this post.

I hope you enjoyed the story and that you like the pattern. The shawl is SO soft and stretchy. It is very comfortable.

As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.

UPDATE: See “Shawl Revisions” posted on December 8, 2016 for a revised pattern.