Going Punk?
Published September 18, 2007 by cheryl
The border for the VLT Curved Shawl requires a double-join into each edge loop and cast-on loop. The edge loops are pretty easy to spot, but the cast-on loops are a nightmare. Some are large, some are tiny. And even the loops that are simple to find when the piece is laid flat become a bit hard to see when you’re knitting. (Note to self: If doing this shawl again, do a provisional cast-on.)
So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a scathingly brilliant (can you tell what one of my favorite movies was as a kid?) idea. Having a bazillion safety pins from my quilting days, I decided to put a pin in each loop. My first thought was just to do that with the cast-on edge, but then I decided to go around the rest of the shawl (I already had about 1/3 of one side knitted).
Now as I knit the border, when I do the first join I use the pin to help me find the right loop, then remove it. For the second join, I just use the loop I already knitted into. Besides helping me find the loop, it also helps me make sure I do two joins in each: I’ve marked which rows are ‘first joins’ on the chart, so when I get to the end of a marked row, I know I need to knit into a “pinned” loop. When I get to the end of an unmarked row, I know to knit into the previous loop.
I thought it might look a little punk with all of those pins, but there’s something really appealing about the weight of the pins on the shawl, and the slight jingle of the pins. Whenever I hold it up it makes me think of gypsies or belly-dancers. I can totally see doing a shawl with some sort of decorative beads/bells/whatever around the edge, like the one in the beginning of VLT.
Another advantage to putting in the pins is that I was able to count the number of pins and figure out if I had picked up enough loops for the pattern. As it turns out, I was exactly one border repeat short, but I just couldn’t figure out where I had missed loops. Since I’d already done a large part of one side, I didn’t want to try to fit in another repeat on just the remaining loops. So I’ll just be one repeat short. I don’t think it’s a problem since some of the other people who’ve done this pattern ended up short on the repeats, too.
And then she left, feeling quite pleased with herself.
Cabled Sheep lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she enjoys knitting and munching veggies out of the garden.
And why shouldn’t she, after demonstrating brilliance yet again?
I love your genius and your blog. I think I’ll be getting the vest pattern and yarn from Lark for my b-day. Oooh. I can’t wait.
Well, I have to say I’m stunned. I think you’re very ingenious, and I’m not sure that I still completely understand what you’re talking about. I think that shawl pattern would make me poke myself with a needle.
What movie did you watch as a child? I didn’t get that reference. Possibly I need more coffee…
So clever!!