Swallowtail Shawl

Here's the Swallowtail Shawl. This is a pattern from Interweave Knits Spring 2006 issue. It is also being offered right now for a limited time as a free pattern at the Knitting Daily site (along with 4 other patterns).

The knitting wasn't too hard...although I did have to pay attention and count more than usual. I feared the nupps (the part that looks like Lilies of the Valley). After reading through the tips at Ravelry I made the decision to go ahead and give them a go (some replace the nupps with beads). The trick to the nupps are making the k1, yo, k1, yo k1 (all in one st) very very loose....like a half an inch of yarn pulled out for each k1.

The cast off I did with a needle 2 sizes bigger but it still may have been done too tightly. My "swallowtail" peaks didn't stay very pointed at all. Ahhh well...maybe next time I block it I'll try something different. I'm not an expert blocker by any stretch of the imagination.

This shawl, although called a shawl, is really scarf size which is what I wanted. Here are some pictures of how I've experimented in wearing it today. It's my first triangular shawl/scarf and thought I'd have some fun with it.

This was knit with Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud. Stream was the name of the color. It is very soft yarn. It took less than 1 skein (50 gms). I probably have about 13 gms left over.

Row Counters

Here's what I worked on today for a friend from Ravelry....

I went with spring colors...even though we've got snow in the air.

The craft stores I checked didn't have the wine glass charm rings that I wanted so I went with the hoop earring hardware instead. Worked nicely I think.

Brigit Socks done!

The yarn that I used for these is Anne from Schaefer Yarn Company. It is very fine and very soft. The content is 60% merino wool, 25% mohair, 15% nylon. The mohair gives a bit of a halo effect.

The pattern is Brigit...all that info is in the previous post. Here are my notes of the tweaks I made to the pattern.

Cast on: long tail method in knit and purl combo following the stitch sequence. Here's how to long tail cast on in purl.

I ended up charting the stitch pattern which made the knitting much quicker for me. This stitch pattern is an 18 stitch/35 row repeat. A magnetic chart holder and my row counter made the job a piece of cake. Oh...and a pretty pink coated small paper clip bent into a cable needle.

Before knitting the heel flap I moved 3 sts from beg of N#2 to end of N#1 AND 7 sts from beg N#1 to end of N#2. 40 sts on instep and 32 on heel. I would do this differently on the next pair by putting 38 on the instep…one knit st on each side of the instep should be moved to the heel needle (34 sts) based on my original stitch move. This centered the stitch pattern on the instep.

I continued the rib pattern down the heel flap but not the cable.

I used “Heels by Numbers” to turn the heel. (This isn't the one I used but it's the same type of thing.)

For the toe I decreased every other round until 18 sts remained on each needle (using 2 circs). Then decreased every row until 8 sts remained on each needle. Donkey ear trick. Kitchener.