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Pave the Way Shawl Pattern

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So, funny story. I had this idea for a shawl stuck in my head. It had been rattling around for a few months, and so, of course, I did the most logical thing and went yarn shopping. I found this beautiful wool from Abundant Earth Fibers, and knew it would be perfect.

I “knew” wrong. Not that the wool was wrong. The wool is beautiful and rustic and sheep-y and everything I love in a yarn. It just wasn’t right for the idea that was stuck in my head. Ah well, I’m not in charge of my creativity. What could I do? I had to let the yarn and the needles do what they want. I could either fight them or go with it.

Because I’m not fan of drama, I decided to go with it.

knit shawl pattern

Pave the Way is the result. The Twisted Purl stitch was entertaining and added an appealing texture.

After the relative complexity of Eira (which is still on sale for a couple of more days!), this shawl is a quick and satisfying project.

Once you complete the garter tab beginning and setup row, the pattern consists of two alternating stitch patterns, one them garter, the other the Purl Twist stitch.

Materials

Size US 7/4.5mm circular needle, at least 36 inches long

750 yards DK weight wool or wool blend. I used Abundant Earth Fiber, Verdant in Dark Grey.

2 stitch markers

Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

yarn wool knitting fiber grey

Abbreviations

K – Knit                                   P – Purl

RS – Right Side                      WS – Wrong Side

YO – Yarn Over

PM – Place Marker     SM – Slip Marker

St(s) – Stitch(es)

Sl1 wyif – Slip 1 with yarn in front

LRinc – Lifted Right Increase. Using your right needle, lift the right leg of the stitch below the next stitch on the left-hand needle onto the left-hand needle and knit it. 1 stitch increased.

LLinc – Lifted Left Increase. Using your left needle, lift the left leg of the stitch 2 rows below the stitch on right-hand needle onto left-hand needle and knit it through the back loop. 1 stitch increased.

April over at WithWool.com has a great tutorial on working the lifted increases in garter stitch.

PT – Purl Twist. Purl 2 stitches together, but don’t remove stitches from left needle. Purl the first stitch again, then slip both stitches off needle.

 

 

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Stitch Patterns

Garter Sections

Row 1 (RS): K2, YO, K to marker, LLinc, SM, K1, SM, LRinc, K to last 2 sts, YO, K2.

Row 2 (WS): K to marker, SM, SL1 wyif, SM, K to end.

Purl Twist Sections

Row 1 (RS): K2, YO, K to marker, LLinc, SM, K1, SM, LRinc, K to last 2 sts, YO, K2.

Row 2 (WS): K3, PT to 1 st before marker, K1, SM, Sl1 wyif, SM, K1, PT to last 3 sts, K3.

knitting yarn wool shawl

Instructions

Using your favorite garter tab cast-on method, cast on a two-stitch wide garter tab with 9 total stitches. My favorite garter tab that uses short rows instead of picking up stitches to create the tab is here. This is the method I use for starting all top-down triangular or crescent shaped shawls.

Setup Row (WS): K4, PM, P1, PM, K4.

Now alternate Garter Sections and Purl Twist Sections however you like. Sample was done as follows:

Garter Section until you have 81 stitches, ending with a WS row.

Purl Twist Section: 10 times.

Garter Section: 5 times.

Purl Twist Section: 9 times.

Garter Section: 5 times.

Purl Twist Section: 8 times.

Garter Section: 5 times.

Purl Twist Section: 7 times.

Garter Section: 5 times.

Purl Twist Section: 6 times.

Garter Section: 2 times.

That’s it! I’m the only one to test this pattern, so if you find any mistakes or have any questions, please feel free to comment or send me a message.

knitting shawl wool yarn

If you prefer a .pdf of the pattern, you can download it here: Pave the Way

As far as that other idea I had floating around my head, it will have to wait until another time. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Pave the Way and have a beautiful weekend.

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The Easiest Garter Tab in the Universe

So it seems like the looming of summer is slowing down my knitting. I’m not complaining. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other activities that need to be done: gardening, shopping farmers markets, attempting to emotionally recover from Avengers: Endgame.

Speaking of Endgame, I loved it except for one single thing. I won’t spoil it, but it was pretty huge for me.

But I’m over it.

Let’s Talk About Knitting Instead

What do the Avengers have to do with knitting? Nothing, this time. I just needed to vent a little.

Knitting may be slowing, but it’s certainly not stopping. A brand new shawl pattern hot off the blocking table will be released soon. Like within a week.

For now, I’ll share a tiny part of it: my favorite garter tab cast on.

knitting garter tab wool yarn needles

A garter tab is a method used to begin a top-down triangular or crescent shaped shawl because it forms a nice, uninterrupted strip of garter at the top of the shawl. Most instructions call for casting on a few stitches, about 2 or 3 (the width of the garter strip), then working several rows of garter stitch to form a long, skinny strip. Stitches are then picked up along the long side of the strip in the ridges and the main pattern begins.

The method I use does not involve picking up stitches. Instead, the stitches along the long side are added as the garter tab is created. I didn’t invent this method, and there are probably several ways of working it, but I’ll demonstrate my favorite way.

This method works with any width garter tab, but I’m going to demonstrate with a 3-stitch wide one.

Method

Step 1: Using a circular needle and Judy’s Magic Cast On, cast on 3 stitches onto each needle.

There are plenty of videos available on YouTube demonstrating Judy’s Magic Cast-On, so I don’t go into detailed instructions. My favorite is Cat Bordhi’s method:

Step 2 (Swipe below for video): Turn needles so that they are pointing right and the purl side is towards you. Place the yarn tail to the front and left of the working yarn. Hold it with your thumb to anchor it. Once you start knitting, the yarn tail will be held in place. Place the working yarn between and behind the needles and pull the bottom needle out to begin knitting.

 

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Step 3: Knit across the 3 stitches on the left needle, turn the work, yarn over (the yarn will be in front already), knit back across the 3 stitches.

Step 4 (Swipe below for video): Pull the cable through the stitches to get all stitches on one needle.

 

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Step 5: *Knit 3, turn work, yarn over, knit 3. Repeat from * until you have the desired number of stitches. Swipe the video below to see my completed garter tab with 11 stitches.

 

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If your garter tab was 2 or 4 stitches wide, you would knit 2 or 4 respectively before turning the work and adding the yarn over.

What do you think? Have you used this method of creating a garter tab before? What is your favorite method?

Feel free to  contact me with any questions or comments. And Happy Spring.

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