Yarn specs: 50 gram ball measuring 142 yards made of 57% extra fine merino, 33% microfibre, 10% cashmere. The proprieter of Now and Zen Yarns went on and on about how well garments knitted with this yarn look and last after repeated washing and use. She even said it was machine washable, using the gentle cycle and cold water. I, never one to believe a thing any sales person tells me, just smiled and expounded on it's overall loveliness. This yarn had me at the first touch. Everything else will be gravy.
No sooner did I buy this yarn than I was thinking furiously of a pattern for it. I wanted a shawl, but I needed a fully knitted pattern (i.e., no lace, no holes). I need it to keep me warm at work during the dog days of the office a/c.
I spent Sunday figuring out how to start the shawl bottom up, what edging to use, and then formulizing what pattern would be optimal. I eventually settled on a diamond seed stitch pattern I so loved with my Dale Baby Ull hat:
It was just a matter of trial and error to figure out how to incorporate the diamonds on an expanding canvas. I may not have won this battle in it's entirety but perfection is for losers. (Yeah I totally mean that cuz I never ever ever ever worry about what other people think. Nope, not me :-/)
I CO two stitches and began the increases in the first row. I will make two increases every other right side row. Up until the 11th row the pattern is all seed stitch. All of the increases have been made in pattern, that is, one increase was a knit stitch, one increase was a purl stitch. I make these initial increases in the center two stitches.
When beginning the 12th row I would have 10 stitches on my needle. It was time to introduce the stitch pattern used in the body of the shawl. On row 12 the first stitch is slipped (as are all first stitches in the entire work) then 2 stitches are worked in the seed stitch pattern. The next two stitches are knit. The first increase is worked into the left leg of the stitch below the second of these two knit stitches. (The three seed stitches and two knit stitches constitute the edging of my shawl.) In this row only, before starting the left side edging (the remaining five stitches plus one increase), I inserted a one-time increase using a make one increase. I then worked the left edge in reverse of the right edge
I finished my first skein last night and ironed it. The loop at the begnning of the shawl is just the cast on tail.
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