Thursday, August 03, 2006

Katy Shawl Questions and Variations

Katy 1 was done in handspun. Looking at it closely again, I think I goofed when I said 1 ply corriedale - I think it actually was 2 ply and 1 ply silk. It is approximately fingering/sport weight yarn, I used a #4 US needle, and the whole shawl weighs approximately 185 grams. Using a very conservative number on generic fingering length, that should be approximately 1000 yds, but was probably less than that, more like 7 or 800. ( Calculation is necessary because a. I didn't keep the leftover yarn or if I did I can't find it, b. This was a seat of the pants creation to start with, and I didn't even do the minimal record keeping I now do.) If I were to do this again, I'd probably allow myself 1000 yds just because I'm conservative like that.

Katy 2 was done in Jaeger Trinity(using #7 US needles), which comes in 50 gram balls, 218 yards each. (see above lack of records) Weighing the thing now, it's 196 grams. Logic would say, I used 4 balls completely. I bought 6 or 7 to start with to make sure I had enough and had a bunch left over. If I were doing it again now I'd start with 5 balls (or maybe six because I like to overbuy and hate worrying about running out. Consult your panic level on the subject of running out. Believe me, you don't want to get down to the end of this border and decide you have to rip it out and make the thing shorter.)

Katy 1 variation: Let line 6 read: k3, k2, (yo,k2tog,k3) 5 times, yo,k2tog, k1, k3. ( 36). This does not make allowances in the full pi stitch count for the border stitches and consequently (since these stitches are not doubled at the increase rows) the total stitch count at the end is much less, leaving you with a half pi. This will require adjustments in the number of repeats on pattern rows, and may affect how many stitches are odd at the ends of such rows. It will also affect the number of repeats of the border pattern.
Also, I didn't think the shawl was long enough and didn't want to double the stitches again, so I did an extra set of pattern (repeat rows 34-41) at row 58 before going on into the repeat called for at row 58 as listed.

Katy 2 variation: I find that with a worsted cotton yarn, the fabric of this pattern looks better if the motifs are slightly farther apart. I'll post about that in another entry.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you from the tip of my needles to my stash for the information regarding yardage! The Katy purple is a fine example of your creative ability. Bless you and continue to knit.

Agneta said...

thaks for the fully answer. Now I'm going to try it myself. Thanks too for sharing the pattern.

Anonymous said...

Thanks everyone for all your kind comments

Jessica-Jean said...

Umm ... I don't see any Row 34. Is it missing or are the row numbers off?

Elizabeth said...

Formatting fail - Row 33 was missing a CR/LF, so Row 34 was squished up on the same line. I added it back in again, thanks.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean at row 6 (increase stitches so that 6 border stitches are removed from count of stitches to be increased later) On row 5 you have established the border, Row 6: are you now saying that I k3 (border) increase 3 stitches after that and increase 3 stitches before the opposite border? Is this what you mean? or just forget the border after row 6. I am new to lace shawls so forgive me if this sounds dumb.

Elizabeth said...

It's just a comment. The point of a pi shawl is that as you double the number of rows you're going to double the number of stitches. In putting this shawl together, I chose to take that literally and when you have doubled the number of rows you are going to then double the number of stitches on that row, all at once. I fudged the number of stitches early on to remove the six border stitches from the total stitch count, so your doubling will be just of those stitches within the border, not including the border. Clear as mud? Don't try to do anything with the comment - it isn't an instruction.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for letting me know. New to lace shawls and fell in love with your pattern. Can not wait to start it