Expect this to be the first of many knitty posts from me – although most of them will be Doctor Who themed. Here is a thing what I knitted! Click on the images for larger versions.

Front view:

Back view:

It was meant to be longer and a shawl, but I decided it looked good at this length as a shrug for in between weather instead. The wools are from Lincraft, the fluffy, feathery variety being Flutter and the other kind Mega. The feathery wool is hard to knit with, but it also bulks up quickly and your mistakes won’t be evident. Unless, that is, you are chronic stitch dropper, in which case you can simply tie up the hole with a spare bit of wool rather than fixing it traditionally, and no one will know the difference. I used 9mm/US size 13 needles, which are quite large, and you’re going to want larger needles for a project like this.

I designed it in a rush of inspiration for a last minute present idea. It’s super simple, all in garter stitch (knit all the way through), so perfect if you’re new to knitting but want to work up to something fancy-looking quickly. It just assumes you know knit stitch (although you can mix it up with a little purl if you like and have some wool which would make its use evident) and also how to increase. Use your friendly neighbourhood search engine to find a written, photo or video guide to how to do these – I’d link you, but I find that knitting guides really have to be suited to particular people. Let me know if you need any help.

Instructions:

Terms:
K = knit
inc = increase

Cast on 3 stitches.
Row 1: K3
Row 2: K3
Row 3: inc K3 inc (you now have five stitches)
Row 4: K5
Row 5: inc inc K5 inc inc (you now have nine)
Row 6: K9
Row 7: inc inc K9 inc inc (you now have thirteen)
Row 8: K13

And so on. The first increase is two, one on each end of the row, and all the subsequent increases are four every second row – although I suppose you could do two every row. Trust your judgment as to when to switch colours, and when to bind off: you know more about the shoulders and preferences of the wearer than I do. Speaking of which, not everyone’s going to be charmed with the colour combination I’ve chosen here, so go carefully.

As for the little tie at the front, pick a colour that you’ve included in the pattern that contrasts with whatever you’ve used for the widest section of your piece. Plait three or four pieces of wool together and thread it through the two front corners of the shrug or shawl.

And you’re done. Simple and pretty!

Categories: fun & hobbies

Tags: craft, crafting, knitting, Weekend Womenscraft