Shawl Geometry: Wedge Circles
This is the second post in a series about different shawl shapes and how to knit them. All the posts in the series can be found right here.
The Wedge Circle from the center out
The Wedge Circle falls into the category of shaping a circular that I call the “knit an octagon and block it into a circle.”
In this circular shawl, we use eight right triangular wedges that, when blocked, create the “swirl” effect that this shawl is sometimes named after. The eight right triangle wedges are created by working eight single, evenly spaced increases (or decreases) every other round.
Knitting Instructions
CO 8sts. Join in the round, being careful not to twist.
{8 sections}
R1: (pm, yo, k1) 8 times.
R2: knit around.
R3: (sm, yo, k to marker) 8 times.
R4: knit around.
Rep R3&4 to desired dimensions.
Bind off loosely.
This shaping actually creates an octagon, which you then block into a circle.
Note: To make the swirl curl in the opposite direction simply (yo, k to marker) every other round, rather then (k to marker, yo).
The Wedge Circle from the hem in
To work a circular shawl made up of wedges from the hem to center, use the same concept and similar formulas as working a square shawl from the hem to center.
Calculating your cast on
Determine your final gauge and the desired radius of your shawl.
The radius is half the width of your final shawl, or the length from the center to the edge of your shawl.
[Round gauge] x [desired radius] = [# of rnds]
[# of rnds] / 2 = [# of dec rnds]
[# of dec rnds] x [8sts decreased per dec rnd] = [# of sts decreased]
Make sure this number is divisible by 8.
[# of sts decreased] = [# of sts to CO]
Calculating your stitch marker placement
[# of sts decreased] / [8 shawl sections] = [# of sts in one section aka Y]
Knitting Instructions
CO [# of sts to CO].
R1: (pm, ssk, kY minus two) 8 times.
R2: knit around.
R3: (sm, ssk, k to marker) 8 times.
R4: knit around.
Rep R3&4 to 8sts.
Bind off loosely.
Break, yarn, leaving a tail, and thread the tail through all live sts, pull tight and weave in your end. (The same way you would finish off the crown of a hat.)
So if you cast on 48 sts. Join in the round, being careful not to twist.
R1: (pm, k6) 8 times.
R2: (sm, k4, k2tog) 8 times.
R3: knit around.
R4: (sm, k to 2 sts before marker, k2tog) 8 times.
Repeat R3&4.
Bind off loosely.
The previous post: Square Knit in the Round
The next post: Pi Circles
Looking back at knitting Gene Tierney
I’m always working on some project or another, which means I often have FOs and new designs to share. You can see all my FOs … here … and all my designs … here.
I don’t have any new FOs this Friday, so I thought I’d take a look back at one of my older pieces. Gene Tierney, the divine
I’ve recently fallen back in love with this shawl and have been wearing it everywhere the past couple days. It’s large and cushy without being heavy or dense. It’s super easy to wear, and looks great with just about anything.
I originally designed this shawl for the Sanguine Gryphon’s Fall 2011 “Film Noir” pattern line. The original sample was knit with two skeins of Mithril (which the Verdant Gryphon now carries) in the “Der Blaue Engel” colorway. I’ve since re-released the pattern, which you can get here.
The craziest thing about this shawl is how much I LOVE it now, compared to how over it I was when the pattern first came out.
Since I tend to design very large, intricate shawls that can’t generally be whipped up in a couple days, I try to be very conscious of deadlines and how much I’m knitting when I’m knitting on a deadline for a publication. Usually I work out how many days between when I get the yarn and when I need to mail off the sample, then I determine the number of rows I need to knit every day between now and then to get the sample done with plenty of time to block it and mail it, and make sure it gets to the publication on time. Usually I try to build in plenty of cushion into this schedule because I’ve found that, just like I don’t really knit small shawls, I don’t really make small mistakes either, and the larger the shawl the larger the mistake.
Somehow this didn’t whole planning thing didn’t happen for Gene Tierney.
I don’t remember why this process didn’t happen. Maybe it’s because it was summer, or I had a lot of other work at the time (theater and knitwear), or because I knew I was going on vacation for a week so I’d have lots of knitting time, or I just got distracted because I knew it was a rectangle so I didn’t have to front load so much of the knitting like I do with shawls where the stitch count increases. But for whatever reason it didn’t happen.
So about half way through my week-long family vacation, in the middle of August, in the middle-of-nowhere upstate New York, I glanced at my calender and said “shit.”
The shawl was due in something like two weeks, and I hadn’t exactly been power knitting through the sample. I think I had maybe one repeat done (out of six).
So I flipped. And then finished knitting the shawl in seven or eight days. Not something I can highly recommend.
I blocked the shawl, wrote the pattern, sent the shawl off asap and just made the deadline. At which point, even though I loved the pattern, and the yarn, and the design, I was a little over it.
Needless to say the feeling I had when the pattern finally came out, all I could think was “thank god it’s done.”
So, I eventually got the sample back, put it in a drawer, and didn’t look at it for awhile. Re-released the pattern, but then put it back in the drawer. Only to pull it out one day this spring and fall in love all over again.
You can find the details for the pattern here.
If you’d like more FO Friday posts, visit Tami’s blog.
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Knit, knit, knit
I’m always working on some project or another, and most weeks I talk about what I’m working on Wednesdays as part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. You can see past WIP Wednesdays … right this way.
I hit a point in every shawl where it just gets super boring to blog or talk about. The exact point changes from shawl to shawl, but it’s generally somewhere just past the middle.
Getting to the middle is relatively fast and easy and exciting because of NEW PATTERN! feelings. And it’s not quite the point where I’ve hit the final slog of the last repeat or two, where I just want the shawl done. It’s somewhere between the two where I’m just kind of “eh, ok” about the project.
I still love the yarn, and still love the pattern, but it’s the point where I know the design will now work out, the pattern kinks are all worked out, I can visualize what the final product is going to be, and now I’m just knitting…
and knitting….
and knitting…
and I kinda want to start something new.
Interestingly enough, this is also generally the point where I start casting about for a name. For this shawl I’m thinking maybe “Intan” which means diamond in Indonesian. Let me know what you think, or if you have another suggestion.
Speaking of starting new projects, I’m winding yarn to knit a second Kora.
It’s part of a KAL we’re doing over in my Ravelry group. Come over and join us. It’s a super low key knit along, but loads of fun. You can get the pattern here, and join the KAL here.
If you’d like more WIP Wednesday posts from other bloggers, visit Tami’s blog.
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