I love crescent shaped shawls and I just happen to have a skein of Hedgehog Fibres Lace in Rusty Nail - a perfect color for this shawl. What can I say, the sample color is perfect so I’m going to use a similar color.

Summary

• Starting weight: 103 grams

• I knit 4 rows to 6 stitches beyond the turn to make the shawl a bit more shallow. If you do this, make sure to keep it balanced so you end correctly.

• I will do the crochet bind off with knitting needles. Its easy to make the chain with the needles. That way there is no need to break form by changing to a crochet hook.

• Since I am working with interchangeable needles, on the 7 to 5 stitches row, I changed my left hand needle (stitch source needle) to a US 2.0 (2.75 mm) tip. The first time through was still tricky. Its important to get through all 7 stitches. For this I used my US 000 (1.5 mm) double point needle. I slid the double point needle through the seven stitches from the tip of the source needle (right to left) and then arranged it so I could knit the 7 stitches together (that’s the advantage of points on both ends of the needle). I then slipped the loop over the working needle (the YO) and then around the double point and worked the stitch. (I’m working with 3 needles at this point). I placed the loop just created with the double point on the working needle (one stitch created). Once the first stitch is created its easier to get the needle through the 7 stitches. *** I inserted the double point back into the stitches as if to knit. I then brought the yarn forward, between working needle and source needle; and wrapped it around the double point and formed the knit stitch, placing it on the working needle. Three stitches are now on the working needle. *** I repeat from *** to *** one more time; 5 stitches are now on the needle. At the end of the row, switched my needle tip back to the US 5.0 (3.75 mm) tip. This stitch definitely slows down the knitting and takes quite a bit of concentration.

• Markers must move on row 13: The 7th stitch for the 7-5 stitches is on the other side of the marker; Row 17: maybe on the border ssk - I ripped back to here so don’t know for sure since my markers were misaligned; Row 19: border sk2p; Row 41: on the first K2tog and on the 7-5 star stitches.

• I removed the markers on row 42 and reset them on 43. They really only needed to be shifted by 3 stitches.

• I was 1 off at the end of row 17. The end section had 6 knits and I only had 5 stitches available for knits. So, I did a M1 towards the end. Unfortunately, as I finished the first 20 rows I realized that row 17 was shifted 1 to the left. So I ripped back. It looks like I screwed up the initial KYOK. Lesson learned, until i forget again :-) Double check!

• Row 43 has 3 YOs in a row. Each YO requires a stitch on the returning purl row. You can’t really put 3 purl stitches in a row into the 3 YOs since the 3 YOs are essentially 1 loop. Rather than do 3 purls, I did P, K, P in the 3 YOs.

• The crochet bind off directions are missing an important detail: what to do with the chain once completed. i believe the chain needs to move back to the source needle so that the last chain loop becomes one of the k3tog stitches. This is probably natural if doing this bind off with the crochet hook, but I’m doing it with my knitting needles.
  <p> To make a chain with knitting needles, I K1 into the stitch, and then K1 into the resultiing stitch for 6 stitches. My bind off is as follows: K4tog, chain 6 using knitting needles (the last chain stitch will be on the working needle), slip chain back to source needle kwise, then *** k3tog tbl, ch 6, slip back to source needle, repeat from *** until 4 sts remain, k4tog.

• after working this bind off, I think the bind off should be more like: k4tog, chain 6, leave on working needle, k3tog, sl chain stitch over, k3tog stitch, chain 6, leave on working needle, ….. If you k3tog 3 stitches that do not include the chain stitch, the k3tog can close the ssk, sk2p, k2tog, creating a nice point. I DIDN’T DO THIS. The other way looks ok, but I think this method would look better. I’ve seen both methods used in the project photos; some points are closed and some aren’t.

• ripped out the cast on edge and then bound off the live stitches with the elastic bind off.

Watch Out For

• The back is too tight!! If you are a loose knitter the cast on / first row combination might work for you, but if you are a tight knitter it will be too tight and your shawl won’t have a shallow crescent shape.

Journal

2013-09-24: Cast on 91 using Long Tailed Cast On with a US 8 (5.0mm) needle. Switch to US 5 (3.75mm) at beginning of setup row. Complete 2 setup rows.

2013-09-25: Complete about half of the short row section.

2013-09-26: 8 rows to go in short row section…

2013-09-27: Completed stockinette section.

2013-10-04: Completed 6th row of lace chart.

2013-10-05: Completed 10th row of lace chart. (323 stitches)

2013-10-20: Complete 13th row of lace chart.

2013-10-21: Completed 20th row of lace chart. (343 stitches)

2013-10-22: Discovered that central motif started on row 17 was shifted. I ripped back to the start of row 17. On row 17, I added an extra stitch at the end and that looked like the start of the pattern misalignment. It looks like i missed a stitch in the kyok at the beginning of the row. I have to remember to do a serious double check when I’m off by a stitch at the end. Its just so common that I start ignoring the issue. NO MORE!

Completed 20th lace row, again!. I’m back on track.

2013-10-23: Completed 30th lace row (363 stitches). Complete 40th lace row (383 stitches).

2013-10-24: Completed 50th lace row (543 stitches).

2013-10-25: Completed 54th row. Ready for bind off.

2013-10-26: Completed bind off -- 7 stitches knit for every 2. This was a long one. Wove in ends. Unfortunately, during blocking, I broke the yarn on the back. Given how tight the back was, I’m not overly surprised. The ripples at the top of the back don’t really block out and my crescent shape isn’t long and gentle. Looks like I’m going to have to join the rip out the back club for this one.

2013-10-28: Completed ripping out the back and then bound off the live stitches. The BFL lace is particularly sticky and splitty, so this was time consuming. I bound off using the elastic bind off on a US 7 needle. The back was immediately more stretchy and the shawl took on a more crescent shape. Now I have 6 more ends to weave in :-( and a second blocking to complete.

Pattern Rating

While I think this is a wonderful pattern, I can’t give it 5 stars do to the issue with the tight cast on.

Next Time

• Cast on with a US 9 (or bigger) and use a stretchy cast on such as German Twisted Cast On or other stretchy cast on. This still might not be sufficient.

• Investigate changing the bind off to : K4tog, chain 6 using knitting needles, leaving chain on the working needle, *** k3tog tbl, slip chain stitch over k3tog stitch, ch 6, leaving chain on the working needle **** repeat from *** to *** until 4 sts remain, k4tog. If the k3tog line up properly, they would close the ssk, sk2p, k2tog stitches nicely.

First Time

• 7 into 5 Star stitch
• Purl-side YOT

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