08-12-2022

I’ve made this 2x before and have detailed notes for those projects.

• This time I casted on 88st on US7 and worked for 3”.

• I meant to remember to front-load 5 increase rounds at the start, but I forgot till I’d worked about 8 inc rounds. So I did the 5 inc rounds back to back, just before getting to full circumference.

• After doing a few rounds of the body in US8, it occurred to me that US9 would make a drapier (but still structured) fabric. When I compared it to my previous version, it was truer to the size of that one by going up a needle.

• Vertical gauge on US 9 = 5.75R per 1” (not blocked but this yarn has been blocked 2x previously, as used in other projects I ripped back). As such, I’m not anticipating much shrinkage or growth and the yarn has remained bouncy with lots of recovery throughout my process of using it. It’s resilient.

• I want ~216 st on the needles by the time I get to full circumference at 10” below base of mock neck. That’s 9 / 99 / 9 / 99.

• At 7.5” of depth, I’m at 9st shoulder / 77st back / 9st shoulder / 77st front. So over ~3” or 17R, I need to inc 22st on each side, front and back (and 2 st inc on each of these, every inc round). This means I’m going to have to do a few rows of back to back (every round) increases at the end of the increase section. Let’s do this:

• Continue to work inc every other round until you get to 89st on each side. After 89 st increase round, do one more plain round (that will be the 12th of 17R). Then work increases every round for the next 5 rounds (13 - 17 inclusive). At that point you’ll be 10” below neck where it joins body and at the requisite final circumference.

• At this point, work 3” plain till you get to depth of elbow bend.

• Switch to US8 needle and split front and back. Work ~3” on front and ~4” of twisted ribbing on back. Note - on US8, vertical gauge is 6R per 1”. Because I’m hoping not to go into an unwound hank, and because I feel the shawl is long enough, I stopped at 16R for front and 24R on the back.

• Bound off in pattern on RS row (twisting knit stitches). I had 1g of the skein left. Means I didn’t need to break into the unwound hank.

For Future Reference:

• I could front load 5 back-to-back increase rounds at the start of the body (below neckline) but that might make the shoulder area too roomy as this is where I’m actually smallest. Also, that would def use up more yarn than simply making the increases at the end / right before getting to full circumference. I suspect that doing short rows before starting the body, and then doing the back-to-back rounds right before full circumference would give the best fit all around and would be most efficient with yarn usage. But that means I’d actually have to do the short rows - and I really don’t love working back neck short rows with magic loop (so fussy).

• To ensure that the shawl isn’t longer than desired - and presuming you want longer ribbing - you might want to knit more like 2.5” below the full circumference and, thereafter, add that length to the rib segment. You might even be able to get away with an inch (knitting 2” below circ and then beginning rib), but confirm that that doesn’t mess with the proportions inasmuch as, if you do this, the split would likely be above the elbow bend.

Pre-blocked Measurements:

Neck circ at top: 12.5”
Full circ: 47”
Depth of Neck: Scant 3”
Depth of Body to full circ: 9.5”
Depth of front ribbing: 2.75”
Depth of back ribbing: 4”
Full depth of back body from base of neck: 16.5”