Top-down Faroese Shawl: The body of the shawl

To start the body of the shawl for this month’s Dolly Shawl, we knit stitches along 3 sides of the little tab-start neck band I talked about a few days ago.

Picking up for seamless construction

By working the Pickup Row as described in the pattern instructions, this method has no seams to finish later.

Also, had you wondered why I was picky about the cast on tail in the neck band instructions? It is so that the cast on tail from the tab start will end up on the inner WS corner of the neck band, thus making it easy to invisibly weave in later without a lot of fiddling.

Markers are your friends

After the Pickup Row has been completed, we set 4 markers to define the 5 sections of the shawl: there are 2 front bands, 2 side panels, and 1 center back gusset. These markers act like “sign posts” when working the rows of the shawl body.

The pattern instructions call for 1 of the markers to be a different color. This is used to help identify the beginning of RS rows (i.e. odd-numbered rows in the case of this pattern). For this pattern, all shaping and yarn overs will be on RS rows. So when you are beginning a row with your different color, wake up and be sure to pay attention. The alternate rows are your “rest” row of just plain knit.

Increases for top-down shaping

In this dolly shawl pattern, I’ve used 2 types of increases to widen the shawl: yarn overs and make 1’s (and their symmetrical counterpart mirror make 1’s).

1. Yarn overs are used to widen the overall body of the shawl along the front bands and on each side of the center back gusset. These yarn overs not only serve as an increase, but also as a decorative, lacy element.

2. Make 1’s (and their symmetrical counterpart mirror make 1’s) are used to slowly widen the front bands and the center back gusset as the body of the shawl gets longer. This type of increase is basically invisible in garter stitch (if not entirely invisible, you probably will find that it is pretty hard to find without close scrutiny). Therefore, I would not blame you if you didn’t want to go to the trouble of mirroring the make 1’s for symmetry as indicated in the pattern instructions. But they are there for the fastidious among us.

3. As instructed in the pattern, the distinctive Faroese shoulder shaping is accomplished with yarn overs that also serve as lacy, decorative elements. You can see the yarn over shoulder shaping clearly in the picture for the Distinctively-shaped Faroese Shawls article.

An easy alternative that will make the shoulder shaping invisible is to use the make 1 type increases. Here is an in-progress photo of a shawl with the invisible shoulder shaping.

In-progress Dolly Shawl with invisible Faroese shoulder shaping

Time to check (and admire) your work

By starting with just a few stitches, you can become familiar with your yarn and the stitch patterns. In effect, the start of your project is your gauge swatch or practice piece. You can even do a blocking in progress to make sure you like the look and hand of your knitted fabric once it is washed and dried.

Like it? Continue knitting with confidence that you are on track. However, if you need to start over, at least you have not invested the time by started at the widest end of the shawl with a bunch of stitches.

When you are satisfied with the start of the shawl body, now you will have the confidence to proceed as the shawl body widens even though you are working more and more stitches. Relaxed knitting makes fun knitting. And fun knitting is what I wish for you!