Yesterday I pulled out the Shaped Triangle Shawl out of the depths of my knitting basket. I had already done quite a bit of the edging so I knew that I could complete the 29th repeat that would land me in the midpoint of the shawl.
As I was completing the 29th repeat I couldn’t help but notice that the midpoint of the shawl and the midpoint of shawl’s edging pattern would leave me about 3 or 4 rows off. Meaning the midpoint of the shawl and the midpoint of the edging would not match. When I referred back to the directions with my friend Jenny, the pattern literally says
“If you don’t come out just right, fudge! It won’t be noticeable!”
And I said, “They want me to what?!” But Jenny patiently explained to me that all I need to do is complete an edging pattern row without eating up a shawl body stitch with a k2tog until I reach the midpoint, then do the exact same thing on the other side.
Confused? I was too, but it’s a little like short rows. I can do short rows. And if you look at the chart it’s a lot easier to understand then when I try to explain it in words.
Basically when you complete an edging row you knit one stitch of the body of the shawl with a stitch from the edging. This is how you knit the edging on and bind off the shawl at the same time. Still confused? I tried my best. Honest.
Once I started it was much easier then I thought it would be and taking notes helped a lot. Now I just have to get through 29 repeats of the rest of the pattern, then I can unearth the Hidcote Garden Shawl. Just 29 repeats. Ha!
January 31st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
WOW – I am in awe! Now I want to make that tooo Wahhhhhhh!
January 31st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Don’t we all fudge our knitting once in awhile? My goodness, I wish my fudging looked that good. Gorgeous shawl. I can’t wait to see what your Hidcote looks like.
January 31st, 2007 at 3:17 pm
If I recall I had to fugde a row or two on mine also – are you using linen?? I made mine in black laceweight linen and it is my very favorite FO (altho knitting it was a huge PIA, hehe!) Yours is lovely whatever you’re using!
January 31st, 2007 at 3:39 pm
It looks gorgeous — your knitting looks nice and knit and the color is so pretty!
January 31st, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Your knitting is really beautiful and the yarn you picked is a wonderful color too. “Fudging” is one of the most difficult things in knitting to understand, especially when I try to teach someone new to knit. I always get that “lightbulb going on” look whenever they finally get it. How each person manages their “Fudge” is what makes knitting interesting!
January 31st, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Beautiful shawl – I love the color! What yarn are you using? I think I must fudge all the time when I realize that I didn’t do something or did an extra something – I’m getting better at that, but probably never will be 100%.
February 1st, 2007 at 3:04 am
Looking good. I think I ended up fudging that one, too.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:16 am
That is gorgeous, and my absolute favorite color (at least if my monitor is correct in showing royal blue/cobalt!).
Fudge away, it’s just stunning!
(((hugs)))
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:23 am
I love it too…and just cast on this shawl with my contest booty (KnitPicks Shadow in “Redwood Forest). It is looking very good after about 30 rows. I, too, would like to know what yarn you are using.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:52 am
What a pretty color for your shawl! Your lace knitting is very beautiful, very clever to work the short rows and no one will be the wiser. What size needles are you using and who made them? My Inox are starting to bug me with my current lace project as I k2 tog (1 normal st and 1 yarn over together, I have to keep using my rt index finger to get them on the needle), not fun.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
A good piece of fudging, Opal, and a beautiful shawl. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished blocked version.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Wow, it looks great! I LOVE that color, too.
Can’t wait to see it finished!
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
[...] For February I have 2 blue projects. The first is my shawl,done in Jaggerspun Zephyr Admiral. Since that project is just about done, I decided to raid my sock yarns for blue. This is what I found. Now you’ll have to forgive the uber-crappy photo, apparently I am just not that great at photographing lovely yarns. [...]
February 5th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
[...] Even though the charts were tiny and hard to read I still managed to enjoy knitting the body of the shawl. I should have just enlarged the charts, but I was lazy. And despite the fact I had a bit of discomfort fudging the edging for the midpoint of the shawl, I did enjoy the challenge it gave me. [...]