About our expert
Bronagh Miskelly is a
designer, writer and
technical editor who
teaches a range of knitting
workshops. She is also closely involved
with the UK Hand Knitting Association.Turn your work and work Row 2 of the
pattern back along the edging stitches,
making sure to slip the first stitch of this
and every WS row. The slipped stitch will
be the one worked with the body stitch on
the next row. Slipping this stitch ensures
a tighter join.
You then continue through the pattern
repeat, ‘zipping’ your edging to your
knitting as you go, until there is one body
stitch remaining. Cast off the remaining
stitches, working the last edging stitch and
body stitch together.
WORKING ROUND CORNERS
On our Lace Edging Two swatch (below),
the edging is worked around the point of
the shawl. At corners, two or three pairs
of edging rows have to be attached to the
same body stitch. If two pairs of edging
rows are worked into one body stitch,
it is known as a double join, and if three
pairs are worked into the one body stitch
it is a triple join.
For Lace Edging Two, the pattern
requires three double joins before the
point, one triple join in the stitch at the
point of the shawl, and three double joins
on the other side of the corner.
This means you will need a multiple of
eight stitches (for the 16 rows of the edging
pattern), plus four stitches on each side of
the point stitches.
Work the pattern, making single joins
as in Lace Edging One ( 4 ), until you have
four body stitches before the point.
Work Rows 1 and 2 of the edging pattern
as usual.
Work Row three as set, but when you
work the final SSK, do not drop the body
stitch from the left-hand needle. Turn and
work Rows 4 and 5 as usual until the final
SSK. Work the final edge stitch together
with the body stitch that you kept on your
left needle, and this time drop it from the
needle when the stitch is complete. This
completes the double join.
In this case, work two more double joinskeeping the pattern correct, and then a
triple join in the point of the shawl. In the
triple join, keep the body stitch on the
needle until three SSKs have been worked
into it. Then work three more double joins
along the second side of the corner before
return to the normal edging pattern.The number of double and triple joins
you need for a corner will depend on how
many stitches there are in your edging
pattern. Lace shawl knitting guru Jane
Sowerby suggests the following guide:- Narrow border up to 9 stitches: four to six
double joins worked round the corner. - Medium border 10 to 20 stitches: three
to four doubles, one triple, three to four
doubles. - Wide border 21 to 30 stitches: four
doubles, one to four triples, four doubles. - Extra wide border 30 or more stitches:
four doubles, four to eight triples, four
doubles.
Jane also recommends ripping back and
adjusting the numbers of double and triple
joins if you are not happy with how your
edging sits. Another approach is to knit
a small swatch and test your corner out - making sure you note how many edging
rows it uses, as well as how many body
stitches, so you will be able to work out
how many stitches you will need for your
whole edging.
Now you have the techniques for
knitting on edges, there are plenty of
edging patterns in shawl books and stitch
dictionaries to experiment with and add
new looks to your knitting.
LACE EDGING ONE
Cast on 4 sts.
Row 1 (RS): Sl 1, K1, yo twice, K1, SSK
(using last edging st and first st from main
body of work), turn. 6 sts.
Row 2: Sl 1 wyif, P2, K1, P2.
Row 3: Sl 1, K4, SSK, turn.
Row 4: Sl 1 wyif, P to end.
Row 5: Sl 1, K1, yo twice, K2tog, yo twice,
K1, SSK. 9 sts.
Row 6: Sl 1 wyif, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2.
Row 7: Sl 1, K7, SSK, turn.
Row 8: Sl 1 wyif, P to end.
Row 9: Cast off 5 sts, K2, (3 sts on RH
needle), SSK. 4 sts.
Row: 10: Sl 1 wyif, P3.
Repeat rows 1-10, taking in one st from
main shawl on each RS row, until all but
one body st has been used. Cast off rem
4 sts, working last st with final body st.LACE EDGING TWO
Cast on 10 sts.
Row 1: K1tbl twice, yo, K1, SSK, yo twice,
K2tog, P2, SSK (using last edging st and
first st from main body of work), turn.
11 sts.
Row 2 and all WS rows: Sl 1 wyif, P4, K1,
P to end.
Row 3: K1tbl twice, yo, K2, SSK, yo twice,
K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 12 sts.
Row 5: K1tbl twice, yo, K3, SSK, yo twice,
K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 13 sts.
Row 7: K1tbl twice, yo, K1, K2tog, yo, K1,
SSK, yo twice, K2tog, P2, SSK, turn.
14 sts.
Row 9: K1tbl, SSK, yo, SSK, K2, SSK,
yo twice, K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 13 sts.
Row 11: K1tbl, SSK, yo, SSK, K1, SSK,
yo twice, K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 12 sts.
Row 13: K1tbl, SSK, yo, SSK twice,
yo twice, K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 11 sts.
Row 15: K1tbl, SSK, K1, SSK,
yo twice, K2tog, P2, SSK, turn. 10 sts.
Row 16: Sl 1 wyif, P4, K1, P to end.4
Masterclass
The Knitter 79 Issue 149