Simon: A Unique Striped Shawl with Illusion Knit and Checkered Pattern - Knitting Pattern

Simon

Simon is a striped shawl with a U-shape and long ends. It also has a secret, checkered pattern in illusion knit. This is my first attempt to write down a pattern. It is named after my cat Simon, who almost always sleeps in my lap while I'm knitting:

About illusion knit:

You get the checkered pattern by alternating between stockinette and garter stitch in the differently colored stripes. When you look at the knitting at a low angel, you only see the purl stiches, which are standing up:

To get that effect, you need two colors with a good contrast, preferably a dark and a light one and not of the same color. I chose to knit a very soft shawl using pretty large size needles, but to maximize the checkered pattern, use smaller size needles to get a more firm result. One should also block with extreme care, since you want to keep the natural structure of the knit and not make it too flat (except the borders, they may need to be flattened a bit). You can also knit this shawl without the illusion knit pattern. In that case, I recommend using stockinette stitch for one of the colors and garter stick for the other throughout the entire shawl. Test both and choose the one you like best.

Yarn, needles and gauge:

This shawl can be scaled up and down. You will get the same shape and proportions even if you use a thinner yarn and make more stitches or a thicker one and make less. My shawl is made from a sock yarn (Fyberspates Nef Sock) and a merino yarn (Viking Baby Ull). I used 4 mm needles and made it 60 stiches wide and I'm a loose knitter. I used approximately 300 m of each yarn. In hindsight, I would have used a smaller needle.

The pattern:

Cast on 6 stiches with the dark color. Knit these (wrong side). This will now be the first stripe (in garter stitch). Switch to the light color and start with chart A. Each row in the chart is two rows = one stripe. Don't cut the yarn between stripes, just let it follow along the edge. Do not tighten the yarn when you switch color, this will make the edge too tight. Continue with chart B until you have the desired width of the shawl. The black box is the repeat (except that you should not make an increase in the middle of the row) so when the chart ends, just start over with an extra repeat. The total number of stiches should be evenly divided by 20, so 40, 60 or 80 etc. Mine was 60 stitches wide. The last stripe should be in the light color. The next section is formed with shortened rows. The technique I used to get nice stripes and no holes was "wrapand-turn": http://www.purlbee.com/knitting-tutorials-advanced-te/2008/6/18/short-rows.html Knit according to chart C until you have only two stiches left on the needle (if you have more than 40 stiches, increase the number of squares.) The last stripe should be a light one. Now knit over all stiches with the dark color. When you come to a "wrap-and-turn", pick up the wrap, switch places on the needle so the wrap is behind, and knit the two together. That way, the color change will look the best. Knit according to chart D, now repeat chart C and D once more. The last D section is the middle of the shawl. From here, we will mirror what we have done so far to get a symmetrical shawl. Start by adding an extra dark stripe according to chart D. Knit shortened rows according to chart E, then F and E once more. Now decrease back to the 6 stiches you started with using chart G (the black square is the repeat). Stop when you have knitted a light stripe 6 stiches wide. Switch to the dark color, knit one row and cast off all stiches. Weave in ends and block very carefully. Stretch as little as possible, just make the edges nice and flat. If you have any questions, please contact me karin.julenius@gmail.com This pattern is not for commercial use. Key:

Chart A:

Chart D:

Chart F: