Knitting a Fair Isle shawl on circular needles.
500-600g Supersoft or similar quality in different colours. 6-8 for MC and 6-8 for the CC. (Use your leftovers in corresponding shades.) Abbreviations: MC: Main colour CC: Contrasting colour SS: Stocking stitches Circular needles Us 4/3.5mm 40-150cm. Alternatively 5 needles in the beginning, or knit using the Magic Loop method. The colours can be knitted in order of their shade. When knitting, try to avoid being too methodically by varying the number of rounds you knit, both with the MC and the CC.
To ease this process you can wind two balls of yarn - one MC and one CC. Remember to vary the length of the different colours in each ball. I wind two small balls of yarn (walnut size) with different lengths - 50cm to 100cm pieces - of the different shades. These small balls of yarn I use for the beginning of the pattern, where only short lengths of the different shades are needed to get a nice shift in colours. The next balls of yarn (clementine ball size) have longer pieces of yarn to make the colour change - 1m to 3m pieces. For the next set of yarn balls (tennis ball), wind 4m to 9m pieces of yarn. For the long rounds of the shawl I wind 5m to minimum 12m lengths of yarn in the balls. When knitting a larger pattern it may be more aesthetically pleasing, if the colour changes in the different shades are spaced further - meaning longer pieces of yarn from the beginning. The yarns are spliced as you go. This way there are no loose ends to weave in later on.
Unwind the ends of the two pieces of yarn you wish to splice. Cut off the last 2-3cm of the threads in each piece of yarn. Now overlap the two ends of the yarn, wet your palms a bit and rub the ends between your palms until they intertwine. Tip: Place a small bowl of water by your side when knitting. You can now continue knitting.
Cast on 9 stiches.
make 1 right knit 1, make 1 left knit 4.
Knit 4,
Anne Holtegaard On the back side, purl and twist similarly to the front side..
In ss, make an increase on every row after and before those 4 stitches. If your pattern starts at the very beginning, you have to knit with two colours on the backside as well. After knitting 10 to 40 rows, Cast on 5 stitches. That makes 9 stitches for steek/border. The increase should be twisted to the left and the right making a nice row along the border stitches. Continue as follows: Increase, knit 2 stitches in MC, 7 in CC and 2 in MC, increase.
Continue knitting until you have enough stitches to usea circular needle. Now transfer your stitches to either 4 needles or a circular needle.
Anne Holtegaard
OR knit using Magic Loop method using a long circular needle. My favourite technique
Continue knitting, increasing in MC after and before the two stitches in MC. At the same time, include the pattern in the new stitches.
Change the circular needles when needed as the number of stitches increases. When you reach the end of the pattern/ the desired size, stop knitting! Now you have to decide which type of corners you want. Either continue and knit the upper border now, or steek and cut and knit the border all the way round. I chose the second alternative. That's why I have to sew or steek and cut now, and then knit the border. You can sew a zig-zag seam with a sewing
Anne Holtegaard machine or crochet the steeks. I sew 2 seams in zig-zag. Because the first 10-40 rows weren't knitted in the round,it is
possible to sew all the way down. The chrochet steeks is another solution. You can find plenty of tutorials via Google.
By knitting the three borders in one go, with the same in-/decreases at the corners, you can avoid the heavy seams from the steeks at the upper corners. Knit from the upper right corner to the left, turn round the corner, place a marker for increases, pick up stitches for every row all the way down to the bottom corner , place a marker for increases, and pick up stitches in every row to all the way up to the right corner.
I pick up stiches between the two MC stitches next to my increases. I like the "frame" around the shawl. On the second row of the border, increase 1 stitch after every 7 stitches down the sides of the shawl to prevent the border become too tight.
After knitting the front side of the border, increasing at the three corners, purl one row, and knit the backside of the border while decreasing at the corners.
TIP: A simple drawing will help in turning the pattern the right direction. For the pattern simple in design, it wil look well to knit the corners symmetrically.
The large number of stitches can be worked on a 150cm circular needle. Knit the patterns for the borders or create your own special border.
When the border is finished, bind off the stiches.
For a beautiful result, be careful with this last part of the work. By knitting 3 corners all-in-one you have 3 equal corners with no bulky steeks and sewing. Along the top border I sew stich by stitch, while down the sides I skip every 8 stitch to match the increases on the second row. TIP: Along the way I use a lot of small stich markers to keep the edges in place whilst I sew. (Photo page 10)
When finished, machine wash (Wool program), spin, and spread out the shawl for drying. I use a tumble dryer for 5-10 minutes to make the shawl very nice and soft.
Knitting the upper border before steeking and cutting:
When the shawl has the desired size/the pattern is done, continue with the top border. Knit the pattern of the border. Continue increasing at every round as usual.
NB. Decrease on every round of the backside, corresponding to the increases on the front side of the border Purl one round to create a rough edge. Knit the pattern of the backside of the border. When the border is finished, bind off in CC. Sew or crochet steeks and cut along the stripes.
Corner 1
Pick up stitches from the purl row of the border at the upper left corner, down, and up to the purl row at the right corner. Cast on 9 stitches for steek/ cutting line. When the border is finished, bind off. Now steek and cut.
Knit the border pattern increasing similarly to the upper border. Purl one row. Continue the border pattern on the backside and decrease similarly to the upper border.
Sew the border to the backside along the line of picked up stitches. One by one at the top border and skip every 8 stitch to match the number of stitches before increasing on the second row down between the corners.
Corner 2
border pattern at the upper left corner to the first row at the right corner. Cast on 9 stitches for steek/cutting line. Knit the border pattern, increasing similarly to the upper border. You can make your corners symmetrical by knitting similarly to the upper border. Purl one row. Continue the border pattern on the backside and decrease similarly to the upper border. When the border is finished, bind Off. Steek and cut. Sew the border to the backside along the line of picked up stitches. One by one at the top border and skip every 8 stitch to match the number of stitches before increasing on the second row down between the corners.
