ARM-KNITTED SHAWL
Yarn: Two balls of Garnstudio Drops Polaris or about 60 meters of super chunky yarn with a meterage of 30-40 meters per 100 grams or recommended gauge 5-8 stitches per 10 cm. Tools: Big, sharp needle The shawl is knitted sideways, using your arms as knitting needles.
ABOUTARM KNITTING
Arm knitting is not so very different from regular knitting. The biggest difference is that you have to knit "backwards" when you knit from your right to your left arm. Theres a lot of good videos out there, try googling "arm knitting". Some good advice: Tighten the first stitch on every row extra carefully. Tighten the stitches around your wrist. You may feel like they will never come off again, but don't worry - once you start knitting, they will loosen and come off without any problems. Take care not to twist the stitches when knitting from your right to your left arm. Stitches are "right-legged" - the right leg of the stitch should come first, that is to say on the side of your arm closest to you.
LET'S KNIT THE SHAWL!
Start by casting on 2 stitches on your right arm. Use the long tail method or a knitted cast on, using your fingers to pick up the yarn and tighten the stitches around your right wrist. Knit the two stitches over to your left arm. www.liktulikt.epla.no
INCREASING
On the next row, increase 1 stitch in the following manner Knit 1 st, pick up the thread between the st you just knitted and the next, twist the thread to a loop and pull yarn through to make a new stitch Put the stitch on your right arm. Finish the row and knit back. Keep increasing every time you start with your stitches on your left arm, ie., every secondrow. Keep increasing until you've got 12-15 stitches on your arm Just how many stitches you need depends on your gauge and how big you want the shawl to be. It's hard to determine the depth of the shawl with the stitches squashed together on your arm, but the length from the start to where you stop increasing is half the finished width of your Shawl.
DECREASING
Now it's time to decrease to make the other half of the shawl. With the stitches on your left arm, knit the first two stitches together. Tighten the stitches well. Finish the row and knit back. Keep knitting two st together at the beginning of every second row untill you've got 2 stitches left. Knit the two stitches back on your left arm, knit them together, cut yarn and pull through.
TASSELS
Cut 6 pieces of yarn, each about 25 cm long, or twice the length you want the tassel to be. Pull five of the pieces through a stitch at one end of the shawl and fold them over. Use the last piece of yarn to wrap tightly around the tassel, about four times. Make a knot and use a needle to pull the yarn ends into the tassel Make tassels at each end and at the bottom of the shawl.
