Recipe for X Factors Shawl: "I love Math" version. A half circle shawl knit in Garter stitch. It is a series of wedges with their point in the center of the neck. Simple and mindless knitting once a bit of planning and math are done at the beginning of the project. And you will feel so very clever once you have gotten started! This project, like all giant half circle projects, is A LOT OF KNITTING!!
Plan your shawl:
Step 1: Decide on your yarn and find your gauge! Knit a swatch in garter stitch. Use non-slippery yarn and a bigger-than-recommended needle for an airy, light shawl. Nonslippery yarn resists snagging and running because the stitches grip one another well. I used Noro Sekku for the sample (cotton, wool, nylon and silk). It has very long color runs that form amazing color variations that kept the project interesting... Like a magician puling a rainbow scarf from his sleeve, this yarn would surprise and delight me as the colors stacked in. Step 2: decide on your "x" number: How many stitches you need for half of your wingspan (wrist to wrist) or from center back to wrist. Now here is where the "Factors" of the X factor Shawl come into play. Fudge this "x" number slightly to a stitch count that has a lot of factors- Numbers you can multiply to get your stitch count. For the sample, I went with 140. Here are the ways to get to 140: 140 x1, 70 x2, 35 x 4, 28 x 5, 20 x7, and 14 x 10. So the "Factors" of 140 are: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 20, 35, 70, and 140. On my second shawl, I started with 144, but quickly realized that a stitch count that includes 12 as one of the factors will have a lot of wrap and turn rows stacking on top of each other. I am hibernating that sucker until I can rip all that lovely sticky yarn apart. You will use the factors to choose a short row pattern to make a wedge. Choose a few and forget the rest. I used 5 for a really wide wedge, and 14 for a narrow wedge, it looked almost like a stripe. I also used 7 and 10 for some medium sized wedges. The smaller the stitch count in your short row, the wider the base of the wedge. For example, if I used 5 as my short row, I had 28 garter stitch bumps at the outside edge of the shawl. If I used 14 as my short row pattern, I had only 10 garter stitch bumps at the wide edge. There were times when I had to set the shawl aside for a while before I finished a wedge. Either make a note of your turning number, or get one of those little row count barrel things and hang it on the edge of your project and set the number to the count you are using for that wedge. How much yarn will you need? Measure your swatch and find the area. Weigh your swatch with an accurate gram scale (available on amazon for about \$10 for amateur rocket enthusiasts, knitters and pot growers!) - Your LYS should have one you may ask to use. Now calculate grams per square inch. Take your wingspan measurement (neck to wrist) and apply Pythagorean Theorem (radius squared x pi) this would be the area of a full circle, so divide this number in half for the half circle. Multiply the area of the shawl in square inches by your grams per square inch from the swatch and you will have a fair estimate of how many grams of yarn you will need. Yes, it is a lot. Buy extra in case you end up wanting to make a 34 circle, just because you are having so much fun knitting garter stitch. Knit your Shawl! Finally! Step 1: Cast on your "x" number of stitches: (/2 your wingspan.) Step 2: Pick one of your "Factors". Knit that number of stitches, wrap and turn, knit to beginning. Knit to the gap formed by the turn, knit your "factor" again, wrap and turn, knit to beginning. (In garter stitch, there is no need to do anything fancy to hide the wrap. I think it actually looks better if you just ignore it.) Continue to knit to the gap, knit the factor number and knit to the beginning until you have used up all the stitches. You have made your first wedge! Slip the first stitch and knit back to the wide end of the wedge. Step 3. Repeat step 2. You can just keep the same factor, or pick another. Using the same number will make for even wedges, using a different one will give you more variation. As long as you are consistent with your stitch counts within each wedge, you will have a nice triangular wedge. Keep repeating until you have a half-circle. Once your "wide end" of your wedges measures 3 times your cast on length, you are done. Finishing: I knit to the short end (now the center of the neck) and picked up stitches on the cast on edge and knitted a couple of rows in garter stitch so the left and right side would have the same tension and texture. Bind off loosely. Wear the awesome shawl witheverything!
