Santa Fe Lightning Shawl by Mara Bishop Statnekov
For those of us who love to knit lace, there are a plethora of patterns from which to choose, and for those of us who want to delve deeper into gossamer lace, there are a growing number of printed patterns available. l'd like to add to what is out there by starting with this small shawl or large scarf (44 inches or 112 cm square) using symbols and graphic elements from my home,the desert Southwest. My teacher, Galina Khmeleva, has been my principal source of inspiration as well as my source for patterns and information,both from her outstandingbooks and from her wonderful workshops&classes.Whilethispatternisrootedin the Orenburg gossamer lace tradition, I have felt free to glean from all lace traditions while going off in my own direction.
Overview:
There are detailed instructions, photos and charts later on, but first just a little bit of information. Orenburg-style shawls are worked in garter stitch so both sides look approximately the same. It may be helpful to mark the “front" to keep your bearings. Remember that the tail of your cast-on is always in that lowerleft-hand corner. This shawl starts with knitting a ribbon of the edging which will be the bottom edging and will look like this:
You will find the chart for this edging below as well as charts for turning the corners with short rows. The graphic to the right indicates the overall construction of an Orenburg shawl.
The peaks (or teeth or points) are on all four sides, but there is not a point in the exact corner. There are 26 peaks per side. Orenburg-style knitted lace is based in garter stitch; that is, there are no purl stitches in this piece. So you'll be using the knit stitch on both the right side (RS) and the wrong side (WS). The right side will have the lace pattern made with yarn-overs, knit 2 togethers and an occasional knit 3 together. The wrong side will have lace pattern on the edges, and plain knit in the body. Every row is started with a Slip 1 purl-wise (s1wyif), with the yarn held in front and then shifted to the back so that it is in place to make the next knit stitch. On the charts, all odd numbered rows are read from right to left. All even numbered rows are read from left to right. Also, the edging charts show every row, and the body charts only show the odd numbered rows. I've used the wraps-per-inch (wpi) and ply designation, such as 30/2, to indicate the weight of the yarn. 30/2 means 30 wraps-per-inch in a 2-ply. It's more specific than the general terminology of fingering or lace-weight or cobweb. There is a large variation in weights under the name “lace weight" and even under “cobweb". At the end of each row, take hold of the bottom of your knitting and give it a tug or two. This straightens out and aligns the stitches.
Yarn and Needles:
I great deal of flexibility in yarn choice for this p In the photos, I've used a dark chocolate brown 30/2 100% extra fine merino (100 grams = 1530 yds) from Colourmart, with size 1 US needles (2.25 mm). 30/2 is a cobweb lace weight yarn. I used about 1550 yds. One wonderful thing about knitting lace shawls is that you can use a variety of lace-weight yarns with a good outcome. I suggest anything in between 18/2 and 32/2. It's always a good idea to swatch a couple of peaks of the border to find your ideal gauge in yarn weight and needle size. Remember that your personal knitting tension will also affect the results. ns available from Skaska.com which are usually in the 30/2 to 32/2 range, and are from exoti cashmere and silk. gerspun Zephyr (50% merino and 50% tussah silk) works well on 2.75mm = US size 2 needle Colourmart.com in the UK, always has a very interesting, though always changing, supply of super fine lace-weight yarrns.
From Skaska.com:
Galina's yak and silk blend (32/2 which is 100 gms = 1650 yds) wouldworkwellwiththis pattern.
personal note:
I absolutely love using Signature Needle Arts needles. For this project, I used 10" 2.25 mm straight needles with a stiletto point.
To start:
Cast-on loosely: 14 stitches, using the long tail cast-on method (or using your preferred method). I usually cast-on to 2 needles held together or a larger-sized needles for the cast-on row only. You will be knitting a ribbon of edging that has 26 peaks before turning the 1st corner where you will start working on the main body of the shawl. On the Bottom Edging Chart (below), Row"-2" is your cast-on row. Knit both Row “-1", and Row 0 (zero) as set-up rows. Each peak consistsof 16rows. At Row 416 you will have finished knitting 26 peaks for your bottom edging.
This edging has typical Orenburg 5-hole peaks. The hole at the point and the hole at the narrowest part are counted twice (see the photobelow).
Bottom Edging chart
This first strip of edging will have 416 rows. When you have finished your 26 peaks at Row 416, you will be ready to turn the first corner (see chart below), and then pick up your "slipped" stitches that make up the body of the shawl. (There is a photo showing this below.） See the interior or left edge in the photo above for the location of these slipped stitches. Since there is one slipped stitch for every 2 rows of edging, you will end up picking up 208 stitches to make up the body. As you knit each pattern row, keep alert to the previous pattern row,andhowtherowsrelate toeachotheras thepattern develops, paying attention to how the yarn overs (holes) build the pattern. It's also a good idea to pay attention to your knitting tension, especially on the yarn-overs, and try to make the holes a consistent size. If the tip of your little finger can go through the hole, it's probably too large.
Turning First Corner chart
To Turn the First Corner:
After finishing your 26th peak at the narrowest part of the edging pattern (after finishing Row 416), you are ready to turn your first corner using short rows. Work the chart to the left: Rows 1 through 8. At Row 9, you will knit the edging pattern and then pick up the 208 slip stitches along the flat (or interior) part of your knitted edging (see photos below). This corner point is the 1t point of the right side edge. (Don't worry: I'll talk about Row 10 at the bottom of page5.)
Picking up stitches:
Start at the opposite end of the ribbon of edging near your original cast-on.Pick up the front half of each slipped stitch (front to back) along the entire interior side of the edging. You'll be picking up 208 stitches. (See the photos below). After picking up the 208 body stitches on your left needle, place a marker between the 19 edging stitches (on your right needle) and the body stitches on your left needle. Knit the 208 stitches through the back which will give a very nice X pattern, and place another marker at the end before picking up the15 stitches along your original cast-on.
This is the first edging when you are ready to turn your first corner with short rows. This is after Row 9 when you have finished the short rows of the chart above. This shows how to pick up the 208 stitches on the interior side of the border (see the left needle).
Here Row 9 of the edging is completed (on the right needle), and you are ready to knit across the “body" of the piece on the picked up stitches. Place a marker in between the 19 edging stitches and the 208 body stitches. Knit these body stitches through the back ofeachstitch. You've knit the 208 body stitches and are readytopickupthe15cornerstitchesin preparation to turn the 2nd corner.
Turning the Second Corner:
When you have finished knitting across the 208 picked up stitches, take your empty needle and carefully pick up 15 stitches from your original cast-on edge (see photos below) from the outer edge to the inner. These 15 stitches are picked up along the edge of your original 14 stitch cast on. Try to pick up through the centers of the yarn overs, with the correct amount of stitches around them to make thepatternsmerge. Knit across these 15 stitches as in Row 1 of the chart below. Continue working this “Turning the Second Corner Chart" on just the edge stitches.
Remember to place a marker in between the body stitches and these 15 edging stitches.
Turning Second Corner chart Work Row 10 of the chart (WS) and then continue knitting (remember this is a garter stitches garment) all the way across the entire piece. Reminder: when you get to the end of this row (past the 2nd marker) and into the right edge, remember to knit the last 2 stitches together (as charted on Row 10 of the "Turning the First Corner" chart).
As you start Row 11, you should have: 18 edge stitches (right edge) + 208 body stitches + 19 edge stitches (left edge). After Row 16, you will continue with body rows to Row 408. At the same time you will be repeating the 16 row edge charts (above) on both the right and the left edges. e'saphotoofhowIkeeptrackofitall.Iusehighlightertapeontheborderchart(becauseIuseitrepeatedly),andTusehighlig sonthebodycharts.Reminder:theblackhorizontallinesonthechartsaree
When you downloaded this pattern, you should have seen:
Santa-Eo-Liabtnina-Shawl-toxt ndf Santa-Fe-Lightning-Shawl-text.pdf Santa-Fe-Lightning-Shawl-charts.pdf
The edge charts are included in the text. There are 6 pages of body charts. Here is a diagram of how they fit together. There are horizontal lines on the body charts every 16 rows to correspond with the 16 row edge pattern. The vertical lines are in 10 stitch increments.They are alternately black and colored.I use these colored lines to indicate where to place colored markers across the rows.
Edges&Body:
You will be incorporating the Right and Left Edging charts (16 row repeats) with the charts for the body of the shawl from Row 11 to Row408). You should be at Row 11 on all three charts at this point. From Row 11 to Row 16, your edge charts and the body chart row numbers match up. After that, you will need to repeat the 16 rows of the edging with the rest of the body charts.
On even numbered rows (WS):
From the first stitch to the edge marker, you follow the Left Edging chart. Remember to Slip 1 purlwise (s1wyif), at the beginning of every row. From the second edging marker to the end of the row, you use the Right Edging chart. In between the markers is the body of the shawl which is worked in plain knitting. You have placed markers to delineate the edges from the body. I find that it helps me keep my place by placing colored markers at regular intervals across the row. I use colored #10 pearl cotton tied in loops to make my own markers. If it works for you, you can place your colored markers where the colored lines are on the pattern. With yarn as fine as 36/2, metal or plastic markers leave a space in your knitting that shows up in the finished piece in a bad way.1 learned this the hard way. That's why I suggest using #10 (or finer) pearl cotton. It comes in colors, and I am a proponent of color coding. Upon finishing Row 408, you have finished the body of the shawl, and are ready to turn the 3'd corner. While knitting this WS row, I usually remove all of my markers except the 2 indicating the right and left edges.
Turning the 3'd corner:
You will have ended the body of your shawl by completing the wrong side row with: Left Edge Row 8 + Body Row 408+ Right Edge row 8.
Complete Rows 9-16 of the right edge with the "Turning the Third Corner" chart. This is the last peak on the right side. Then use the "Right Edging Chart" to work the last edge at the top of the shawl.
This is after Row 408 when you are about to turn the 3'd corner with short rows. Having turned the 3'd corner, you're ready to start knitting the top edge using the Right Edging chart.
Knitting the last (inner) stitch of the edging with one "live" stitch from the body. Please let me repeat this: as you are knitting each row of the edge pattern, knit the last stitch of the (inner) edge together with one stitch of the body. Slip this last stitch back to the left-hand needle before you turn your work. This attaches the edge to the body of the shawl. Knit back to the outside of the edge on the even numbered rows.
Continue knitting 1 edge stitch with 1 body stitch at the interior of every odd numbered border row until you are on your last peak of the 26peaks. You are using the Right Edging chart to finish the top edging, when you come almost to the end of the 26tn peak . Do not knit the last row: Row 16. Complete Row 15 of the top edge pattern. You should have 16 stitches on your right needle. To the left of your “leftside" marker, there should be 19 left edge stitches on your left needle. Continue knitting across on the remaining 19 stitches which is Row9 of thechartbelow.
Turning the 4th corner:
Turning Fourth Corner chart
Use this chart to turn the last corner. You will be just working the left -hand edge stitches. Work this entire chart (at left) through Row 16 and through (what I fondly call) "the last row".You should have 15 stitches remaining on the left of the marker. You now have all of your stitches on one needle with the marker in the middle. Slip the15 left edge stitches up to the marker onto the empty needle. Get rid of the marker and take a deep breath because you are almost finished! At this point,I'm hoping that you are very happy as you have 16 stitches to the right of the marker and 15 stitches to the left of the marker that need to be grafted together.
Graft last corner:
Check to see that you have 15 live stitches on your left needle and 16 live stitches on your right needle, Slip 1 stitch from the right-hand needle to the left-hand needle. Bring the second stitch on the left needle through the slipped stitch, putting it on the right hand needle as you drop the first stitch off your needle. (Clear as mud.) It's difficult to write, but if you do each step, I believe you'll find the actions fairly simple. Now, bring the second stitch on the right needle through the slipped stitch, putting it on the left needle and dropping the first stitch off. Do this back and forth until 1 stitch remains. Break the yarn leaving a few inches, and thread the tail end of the yarn through the last stitch, and then weave that end into the edge. Voila!
Blocking or Finishing:
There are lots of ways to block a square or rectangular shawl. The traditional way is to use a blocking frame. I've made one from four 72" long, 1" x 2"s of maple with holes drilled every 1" into which I placed nails at convenient intervals and in the corners to make whatever size I need. By threading a nylon cord through all of the peaks (back to front counterclockwise) starting in one corner, go all the way around and tie the cord ends together. Place it in a bowl of warm water so that it is thoroughly wet. Remove and gently squeeze out all of the water. I usually put a bath towel on my kitchen floor, put the shawl on half of it and fold the other half over the top. Then, I walk back and forth on it so that the towel absorbs the extra moisture. Stretch the nylon cord over the nails, starting in the corners, and then over the nails at intervals. I've also used my queen-sized mattress with just the mattress pad on it to block shawls. Using blocking rods (though 3/32" stainless steel welding rods work fine and are cheaper), lace them through the peaks of the borders. I stretch out the rods and anchor them with large T-pins at the appropriate finished size. You should stretch the shawl as much or as little as you like. I personally stretch mine quite taut.
May you enjoy this pattern, and wear your shawl in good health and cheer. Mara Bishop Statnekov
