Shawl Stick

I found a neat goody Saturday at the Settler's Farm yarn store in Wamego. It's called a Shawl Stick. The stick I bought is about six inches long, and tapered to a dull point. The thickest part of the barrel is about the size of a #10 knitting needle. There are decorative turned knobs on top. Other sticks that were for sale were flat with scrolled decorations on top. The possibilities for decoration are endless.
Why is it a neat goody? It keeps my shawl on my shoulders! I love my shawls but never wear them very long because they slip off one side or the other. The stick works like cloak pin. It slides through some of the decorative openings in the knit or crochet and secures the shawl around me. I even took a nap with my shawl on and nothing came loose. It was great!

I can really enjoy my shawls now.

Another Crocheted Favorite

This is the picture of another favorite of mine -- a 3 corner crocheted shawl from a 1970s issue of Magic Crochet . The magazine was printed in France by the same people who did Mon Tricot. I believe it's been out of print for years.

I made the shawl from an off-white mohair like fingering yarn, an acrylic if I remember right, and left off the fringe. My daughter asked for hers to be made from snow-white worsted weight yarn with the fringe. Both shawls were great. Hers is just bigger and warmer, but the fringe is glorious. Now my 8 year old granddaughter wants one. But do I want to do that much crocheting? I really prefer to knit... Ah, well. Grandkids have their ways.


As an aside, I'll mention that the nightgown directions on the left of the page make a great summer gown. I made mine of skirt-weight cotton gauze (not the bandage type gauze! :) ) The crocheted bodice worked beautifully with it. I'd still be wearing it if a new puppy hadn't decided to snack on the shoulder straps and half the side...

To be able to use the directions, you will need to save the image to your computer, then enlarge it.

Barbie's Shawl -- Versatile Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern

I love the Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern. You can use it so many ways. Sometimes I even make dishcloths!
When Jen, Becky, Kelly and Lala were learning to knit before I left Texas, Becky really wanted to make a lacy shawl. I knew she needed an easy pattern because she was still learning and she had not yet progressed to the Purl Stitch. So-- what did I do? I taught her Grandma's Dishcloth.
As a demo of the pattern I made for one of Lala's Barbie's. This was quick to whip out and would let Becky see how the pattern worked. I knitted about 15 rows, then did a row of K1 YO K2Together until I was three from the end. That finished with a K1 YO K2T, K1. After that I did the "lace row" every ten rows. The shawl was knitted until it was as wide as wearers arms are when extended (about your own height). For Barbie around 12" was big enough. Extra long fringe finished it off.
Jen and Becky are big kids at heart. I gave them the Barbie model when I finished it, one night after Lala was asleep. They sat in Jen's room talking, and found themselves absently combing Barbie's hair and rearranging her dress and shawl while they talked. The girls may get bigger, but Barbie is still with them...

Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern

This is the pattern for the dishcloths that I've been knitting. The sample in the picture was made with three kinds of cotton worsted: Lily, Bernat and Bear Brand.

Grandma's Dishcloth
An easy to do pattern and that gives a classic look, Grandma's Dishcloth is a garter stitch square with a openwork edge created with a yarn-over placed at the beginning of each row.

Remember when you make the dishcloth that 100% cotton yarn will shrink when washed (10-15%), so make it a bit bigger than you want the finished piece. I figured I wanted a 12 inch cloth so I'm making it 13.5 inches before washing. Thirteen and one half inches will give a maximum width of 60 stitches using worsted weight yarn on 3.75 mm needles. (I have found these to remain HUGE, so I now do a 40-50 stitch dishcloth. 25 stitches makes a drink coaster. Make it larger and stop at the last increase and you have a shawl!  I have also found my favorite yarn for dishcloths is Sinfonia from Hobby Lobby. It is a sport weight instead of a worsted weight cotton yarn. The cloths made with Sinfonia are tighter and more delicate.)

The pattern: 

Cast on 3 st.

Increase Row: K1, YO [yarn over], knit to end

Repeat increase row until cloth is desired width (I use 40-50 for dishcloth).

Decrease Row: K1, YO, K2 tog [knit 2 together], knit to the last 3 sts, K2 tog, K1.

Repeat decrease row until row is 3 sts.

Bind off loosely.

I've seen variations of this that knit three or four stitches before the YO, then do the YO three or four stitches before the end. I have also seen variations that did rows of alternating YOs every 1 1/2-2 inches in the cloth. I tried both of these variations. The wider border was easy. Decreasing and doing the YO rows took more concentration. If you aren't careful you have added instead of decreased at the end of the row. Knowing how many stitches I should have at the end and counting each row kept me on target.

YO (Yarn Over) = wrap yarn around the needle from front to back and proceed to next stitch. This equals one increase. This will leave a opening in the next row. In this case it creates the eyelet edging for the dishcloth.

K2Together = insert needle in the first and second stitches at the same time. Yarn over and finish knit stitch. This equals one decrease.

This is a very versatile pattern. The baby blanket shown at the right is a 36" dishcloth made with cotton worsted.

Barbie's shawl, made with Sinfonia, is a dishcloth that stopped at the largest dimension just before the decreases began. Fringe was added in each of the eyelets. 

 I recently (2017) made a full-sized shawl using the same technique as the Barbie shawl. I added the continuous row of eyelets about every 25 rows. The eyelet row was made this way: K1, *YO, K2together*. Repeat between the *s until the end. Finish with K1. The YO adds a stitch and the K2together removes the extra stitch so you end up with the right count at the end.I will post a photo of the finished shawl soon.