Blergh

I'm sick.  And my internet's being weird, very slow and patchy.  Grrr.

But.  It's very spring like, finally, even if there aren't very many flowers yet.  I've seen a few crocuses, but that's it.  I'd have expected forsythia by now, but apparently it's usually later here.  Strange.

Anyway.

I thought I'd post about the strange little shrug I made, since I've been wearing it quite a lot, at least around the house.  And, actually, out, too.

It took less than 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace weight yarn, which I think is really more a fingering weight.

[As I knit it, this shrug weighs 75 g--that's exactly 1.5 skeins of the Malabrigo lace weight.]

I'm not entirely sold on the yarn, by the way.  It's totally soft, but it's also already really, really fuzzy looking.  But.  Anyway.

I knit it on size 2 needles, but that's in large part because I'm a loose knitter.  Most people would want to go up a bit.

I knit up from both sleeves at the same time, and then joined at the back.  So, do the following twice, either sequentially or at the same time.

Cast on 62 stitches (this easily fits a fairly average sized arm, especially after blocking; if yours is a bit bigger, or smaller, I'd increase or decrease by 10).

Knit about an inch and a half of k2 p2 ribbing, starting and ending with a k2 on the right side.

Do substantial increase row:  knit into the front and back of every other stitch, plus throw in a few extra increases there and there, to end up with 100 stitches on the needle.  (Or some other number evenly divisible by 10).

Treat that row as row one of the seafoam stitch pattern.

Knit one full repeat of the pattern:  there are an extra two stitches at each end as selvage stitches, otherwise it's just the pattern.

[That is, on each end, keep two stitches in stockinette stitch:  k2, pattern, k2 on odd rows; p2, pattern, p2 on even rows.  This will make a nice edge for sewing up the sleeves and then picking up stitches for the ribbed border.]

After one repeat, start increasing one stitch at each end of every other row five times.

Continue knitting in pattern straight until the sleeves are long enough:  from mid-back to about elbow length.  Obviously, this'll be slightly different for everybody, but approximately 20 inches.

Do a three needle bind off to join the two sides.

(You can obviously also do this all in one piece; in that case, knit straight across the back and then do decreases.)

Trying on the shrug as you go, sew up the sleeves evenly, until they reach the armpit (this REALLY would vary from person to person, I think).

Around the remaining opening of the shrug, pick up 3 stitches for every four rows of the main body, fudging as necessary to end up with a multiple of four stitches.

Knit about an inch of k2 p2 ribbing around the opening (in the round).

At that point, add an increase into every other p2, and knit another two rounds of ribbing.  Then, add an increase into the non-increased p2s ON ONE HALF of the shrug, and knit another two rounds of ribbing.

Bind off using the stretchiest bind off you can.  I used the sewn bind off, which is a pain in the neck for something this big, because you need a really long length of the yarn left hanging.  But it worked well.

Weave in ends, wash, and gently block to loosen up the seafoam pattern.

And, there you go.  A shrug.  Woohoo.

Comments

[desiknitter]

That Ziti is like a model, what a gorgeous photo of him. And I recognise that shrug.... I hope you feel better soon!