How to Knit
Call of the Siren MKAL: Stitch Tutorial
May
Mer-May is officially underway, and in just 1 week we will begin solving the mystery of the missing Dr. Persephone. The first round of kits has shipped, and more are going out tomorrow. You can join the Lattes & Llamas Society for Knitterly Cryptic Studies investigative team any time during the MKAL by either purchasing a kit (the kit includes the pattern) or purchasing just the pattern on Ravelry. And even if you can’t knit along with us, you can keep up with our adventures by checking back here every Friday for the next five weeks for a recap of our adventures. Each week, I’ll tell you all about the who, what, and where of our investigation, and you can help us solve the mystery and bring Dr. Persephone home safe!
May 25th – Clue 1: Our odyssey begins in the coastal town of Ocean City as we cast on our shawls and check in with Dr. Persephone Kore, the head of the Aquatic Division of Lattes & Llamas Society for Knitterly Cryptid Studies.
June 1st – Clue 2: Our first siren sighting as we begin the first double knit section of our shawls.
June 8th – Clue 3: Texture abounds as the plot deepens on the disappearance of Dr. Persephone Kore.
June 15th – Clue 4: Our second siren sighting as we head further out to sea and begin the second double knit section.
June 22nd – Clue 5: The odyssey concludes in Ocean City with German Short Rows.
Please note: Call of the Siren shawl is an intermediate knit and we recommend that you have experience with double knitting. Gauge is not especially important on the mosaic portions of the shawl, but it is important on the double knitting sections. You will need to take the time to check your gauge in double knitting to determine your needle size for the project.
Before our investigation officially opens, let’s sharpen our needles and our skills with a quick refresher on mosaic knitting and a tutorial on working an elongated stitch.
Mosaic knitting is a type of color work that uses just one color at a time. As you work across the row with color A, you will slip the stitches that are to be worked in color B. You will then work across that same row, now with color B, slipping the sts you worked in color A. Other than the double-knitting sections, this shawl is worked in garter rows (knit every row). That means that you will work across the right side with color A, slipping stitches as indicated in the pattern charts. You will then turn your work, knitting back across the wrong side with color A, sill slipping the color B stitches as indicated. Both rows are charted and included in the pattern, so you will follow the chart from right to left on the right side, and left to right on the wrong side.
Sometimes, the chart will call for you to work multiple garter rows before using the next color again. Don’t break your yarn. Instead, carry the unused color up the side of your work. When doing this, it’s easy to accidently pull that second color too tight when you use it next, causing your work to pucker. To avoid this, at the end of every wrong-side row of a section where you will use the same color for more than two rows (that’s one garter ridge), hold both colors together to knit the last stitch. Then, drop the color you aren’t using and proceed using just the first color on the right side. You don’t need to do this every row of the shawl, just on the rows where there are multiple garter ridges in just one color before moving on to the next color. The video below shows this technique.
Elongated Stitches are created by inserting your needle from front-to-back into a stitch that is one or more rows below the row you are currently working, and drawing up a loop before knitting the next stitch. This can seem complicated in a chart, but is actually a very simple technique that creates a beautiful shell/scale pattern that is reminiscent of crochet. The Elongated stitch is most commonly abbreviated to K1E (K1elongated) or K1b(K1below) in a pattern. I will use the K1B abbreviation, as it is a nice reminder to draw up a loop from a row or rows below as indicated.
Let’s Swatch!
I almost always recommend swatching with the yarn you are going to use. However, this time, it’s fine to keep your cakes pristine for Cast On next week and use stash yarn left over from other projects. That is because this is not a project that relies heavily on gauge. You will want to check your gauge on the double knit section, using a light fingering weight yarn. For the non-double knit sections, gauge is very flexible, so don’t spend time stressing out about it. Gauge for the double knit section is listed in the pattern instructions, and you will use the double knit gauge to determine your needle size. The double knit sections will be worked on needles that are 2 sizes smaller than the rest of the shawl. So, if you get gauge on the double knit section with a US3, as I did, you will use a US5 for the other sections.
For this swatch, we are practicing the elongated stitch, and you shouldn’t fret about gauge on this one. You will need 2 sharply contrasting colors of fingering weight yarn, and US 5 needles. The video takes you though the swatch, starting at step 3. If you are unfamiliar with elongated stitches, start by watching the video and then cast on your swatch.
- Cast on 12 sts with color A and knit 1 row.
- Join color B and knit 2 rows.
- With color A: K4, Slip 1. *K3, Slip 1. K to end. Knit back across the wrong side knitting ALL stitches (even the ones you slipped on the right side)
- K 2 rows with color A.
- With color B: K2. *[K1b (this is an elongated stitch), K1] three times. K1. Repeat once more from *, K2. Knit back across the wrong side with color B, treating each elongated stitch as its own knit stitch. 18 sts.
- With color A: K2, *K2tog (knit 2 together) 3 times. K1. Repeat once more from *. K2. Knit back across the wrong side. 12 sts.
- With color B: Knit 2 rows.
Repeat steps 3-7 until you feel confident about mosaic knitting and elongated stitches.
See you back here next Friday (May 25th) for the first clue!
~Megan-Anne
How pumped are your for the new Little Mermaid movie that is comming out? I’m PUMPED.