Top Down Garter Stitch Shawls - Triangle

 

At long last, here is the tutorial for a basic, top down triangle garter stitch shawl.  I will show you two ways to knit your shawl, both are equally easy.  

If you'd like to follow along, any yarn and appropriately sized needle will do.  You'll also want a stitch marker to make keeping track of your center stitch easier.

The yarn I used for my little samples is Premier Hipster Cotton.  I got this at my local Dollar Tree a few years ago, and am not sure if Premier still makes it.  It is a #3 yarn (DK/light worsted) and the recommended needle size is US 6, so that is what I used.  

I used DPNs in the video since I only made tiny shawls.  For regular sized shawls, you'll want to use circular needles*.  Circulars come in various lengths, up to 60 inches.  I recommend at least a 32 inch circular; the heavier (thicker) your yarn is, the longer the needle you'll want to use, otherwise things are going to be all bunched up, and in my opinion, difficult to move along the needle, not to mention more prone to dropping off.  Of course you can always use point protectors to keep your stitches safe when you put your work down; I find that when I have a lot of stitches bunched up on a too short needle, sometimes a few will slip off while I am actually knitting.  Point protectors don't help in that case.  *If you are using a very fine lace weight yarn, you can get a decent sized shawl using very long straight needles.

There are of course other ways to go about making a top down shawl - the two methods here are just the basics to get you started if you've never made a top down shawl before.  That said, even if you are an experienced knitter, sometimes you just want a simple project to work on while you binge your favorite show or listen to an audio book, and don't want to have to bother keeping track of too much detail.  A top down garter stitch shawl fits the bill.

You'll want to bind off loosely so the edge has enough stretch for blocking.  There are a lot of stretchy bind offs, choose whichever you prefer.  I show the k2tog tbl bind off (aka decrease bind off, aka several other names) in the video.

I only knit about ten rows for the mini shawls in the video; if you are making a mini practice shawl, you can stop there and bind off.  If you happen to like how your mini shawl looks, by all means continue on until it is as big as you want.

A word about gauge - yes, it is important if you're knitting something that you want to fit correctly like socks and sweaters.  It isn't quite so important for shawls.  You certainly can make a gauge swatch if you want to, especially if you want to make sure you end up with a shawl of a certain size.  I personally never make a gauge swatch when I am making my own shawls. 

Before we get started, I want to share a tip - while it is quite easy to distinguish between the increase rows and plain knit rows, attaching a stitch marker to one side or the other is an easy way to keep track of which side you're working on.  

Abbreviations:

k = knit

yo = yarn over

pm = place marker

sm = slip marker

kfb = knit into the front and back of the next stitch

The first shawl uses the yarn over increase.

Cast on 3 stitches

Row 1: k1, yo, pm, k1, yo, k1

Row 2: knit

Row 3: k1, yo, knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, knit to last stitch, yo, k1

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 to desired length, bind off, weave in your ends and block.

The second shawl begins the same way as the first, then uses the knit front/back increase.

Cast on 3 stitches

Row 1: k1, yo, pm, k1, yo, k1

Row 2: knit

Row 3: k1, yo, knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, knit to last stitch, yo, k1

Row 4: knit

Row 5: k1, yo, knit to 1 stitch before marker, kfb, sm, k1, kfb, knit to last stitch, yo, k1

Row 6: knit

Repeat Rows 5 and 6 to desired length, bind off, weave in your ends and block.

Enjoy your new shawl!

Vandyke Lace

Sample knit with sport weight yarn on US 10 needles

Multiple of 3

Row 1 (RS): *k1, (yo) twice, k2tog

Rows 2 and 4: purl, treating each double yarn over as a single stitch (purl first yo, then drop it and the second yo off left needle)

Row 3: *k2tog, (yo) twice, k1

Repeat these four rows for the pattern.

Happy Knitting!

Calypso Shawl - Free Pattern!

MY YARN SHOP HAS CLOSED.  THIS YARN AND PATTERN ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Here is a free shawl pattern for you!  This is super easy and pretty quick to knit up. I wanted a shawl that wasn't just another triangle, or shaped in the usual way.  I had fun with shaping on this, and absolutely love how it turned out.

I used some of my Shimmer yarn, but you can use any fingering weight yarn you like.   (The color I used has sold out, but I do have a few other colors available in this yarn if you would like to use the same yarn!)  This is knit in garter stitch, so even a beginner can do this.

I used yarn overs as my increases, but you can use any increase you like.  The yarn overs at the beginning of the rows are for increasing, and you won't even see them once the shawl has been blocked.  If you will be using another increase, I would knit the first stitch, then work the increase - kfb just as an example.

I wanted to use up as much yarn as possible, without ending up having too little to finish my bind off, so my last increase section is significantly smaller than the others. You can stop and bind off before the last increase section, or you can even continue on if you want the shawl to be bigger.

Yarn Over 101

I decided to do a tutorial on yarn overs, since there can (and is) often times a lot of confusion on the topic. When I first began knitting, I was good with the YO - yarn over.  But then I started seeing things like yon, yrn, yfwd... I didn't quite understand what I was supposed to do.  I thought it was a yarn over, but then again, it seemed different. It must be different, otherwise the pattern would just say YO, right?   As a result, I avoided anything that contained these goofy instructions.  Somewhere along the way, I figured out that these were all yarn overs, and the only difference was yon, yrn, etc. were there to indicate how the yarn was treated, depending on whether the next stitch was a knit or purl.  These days, whenever I see any of these directions, I just make a yarn over and don't even worry if I am going over the needle, around the needle or whatever.  I know my working yarn has to be in the front when I purl, and in the back when I knit, and that my yarn will be going over the needle.  So I just throw the yarn over my needle, place it in the correct position, and make my next stitch.  It really is that simple.

I know a lot of knitters are very passionate about this topic.  For me, as I said above, they are all yarn overs, and I don't get too particular what "kind" of yarn over it is.  I just do it.  I knit to relax, and really don't need to stress over a hole in my knitting.

Here is a printable reference guide on yarn overs, including what to do when you forget to make one and what to do when you make one you don't need.  There is also a video which demonstrates everything on the sheet.  I hope this helps anyone who may be as confused as I was.  Happy Knitting!


Yarn Over 101 Reference Guide

Yarn Over 101 by on Scribd