Stole

So, after flunking not one, but two exams this week (and pouring sweetened tea all over my keyboard, making the keys stick and stuck something aweful) I decided to do something productive that I can hardly mess up: another blogpost! (Oh, and my friend keeps bugging me about it, so there you are, you're welcome :P)
I wanted to tell you about the stole I'm working on. I chose this project because I wanted to have a shawl that works for several epochs of fashion, and because it's a great and stylish way to stay warm. Also, I like easy knitting projects you can do on the go (I spend a lot of time in busses and trains ;) )

I just love those gigantic shawls on victorian women

As I said, I wanted to knit my shawl (believe it or not, it relaxes me) and wanted an easy pattern so that I could knit on the go without having to carry around the instructions sheet all the time. I also wanted it to have kind of a lacey pattern because plain knitting just seems so boring for an accessory... after some searching, I stumbled unto this site (Sorry it's in German). Being in an impatient mood, I only went through the first two pages until I decided to combine two of the patterns to create a v-shaped pattern. Lots of fiddling and a couple of curses later, I had a pattern I was happy with:

Trying to make up a pattern...

Here's the one I finally went with, plus the trial-piece

After going back to the website for my sources I just realized that they actually have a v-shaped pattern, so I probably could have saved myself at least some of the troubles.
Then again, maybe not, because I wanted a triangular shawl. Here's how you do that: Cast on 4 stitches, turn, then purl all stitches, turn again. Knit one stitch (I never bothered with borders, I just knitted/purled them depending on if I was in an even or uneven numbered row), wrap thread around your needle (you just created a new loop), knit two, wrap around once more, knit the last stitch. On your way back, always purl every loop on your needle. That way, you gain two stitches every second row, and get that triangular shape!
This is my pattern:

You only see every second row because the backrow is
always purling

The circles are knitted Sitches, the U stands for "wrap-around" ("Umschlag" in German); The upside down-V's mean different things, depending on what side they're on (an lean to ;) ). On the right side, just knit two stitches together, very easy. But on the left side, you have to pull the loop off the left needle as if you were going to knit it, then knit the stitch after that, then pull the first loop over the second. You'll see that this technique creates a mirror-image of the stitches you knitted together on the right.
One more thing: Everytime you start a new "V" with a wraparound in the middle, you suddenly have an uneven number of stitches. I tried several ways to work around this, but the most regular result I got goes like this: when you get to the wrap-around on your next knitted row, you are going to knit one regular stitch - just don't pull the loop off the left needle yet. Bring the thread in front of the needle, and you can get another stitch out of the same loop (same movement as purling, I think). I indicated this on my pattern with the little "2" just above the U.
Other usefull tips: use a stitchmarker to mark the middle. I use a safety-pin, but you can use just about anything you can slip over your needle. Make sure you place the stitchmarker between the double-stitch I explained in the last paragraph!
Also: don't get desperate, I had to redo practically every second row when I started (which is particularly annoying when you're knitting, because you have to work backwards instead of just pulling the thread like in crochet), you'll get the hang of it in time.

The humble beginning. I'm much further now, just ran out of yarn.

After two balls of yarn, I'm only at 60cm length in the middle, so we'll see how far the third one takes me. Until then :)


Edit: As it will not let me put a link into an image description, here's the source for the pretty victorian Lady