Nothing
to It shawl
©
Joan Dyer
This
very light, soft, and lacy shawl is easy to make. The name “nothing
to it” suggests that it is indeed very very airy and very very
simple to knit.
The
shawl is constructed using #6 US needles and one or two skeins of
Tess Designer Yarns sock/baby yarn, depending upon the size desired.
The shawl is completely reversible. This is my version of the
pattern which I first encountered in Barbara G. Walker's Second
Treasury of Knitting Patterns,
page 263, Grand Trefoil.
Possible
Finished dimensions:
17” x 52”
cast on 58 stitches, use 1 skein
30” x 60”
cast on 93 stitches, use 2 skeins
The pictures show
the smaller size. After blocking, the shawl will gain about 50% in
width. Of course, you may adjust the length and width as you wish,
easily.
Stitch
pattern: The pattern includes
a double yarn-over, which will be treated as one very big stitch on
the following row: the first YO will be knit, and the second will be
dropped.
Cast on
58 (93) stitches, as loosely as possible. You may use any multiple
of 5, plus 3 more.
Setup row :
This row is like row 3, but there are no double yarn overs so there
will be no stitches to be dropped. [K3, YO YO (double yarn over),
K2tog]. Repeat between []'s, ending K3.
Row
1: K2, [K3 YO YO K2tog].
Repeat between []'s, ending K1. On this row: you will meet the
previous row's double YO on the third
stitch of the K3, and you will work it as if it were just one big
stitch (knit the first YO, drop the second).
Row
2: K2, [K3 YOYO K2tog]. Repeat
between []'s, ending K1. On this row: you will meet the previous
row's double YO on the first stitch of the K3, and you work it as if it were one big stitch (knit
the first YO, drop the second).
Row
3: [K3 YOYO K2tog]. Repeat
between []'s, ending K3. On this row, the double YO of the
previous row is on the third stitch
of the K3, again worked as one big stitch (knit the first YO, drop
the second).
Bind off at desired
length, or when out of yarn. Make sure that you do this quite
loosely since the fabric will be stretched widthwise. Either bind
off each YO separately (without dropping the second YO), or else work
a double YO over each double YO to elongate the bind off stitch.
Caution: it is a bit
tricky to pick up a dropped stitch. Should you need to do this, you
will end up un-knitting until you reach a row that has a the correct
number of stitches. It is also a bit tricky to determine whether you
are working a 2nd row or a 3rd row, so keep a
counter.
When complete, block
the shawl to the dimensions you desire. 
The
shawl, unblocked, is shown above. You can see the back in the mirror
which shows how much narrower the unblocked version is.
Next we see the
shawl pinned to a blocking surface. It was first dampened slightly
using water spritzed from a spray bottle and allowed to dry
completely before the pins and blocking wires were removed.
Finally we see the
complete shawl, after blocking.