Faking it and making it...
The design element that sets this shawlette apart is the stripes. And not just the stripes, but the leafy short row trim that peeks out from every stripe. Now, I’m no stranger to short rows as the Color Affection Shawl can attest, and I can wrap-and-turn with the best of them. These short rows, however, had a new twist that eluded me for the first few leaves.
You are stacking short rows on top of each other here, so that by the top half of the leaf you are asked to pick up two wraps. For the life of me, I couldn’t see where the two wraps were. Part of it was that I was not following the pattern closely (my husband would insert a knowing chuckle here). The other part was that I wasn’t exactly sure what to look for.
This is where knitting in community has its highest value. Flummoxed, I brought it to my library open knitting morning, where a young knitting friend quickly showed me which little bits of yarn I needed to catch with my needles. I’ve included a photo here, but I think this may be one of those times where you really do need a live human being looking over your shoulder.
I felt better once I mastered this technique. Truth be told, however, I don’t think you can tell a bit of difference between the leaves where I just was guessing my way through it and the ones where I mastered the directions. The stitches are tiny enough that you can get away with just about any wrap-and-turn. Still, I’m glad to have added a new skill to my toolbox. The fact that I learned it from someone less than half my age? Well that just shows the glory of the craft.
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