little shawls...

Progress on my Snow Chicks has been a little slow the last few days - I've been distracted by setting up my new computer (Ho, ho, ho - Merry Christmas to me!) Everything is ready to go now....so I should be back at Santa's Workshop tonight.

In the meantime, here is a quick picture of the shawls I've been knitting. They are getting easier - and looking better - the more that I do. Here's what I've learned...

• Always slip the first stitch (I really wish I had learned this early on, so that it was a habit for me - it makes a world of difference and the top edge straight)
• Cast off on the wrong side, using the knit stitch - it stops the edge from rolling up (the one in the centre bottom needs some serious blocking - can you tell it was one of the first ones?)
  
• 3.5mm needles and leftover bits of Noro Kureyon Sock work well together for these shawls

The pattern is very simple....

1. Cast on 3 stitches
2. Slip 1, YF, K1, YF, K1 (= 5 stitches)
   
3. Slip 1, Knit or Purl row (WS)
   
4. Slip 1, YF, K1, YF, Place Marker K1, YF, K1, YF, K1 (=9 stitches)
   
5. Slip 1, Knit or Purl row (WS)
6. Slip 1, YF, knit to marker YF, place Marker, K1, YF, knit to last stitch, YF, K1 (=13 stitches)
   
7. Repeat last two rows until desired size is reached

If you alternate between two balls (or both ends of the same ball) every 2-4 rows, you can achieve some great transitional stripes (with Noro). You can also play around with varying between garter stitch and stocking stitch. Just experiment....and have fun! :-)