Knit a shawlette with non-allergenic yarn

This week, we're knitting with Naked Sock and Allegro by Wisdom Yarns. These are non-allergenic yarns and excellent for those with a vegan outlook or who are allergic to wool. For the last two days we looked at using I-cords as a design feature. Today we move to an easier project that you can knit in about 6 to 10 hours.

Knit this easy scarf with scalloped edges with 1 ball of Allegro or Naked Sock

I knit the above shawlette. Well, actually, I designed it and my wife knit it, with one skein of Allegro, in the Grape Sonata colorway.

The skills that you need to knit this shawlette include garter stitch, familiarity with picking up and knitting in the sides of knit fabric, and really easy short rows. The combination of these techniques end up with this oblique triangular shape that form scalloped edges. Across the straight edge the shawlette is 46'' long and the depth of the triangle to the point is 13''.

Detail of the scalloped edges knit with short rows, showing how the colors concentrate

Pattern Notes
Slip all slipped stitches purlwise with yarn in front.

Abbreviations

St(s): stitch(es)

K: knit

Yfwd: yarn forward

Sl: slip stitch

 Instructions begin here

Cast on 6 sts.

Row 1: Sl 1, K5.

Row 2: Sl 1, K4, yfwd, k1—7 sts

Row 3: Sl 1, K6.

Row 4: Sl 1, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 5: Sl 1, knit across.

Rows 6-13: Rep Rows 4 & 5.

Row 14: Sl 1, knit to last st, yfwd, k1, pick up and knit 1 st in each of 6 eyelets across edge of shawl.

Row 15: Sl 1, knit 6, (yfwd, k1) 3 times in next st, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 16: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 17: Sl 1, k11, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Row 18: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 19: Sl 1, k10, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Row 20: Sl 1, knit across.

Odd Rows 21-29: Sl 1, knit 1 less than previous row as established above, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Even rows 22-30: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 31: Sl 1, k5, k7 tbl, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 32: Sl 1, knit.

Repeat rows 6-32 until there are approximately 2 yards of yarn left. Bind off purlwise.

Eyelets are formed beside the scallops where there are multiple increases in one stitch

Give this lovely shawlette as a holiday gift to that vegan loved one and they'll enjoy its squishy softness for years!

Every scallop looks different, drawing attention to the different colors of the variegated yarn.

Using a knit I-cord as a cast-on technique

This week we're using Allegro and Naked Sock, two non-allergenic yarns, in our exploration of I-cord, in this case, how to use it for casting on.

When I-cord is used as a cast-on edge the result is a neat finish.

In yesterday’s post, I showed you how knit on an i-cord edging to existing stitches. But looking at the above photo, you really wouldn’t be able to tell for sure whether I knit this blue-and-green i-cord onto the red garter stitch, but I'll tell you that I didn’t.

Instead, I made the i-cord first, and then with the Cardinal Rule colorway of Naked Sock, I added the stitches of the main part of the swatch.

To do this, you need to look carefully at the stitches in the I-cord and decide whether you want to use the upper strand of a horizontal stockinette V-stitch or the lower, and then you need to be consistent as you work along the I-cord, always lifting the same strand of the "V".

How long should you make your i-cord cast on?  Well, you'll need to do a bit of math. First, divide the number of stitches required for your knit item. Let’s say it’s a scarf with 55 stitches. Divide this number by 3 and “keep” the remainder aside.

55 divided by 3 = 18 with a remainder of 1.

Take the answer, in this case 18, and multiply by 4.

18 x 4 = 72, and then add the remainder.  72 + 1 = 73. 

You can use an I-cord cast-on to create curved edges.

So you need to work 73 rounds of i-cord for this scarf. When I do this, I could use my cast-on round as one of the needed rounds. At the end of the 73 rounds, I simply run the end of the yarn through the 4 stitches on the needle and cinch them closed. If you were going to make the scarf with the same yarn as the i-cord, do the following instead: k2tog, k2tog, pass the first st over the 2^nd. Then you can start to pick up stitches along the i-cord right off the bat.

Pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rounds in the i-cord and you’ll avoid buckling or flaring edges.

I went a little crazy with my experimenting with the i-cord cast-on and ended up with this. Please guess what you think what this will end up being when I’m done knitting it.

A mystery project! What do you think this is going to be?

Using both the technique from yesterday and today’s cast-on in combination yields some amazing results. This motif is from a pattern I fell in love with while browsing through Ravelry.com. It’s a gorgeous pattern and would really suit the bright colorways of Naked Feet yarn.

Tomorrow I’ll share another design I’ve knit with only 1 skein of Allegro.

This piece uses I-cord both as a cast-on and as an edging technique to create an amazing textile.

Using both the technique from yesterday and today’s cast-on in combination yields some amazing results. This motif is from a pattern I fell in love with while browsing through Ravelry called Jewel Dragon. It’s a gorgeous pattern and would really suit the bright colorways of Naked Feet yarn.

Tomorrow I’ll share another design I’ve knit with only 1 skein of Allegro.

One "scale" motif of the Jewel Dragon pattern.

How to knit on an I-cord edging

A couple pairs of socks and a shawl later (see yesterday's post), I thought how fun it would be to have a different sort of edging along the top of a sock or the length of a shawl. This week we're exploring non-allergenic yarns Allegro and Naked Sock by Wisdom Yarns and I’ll demonstrate how to make an i-cord edging with 2 of these yarns.

Naked Sock Oceanic colorway in a small garter stitch swatch

I’ve knit a little garter stitch swatch in the Oceanic colorway of Naked Sock, and I’d like to show you how I add on an I-cord edging.

I-cord is the termed coined by knitter extraordinaire, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and it means idiot-cord, named as such because she used these to attach pairs of mittens to each other. Thus, any idiot would be prevented from losing one of their hand-made mittens.

If you have ever knit with a French knitting loom, or done spool knitting, with 4 or 5 nails inserted around the hole of a wooden thread spool, you’ve made an I-cord. At least, the wooden spools was my first exposure to the i-cord. My dad made me one when I was 5. Nowadays, you can find i-cord looms with little cranks that make it possible to churn out yards of i-cord painlessly. Perfect if you want to wrap the i-cord into a coil and stitch it together to make a flat round or oval item.

But if you made an i-cord on its own, it would certainly be quite tedious to try to sew it on as an edging to knitting, so I propose this knitted-on version. You'll need 2 double-pointed needles to achieve this edging.

First stitch of cable cast on

Placing the cable cast on stitch back onto the left needle

The first step is to use the cable cast on to add 4 stitches to the current swatch. To do this, insert the needle between the first and second stitches on the left-hand needle and knit up a loop, twist the right needle so that you can return the new loop to the left needle. Then repeat this 3 more times.

These four stitches will make the i-cord edging.

Knitting the 4th stitch together with the first stitch from the main work.

The next stage is to knit the first 3 stitches of the i-cord, and then knit the next 2 together through the back loops, joining the cable cast on to the body of the swatch. Some people prefer to slip the third stitch, knit the fourth and pass the slipped stitch over. Then slide the 4 stitches to the opposite end of the needle, converting it to a left-hand needle. Knit the first 3 stitches and work the 4^th and 5^th together in your preferred manner.

If you knit 1 round of i-cord for each stitch that is on the needle, you may end up with a buckle in the fabric. When picking up stitches along a stockinette stitch edge, we usually don’t pick up a stitch for every row either, because stitch gauge and row gauge aren’t symmetrical. Many knitting books and designers recommend picking up 3 sts for every 4 rows of stockinette. In the case of the i-cord, it is essentially a little tube of stockinette stitch, so this would also mean that the number of rounds on the i-cord would not correspond exactly to the number of stitches along the edge we are knitting on to. To solve this, we knit 3 rounds of i-cord, and join to 3 stitches, and then we work one round on the i-cord where we knit the 4 stitches and slide them back to the other end of the double-pointed needle without a join. This is how to avoid a curved or buckling i-cord edging.

Knit 1 plain round every 4th row to avoid buckling or flaring.

Finished I-cord edging from the right side

Finished I-cord edging on the wrong side of the fabric

I went exploring a little further with this i-cord edging and tried to go around a corner. I’m not thrilled with how it turned out, so I need to experiment a bit more before I give you any tips on how to achieve a nice corner. Tomorrow we’ll look at a different way to use i-cord as an edging.

My first messy attempt at working the I-cord edging around a corner

KNITmuch Giveaway 084: Naked Sock and Saki Bamboo Yarn

Enter now for your chance to win this new giveaway!

Two of the best choices for knitting socks: Naked Sock is sleek and shiny, great for socks - and for sweaters, shawls, and much more. Saki Bamboo is a soft but durable blend of superwash merino, nylon, and bamboo in rich colors and also with a lovely sheen.  Add to that a beautiful set of Rainbow Wood knitting needles, and you're bound to have a wonderful knitting experience!

 

Follow Charles Voth on KNITmuch.com this week as he gives you all the details about Naked Sock yarn and gives out FREE PATTERNS!

 

Contest ends at 11PM on Christmas Day! It'll be that much merrier for our lucky winner...get your entries in NOW!

 

Congratulations to Linda C, winner of KNITmuch Giveaway 082: Cool Chunky Knits by Tabetha Hedrick.

Naked Sock and Saki Bamboo yarn, plus Rainbow Wood knitting needles!

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Non-allergenic shawls and socks with Allegro and Naked Sock yarn

This week, we're looking at 2 non-wool Wisdom yarns by Universal Yarn. Yesterday, I described the fiber content (what is PBT anyway?) and other attributes which make these excellent non-allergenic yarn options to wool and wool blend sock yarns.

Garter stitch evenly distributes the colors of this Allegro colorway called Grape Sonata

Sock knitters often complain about color pooling in variegated and dip-dyed yarns. Color pooling is the unintentional appearance of areas with one color concentration. It may look blotchy or spotty, and not everyone likes it. Some people try many tricks like knitting socks with 2 balls of yarn at the same time, changing the yarn every round or so to interrupt the pooling. Other people use textured patterns to “disrupt” the patchiness.

Allegro in Grape Sonata creates a melody of stripes and speckles

The Allegro yarn we're looking at this week has been dyed to be a self-striping yarn, but there are not only stripes. There are variegated segments that break up the stripes with a more mottled look. There's a free basic sock pattern which is ideal for the yarn and highlights its colorways and dye patterns.

A basic Sock knit with the Bright Spot colorway of Naked Sock

The Naked Sock yarn from this week’s focus doesn't have clearly defined stripes. Four of the yarns are variegated with 4 or 5 different yet coordinating colors. The other 4 yarns are ombre colorways, with differing shades or intensities of the same hue. Looking at the picture below, you can see how evenly the color speckles are distributed. What I find intriguing is how, on the foot section, the dark gray seems to be the predominant stripe color, where as in the leg and cuff, the light grey is what stands out. How cool is that?

The basic sock pattern for Naked sock is available here.

"I heart you" shawl is a free pattern on the Universal Yarns website

There is also a free pattern for a shawl called “I heart you”.

This lovely shawl has a pattern repeat of only 6 stitches and 8 rows, which will be easy to memorize. The border is added on later by knitting it together with stitches held in waiting on a provisional cast-on edge. Some people may be leary of knitting lace with acrylic because in general, acrylic isn’t blockable. With the PBT content, that makes the yarn springy, even I’d be worried that the lace wouldn’t block well. But, the pattern instructions say to pin and steam the yarn firmly. While you won’t want to touch your iron to the actual shawl, lots of shots of steam will make the acrylic learn a new “memory” will make it so that you don’t have to reblock the shawl aggressively after subsequent washings in cold water.

These yarns can be used for more than just socks and shawls. Tomorrow we’ll explore another application for Allegro and Naked Sock.

Knitting with Wisdom Yarns Naked Sock and Allegro, the non-allergenic yarns

This week we'll look at 2 sister yarns by Wisdom Yarns that are truly the answer to the question, “can I make non-allergenic, non-wool socks that stay up on my legs?” Naked Sock, aptly named because it feels like you’re wearing nothing at all, and Allegro, Italian for merry and cheerful, are two sock yarns that will have your toes singing!

Stretchy and colorful non-allergenic Naked Sock and Allegro sock yarns make snug and non-itchy socks.

Let’s look at Allegro first. Each ball of this yarn has 470yds and 100g. That's a generous amount of yardage, and enough to make men’s socks of decent length, and women’s socks that reach mid-calf. It comes in 6 colorways. Each is named with a type of musical composition from classical music, like the yarn itself.

3 of the 6 colorways of Allegro: Night Waltz, Apricot Air, and Sea Rhythm

The way the colorists dyed this yarn is musical on its own. There are segments that are semi-solid and create stripes in socks, which are divided by other sections of speckled yarn that looks like notes on a music score. For those who are musically inclined, imagine the semi-solid sections like a full sound with many instruments each adding to the richness of the music, but in this case it’s the saturation of color. The speckled parts are like the soloists highlighting the themes of the melody.

3 vibrant colorways -- Sweetly, Lilac Rose, and Trapeze -- of the 8 colorways available in Naked Sock non-allergenic sock yarn

The sister yarn to Allegro, Naked Sock, comes in 8 colorways. 4 of them are monochromatic, with lighter and darker shades of the same hue. The other 4 have 4 or 5 colors that coordinate well, and play with light and shadow at the same time. The way the colors are dyed is more organic, and the finished knitting looks more like animal stripes or light or sound waves.

If you've ever knit with man-made or plant-based fibers to avoid wool or animal fibers because of allergies or vegan values, you know that cotton and bamboo and other types of rayon, and acrylic all leave something to be desired in sock yarn because there is little stretch or memory in most other yarns out there on the market. Allegro and Naked Feet contain both acrylic and PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), a substance something like Lycra that's used in thread to manufacture aquatic garments and sportswear. The PBT gives an amazing amount of both stretch and memory to the yarn. After tugging on it to get it past your heels, you’ll find that it bounces right back into place and stays up on your calves. The label says it can be washed in warm water and tumble dried.

Tomorrow we'll look at some free patterns to knit with Allegro and Naked Sock.

FREE! KNITmuch Magazine Issue 3 Now Available!

Here it is!...the eagerly anticipated Issue 3 of KNITmuch Magazine! You don't want to miss this extraordinary issue! Some of the highlights include 7 yarn reviews, how to pattern your own simple knitted tank top, how to prepare a pattern to knit any flag, and how to add pizzazz to your knits with specialty stitches.

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KNITmuch Giveaway 082: Cool Chunky Knits by Tabetha Hedrick

Enter now for your chance to win this new giveaway!

Cool Chunky Knits by Tabetha Hedrick
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 978-0-8117-1648-2

 

Chunky yarn can be used to make items that are trendy, fun, casual, and beautiful—and they don't have to be for winter! Tabetha Hedrick has designed this collection to include not only warm hats, scarves, and cowls, but also short-sleeve pullovers, vests, and shawls that are versatile enough to wear year-round. You get all of the joy of fast knitting with bulky and super bulky yarn, plus beautiful texture, stunning color, and delightfully fun projects.

Projects range from easy to intermediate in skill level, and because of the large gauge they knit up quickly and are perfect projects to try out a new stitch or technique.

Contest ends on December 11th at 11:00pm. Get your entries in now!

Cool Chunky Knits by Tabetha Hedrick

How to Enter the KNITmuch Giveaway Contest

To enter this contest, log in below through Facebook or with your email, then follow the instructions. You’ll have the opportunity to get multiple entries and multiply your chances of winning! We also encourage you to explore the awesome FREE tutorials, patterns, and magazines on our blog.