Tutorial: Lace Shrug

In my last post I showed you my new lace shrug  and where you can get the free pattern by Kristiina V. to make it. This original pattern only has instructions for knitting the whole shrug the conventional flat way and seam the sleeves afterwards.
I knitted my one seamlessly. And how to do that, I want to show you in this tutorial!

Materials I used to make the shrug: 

2 balls (á 50g) lace merino yarn by Lana Grossa

circular knitting needles 3mm (US 2-3)

what you need to know:

how to cast on stiches

how to do knit stiches and purl stiches
how to bind off stiches

what you are going to learn from this tutorial:
how to knit circularly
k2tog - knitting two stiches together
yo - yarn over
left- and right-slanted increases
how to start flat knitting a circular knit
how to join the flat knitted piece back into the round
left- and right-slanted decreases
how to do picot-bind off

For the tutorial I am going to show you the technique and patterns you need by knitting a second mini-version of the lace shrug above. (so, my stich count in the pictures is not the same as in the pattern, although I explain everything using the numbers from the pattern)
I do so because I didn't take pictures when I was knitting the actual shrug. But, as I wrote earlier, the pattern only includes instructions for knitting the piece in the conventional flat way,  and I thought it would be useful for those of you that want to try and knit the shrug seamlessly.

Let's start! :)

Start knitting the first sleeve: beginning a circular knit

The lace pattern is a 6 stich/4 row repeat. Therefore, you need to cast on a multiple of 6 sts +1 st for joining into the round. This would be 67 sts following the pattern by Kristiina V.
(Note: the original pattern suggests a cast on 68 sts. That's the number for flat knitting because you want to have a multiple of 6 sts for the pattern (=66) + 2 edgestiches. You do not need the 2 edgestiches in circular knitting because there are no edges. )

In the next step, you count half of your stiches + the joining stich (=34) and pull the second needle through. 

Now you need to transfer the first stich from the rear needle onto the front needle in order to join a round.

Insert the front needle into the stich (as shown in the picture) and slip it onto the front needle.

After you've transferred the stich, pull out the rear needle to start knitting.
Be careful not to twist stiches. Try to hold slightly onto the rear stiches with your middle finger as shown in the picture.

Knit the first two stiches together. (= the transferred stich + the first stich from front needle)
To do that, insert needle through both of the stiches at once and knit them.
Congratulations! You joined the round! :)
Continue in rib stich: k1, p1.
(Note: Because your first stich was a knit, you now have to make a purl st. Then go on alternating k and p sts.)

How to turn:
When you reach the end of the first half of the round, just let the empty needle drop. (see picture)
Then turn your work 180 degrees, so the stiches that you've just knitted are in the back.

Now pull the front needle throught the stiches in the front and put the yarn up and in the back like the picture shows you.

Now pull out the rear needle and continue knitting according to your pattern.

Tip:
The little piece of yarn that's hanging down from your cast on always shows you when you've finished a round. If it's hanging on the same side as the tips of your needles are facing (see picture), you just finished a round. This way you always know when a new round starts. Because sometimes you can kind of lose track where you are... Another possibility is to use a stich marker, of course ;)

Knitting the sleeve: lace pattern for knitting in the round

Just very briefly: If you want to convert a knitting pattern into a circular knitting pattern, you basically need to leave edging stiches out, switch k and p sts and turn wrong side rows back to front (essentially, because in circular knitting you're always knitting from the right, not back and forth like in conventional flat knitting) 

Maybe, I will do a special post on this topic to explain it better... But I don't want to keep you from knitting on with too much explanations and text right now.

Ok. If you've finished the 3cm ribbing for the cuff, you want to go on and start with the lace pattern. In the picture you can see the lace pattern for circular knitting the sleeve. I will also write it out for those of you that prefer written patterns :)

Row 1: *yo, k2tog, k4* repeat from * to *

Row 2: k all sts, but purl the yo's

Row 3: *k2tog, yo, k4* repeat from * to *

Row 4: k all sts, but purl the yo's

Repeat these four rows.

How to knit two stiches together, I already showed you in the beginning, when you joined the round. But again: Insert right hand needle into two stiches at once and knit them.

How to make a yarn over you can see in the picture on the left. Simply wrap the yarn over your needle by leading the right-hand needle over and behind the yarn. Then continue knitting according to the pattern.

When knitting the even rows, you need to purl the yarn overs. You can easily recognize them because they are "bigger" stiches than the other stiches. (see picture to the left) Anyways, just purl them in even rows. 

The yo-stiches become these sweet little eyelets in the lace pattern.

After only knitting two rows, you can see them. Sweet, aren't they?! :)

While knitting the sleeve according to the pattern by Kristiina V., you will have to make increases at some point. You want to make left- and right-slanted increases for better looks. 

The instructions in the pattern say, you should increase at both ends of the knitted piece. This means in circular knitting: increase before ending a round and right at the begining of the following round.

How to increase:
Knit according to pattern until 1 st before end of round. Then make a right-slanted increase as follows:

Put the tip of your left-hand needle under the strand between two stiches from back to front (see picture). Then knit this loop. Knit the last stich of the round.

Before you start knitting the next round, make a
left-slanted increase as follows:
Put the tip of your left-hand needle under the strand from front to back. Then knit this loop through the back as shown in the picture.

You will increase several times while following the pattern.




As soon as you have six new stiches because of the increases (after you've increased three times), start to knit the lace pattern even on those stiches.
This will create a new line of lacey eyelets :)

After you've finished the first sleeve (my mini-shrug also has a mini-sleeve ;) ), you want to start the body part (the part that covers your shoulders or your back).
You should end the sleeve with one of the uneven rows of the pattern. This means end with either row 1 or
row 3.






Knitting the body part: Lace pattern for knitting the conventional flat way

This is the pattern taken from the instructions by Kristiina V. You need to follow these 4 rows for knitting the body part that covers your back.
Basically, the only thing that's different is that you are now going to purl all even rows but knit the yarn over stiches.









And of course you will get the written version of the pattern as well:

Row 1: *yo, k2tog, k4* repeat from * to *

Row 2: p all sts, but knit the yo's

Row 3: *k2tog, yo, k4* repeat from * to *

Row 4: p all sts, but knit the yo's

Repeat these four rows.

Start flat knitting.
Your next row is one of the even rows (row 2 or 4). This equals a wrong side row in flat knitting. So, simply pull out the front needle, knit the first stich (this is now your edgestich) and then start purling all stiches, but knit the yo's. Also, knit the last stich of your row (your second edgestich).

Tip:
If it starts getting a little bit tight on your needles, especially in the first row, just pull your right-hand neelde out. You will always see where your row ends because there is a big gap as you can see on the picture.

Then just keep knitting back and forth as usual and follow the lace pattern.
When you've reached the desired length of the body part according to the size you have chosen, you are ready to knit the second sleeve! :)
(also the mini-shrug has now its mini-body part ;) )
So, in the next step, we're going to join back into the round.




Knitting the second sleeve: Joining a flat knitted piece into the round for circular knitting

First, devide your stiches back into half on your needles and put the yarn between them and to the back.

Then, start joining like at the very beginning.
Transfer the first stich from the rear needle onto the front needle in order to join a round.
Insert the front needle into the stich (as shown in the picture) and slip it onto the front needle.

Knit the transferred stich and the first stich from the front needle together.

And you've joined the round again! :)

Now follow the lace pattern for knitting in the round again.





While knitting the second sleeve, you will have to decrease. Also for the decreases you want to have left- and right-slanted decreases.

How to decrease:

Knit according to pattern until 3 st before end of round. Then make a right-slanted decrease by knitting 2 stiches together. Knit the last stich.

Then, start the next round with a left-slanted decrease as follows:

Slip the first stich knitwise. (see picture)
Knit the next stich.

Then, pass the slipped stich over the knitted one. (kind of like a bind off)
Now knit on and follow the pattern.

When you've reached the desired length, knit a cuff of 3cm rib stich. Cast off in rib.

Your shrug is now nearly finished. :)








Knitting the collar and make picot-bind off

Now pick up stiches around the edge of the central opening of your shrug.
Simply put the tip of your needle through one side of a stich. Move on to the next stich and pick up.

Another possibility is to use a crochet hook (or your knitting needle if you're a pro ;) ) and pull the yarn through the strand between two stiches and gather stiches this way. Use whatever method you prefer.

If you're ready, it should look like this.
(well, bigger than my mini-shrug of course ;) )

Then, pull out the rear needle and hold your yarn in the back of your work. (I am using a different colour yarn, so you can see better what I am doing here)
Just start knitting rib stich (or double rib, if you like my version of the lace shrug) with the new yarn.
The end will be woven in when you've finished the shrug.

Tip: Since you're basically knitting in the round, it can be easier to devide the stiches again and knit them one half of the round at a time.
But you don't need to do that if you don't want to ;)

Continue ribbing for 3cm (or more, depending on how broad you want your collar to be).

After you finished the ribbing, you can simply cast off in rib or you can try the picot-bind off.

Picot-Bind off:
Knit the first stich.

Knit up two stiches as follows:
Perform a knit stich but leave the the stich on the left-hand needle. Put the gathered loop on the left needle, as well. Now repeat this one time: Gather a loop as if to knit from the first stich (see picture) and put this loop on the left needle, as well.
You have now 3 stiches on the left needle where there was only one before.

Now start binding off. Knit the first of these 3 stiches. Pass the rear stich on the right needle over the one you just made. (see picture)
Do the same with the other two stiches.
Knit the next stich and bind it off, as well. You've bound off four times.
This is your first picot.
Now start again by knitting up two stiches and so on.

This is how your picot edging will look like :)
(with a larger ribbing of course)

For finshing, weave in all ends and maybe add a crochet flower like I did, if you like ;)








I hope, I explained everything so that you can understand and do it by yourself. If you have questions,
just ask them! :)

Have fun making your own lace shrug!! :)

/Stefanie


www.deramores.com/blog-awards: This blog entry is my submission to the Deramores Blog Awards 2014. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies.