Homeschooling - Machine Knitting Edition

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King, Jr.


While still resting in place, it seemed a good time to brush up on machine knitting skills (or lack thereof). Knit It Now (which I have a subscription to) was offering a lesson on shawl shaping, so I decided to try it out.  I have some yarn in quantities of small shawl/large scarf amounts so why not use some?

I decided on the "quick 'n easy" variation (there are three others) and quickly got to work. The yarn I used was from deep stash - a now discontinued Elann Limited Edition blend of 60% wool/25% cashmere/15% acrylic called Kashair. No idea on how long I've had it, but it was from the days before Elann sold out to Amazon -- so, old. Despite being predominately wool/cashmere it was not a pleasant feeling yarn to hand knit, which is why it was so long in stash, despite its pleasant color. Some comments on Ravelry mentioned it was nicer after washing, so it was a good candidate for machine knitting. 

I used my mid-gauge LK 150 to knit it. This is a plastic bed, very basic machine that requires hand manipulation for anything other than stockinette stitch. Nonetheless, it is very easy to use and fun to work with and my shawl body would be entirely stockinette, so the choice of machine was easy.

I cast on 144 needles (as you might guess, the machine has a total of 150) which was as many needles as I felt comfortable working. The simple pattern was, in fact, "quick 'n easy" and after about a half an hour I had a plain stockinette triangle. In order to finish it off, I worked a crochet edging around the two side edges. The (warning - math word ahead)  hypotenuse of the triangle, which would drape around the neck and shoulders, was left plain. It has a very slight roll - as you would expect from plain stockinette fabric - but because it was a bias edge (I suspect) it was just enough to look pleasant when worn.

I chose a simple pattern for the edging - from Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman (pattern 69). There are 150 different designs in the book, charted and written instructions, and best of all -- the corner shaping is worked out for you.  Excellent resource for anyone who likes to do crocheted edgings.

All in all, I was happy with how it turned out, and look forward to trying a different variation. Because this one is done - in effect - sideways, I was scratching my head as to how to add some patterning if I made another with this technique. 

My next attempted lesson - learning to use a garter bar - did not proceed as smoothly, but that is a story for another day.