July 13, 2015

A Good Day for Edging

My latest pattern, the Market Street Shawl, is such a favorite of mine that I've knit the body of a second one in Velvet (colorway: Davy Jones) in about a week. But, as I approached the cast on for the edging, it occurred to me that not everyone may understand what is meant by "knit-on edging".  I've consequently updated the notes in the pattern about it (updates should be arriving in inboxes already) and thought that this second shawl provides a great opportunity for a tutorial.  So, grab your Market Street Shawl and let's get to it!


First, you need to understand that the edging and the shawl are a continuation of one another.  You do not break the yarn to cast on 25 stitches and then try to attach a new set of stitches to the shawl. Please DO NOT do this.  Also, DO NOT BIND OFF any of the live stitches. Instead, when you finish your last right-side row, simply do a knitted cast on 25 times (25 new sts).  It's like increasing for a dolman sleeve, really.


Once you've cast on those 25 new stitches, turn your work and start the edging instructions on the wrong-side row. The important thing to conceptualize is that you will now be working sideways along the edge of the shawl with the live stitches. Every other row that is worked will be attached to the original shawl fabric with a K2tog. The original live stitches will just sit on the cable of the needle until you need them.



And you just keep plugging away until you've worked all of the live stitches. That's it. It's genius, really.  I don't know if Elizabeth Zimmerman is the inventor of the knit-on edge (probably not), but I learned to do it from her, and I am ever so grateful that she decided to share her knitting knowledge.

Well, I don't know about you, but I have a few edging repeats to get started.  Cheers!

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