I couldn’t tell you where it is that new ideas sleet in from - but I’m grateful for them :)  Not that this concept is particularly new - just new to me and a playground of possibilities.  And it does seem to have broken up my what-do-I-knit-now block pretty nicely :)

Some time ago, barb-in-east-texas had mentioned Knitty’s Argosy scarf to me.  I had seen it when Knitty’s last issue came out and went back yesterday to have another look at it - in particular, I was curious about the construction.  With the pattern in front of me, I picked up some needles and yarn and cast on.

It is knit by casting on extra stitches at the beginning and end of a row when another horizontal pattern repeat is desired.  I have seen this technique before; Nancie Wiseman uses it for her Textured Squares Mohair Shawl in her book Knitted Shawls, Stoles & Scarves.  It’s a useful technique because it allows for adding on pattern repeats in a kind of stair-step fashion.

Somehow, though, it didn’t trip my trigger.  In a way, it produced a kind of entrelac effect without actually resorting to the entrelac technique.

Well, I thought, what about that?  Entrelac?

I had been wondering for some time if it would be possible to do a triangular shawl in entrelac without jumping through too many hoops to make it work.  So that was the next step:

And what do you know!  It turns out to be pretty simple after all.  You just bind off the last block of the row when you finish it which takes care of the edge (with no filler triangle to mess with) and puts you where you need to be to pick up for the next block.  Nifty!

So, what can we do with this?

Sorry about the curling edges.  I washed and blocked this yesterday but as the yarn is cotton/acrylic, the blocking only partially took :)  Still, I think there are real possibilities here :)

I used this particular lace pattern because I can do it in my sleep and don’t need to look at a chart or written-out instructions.  Ergo: fast and easy.  I don’t see any reason why any other lace pattern couldn’t be used although maybe one that creates a very wavy top/bottom/edge should be thought about carefully.

Things I still need to work out:

1.  Since stockinette stitches are taller than they are wide, a piece 25 sts across and 50 rows long (as in these lace blocks) creates a serious rectangle.  A squarer shape would give a more symmetrical look.  So I want to see if this lace pattern will work in garter stitch.  That would pretty much solve that problem.  The down side to that is that I love using the

knitting backwards technique for entrelac as it speeds things up considerably.  If this is worked in garter stitch, knitting backwards won’t be possible.

2.  I started with blocks rather than the traditional triangles off of which the blocks are then, generally, built.  However, the gaps along the top of the piece are substantial and I find I don’t like them.  So I am either going to have to start with triangles after all or do some kind of fill in pattern afterwards.

3.  This works from the top down, so that first line of blocks is going to be a real pip :)  Still, since they are worked one at a time, I suppose it really isn’t a big deal and because each block is worked in its entirety as you go along, the possibility exists to incorporate many colors from row to row of blocks - or even from block to block.

4.  My last consideration for making a shawl this way is to find a different material than the one I did the swatch with.  I used Sirdar Primavera, 65% cotton/35% Acrylic, Double Knitting weight on size 8 US (5 mm) needles and while it was easy enough to work with and gave the lace pattern a nice look, the resulting swatch is very limp and has no body whatsoever - not what I want in a shawl.  Right now, I’m thinking that Knitpicks Merino Style might be appropriate.  I’d have to try a ball, but their new Cotlin, a 70% cotton, 30% linen blend looks nice too - especially that mouthwatering Moroccan red!  Zowie!

All I need to figure out now is how much do I need?

Have a great weekend, everyone :)