WIP Wednesday: Shawls

It's been all about shawl knitting around here lately.  Here are the three projects that have been getting my attention:

Haruni (Rav link):  I'm getting ready to start row 20 and there are 28 rows plus the crochet bindoff.  The end is near!  I'm really, really looking forward to blocking this out so I can see the border in all its glory.  Note to self - start using lotion!!!

This is the prayer shawl I'm test knitting for gertatter (Rav link).  It's called Zackenbarsch and I'm knitting it in Cotton-Ease.  I'm enjoying knitting it and I'm happy to be using the stash of Cotton-Ease that a friend gave me. 

Springtime Bandit:  This is the shawl I'm knitting for a KAL at my LYS.  I like it a lot but I'm struggling with the stitches on the sides of the "leaves."  See how they look different from the right side of the shawl to the left side?  I'm using the same decreases on both sides of the shawl and I'm guessing that the slant of the stitches makes them look different.  My new friend Mary is knitting this with the same yarn (in a beautiful green) and her stitches look balanced.  She's using SSK and K2tog and I'm using SKP and K2tog.  I'm thinking the SKP is the culprit but I don't know why it looks so different.  Any ideas why SSK looks more balanced than the SKP?  Mary suggested I knit a swatch with the SSK decrease to see what it looks like.  That's a better idea than ripping it all out like I planned on doing.

What do you have in progress right now?

Comments

[Estella]

Love your Haruni! Great color.

good idea for my daughter's dress with the ribbons...will have to remind her that it will stretch and might lose its shape and will need straps.

[km]

Those all look great. A lot of times I'll knit 2 tog through the back instead of a skp or a ssk. I don't know if that makes sense. I enter 2 stitches together...starting at the point of the left needle and go through the back and then in one movement, knit the 2 tog. How did I do explaining that. It seems to slant the way I want it to and doesn't slow me down.

[greetingarts]

To me, the SSK is exactly opposite of K2tog, whereas the SKP is a teeny bit different because you're manuevering two stitches separately instead of together. Does that make any sense? There's a book I have that has photos of the different increases and decreases, I can't think of which one, though! Maybe Sally Melville's Knit Experience? Darn it, wish I wasn't so disorganized. Everything looks beautiful, though, and you don't even want to *know* all the different projects I've got going on... I mean, *I* don't wanna know!

[Carole]

I always use SSK so I don't know why it would look different but it makes sense that it does. Beautiful projects and I have a post just like this planned for tomorrow.

[Robin]

The purple haruni is gorgeous! Swatching sounds like a good idea on the decreases. That way you can make a solid decision (one you can live with!) on whether to re-start.

[Sheepish Annie]

Funny how shawls seem to be the thing right now. Even I'm working on one! I'm not nearly as productive as you are these days, though. Lovely work!

[Debby]

I am not entirely sure about the different decreases, other than some slant left and others right, but perhaps this will help?

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases

In any case, all of your shawls are just beautiful!

[=Tamar]

Assuming SKP is the same as the old S1K1PSSO,
passing the slipped stitch over after you do the knit stitch will stretch the slipped stitch out and make it longer. SSK works the two stitches at the same time, so they are under equal stress, the same as k2tog puts equal stress on the two stitches.

[caitlyn]

You've been really productive with your knitting! I've only got a sock on the needles...and it's been in progress for 2+ months.
I always use SSK too.