How to do the Navdanya shawl

Shawl - Navdanya, in honor of Vandana Shiva www.navdanya.org




Here's the Wikipedia article on Vandana Shiva:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva


I used less than 3 skeins of Peace Fleece's "Volgassippi Blue" Worsted Weight, Merino/Mohair yarn on #10 circular needles (29" I believe). You can of course use larger needles, I found this just a bit tight.

It is based on the Hemlock ring shawl, which is based on a doily from the 1940's that Jared adapted to larger yarn.

Isn't he brilliant??

Here's a link to the doily http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/KnitHemlockRing.html

And here's a link to Jared's site where he shows the blanket/shawl he made.
http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/08/hemlock-ring-blanket.html

On that one there is another link to where he charted out the pattern from row 47 (of the doily - my row 38) on.



I had to tweak it a bit to change it from circular knitting to a semi-circle. In my tweakings I realized that I had somehow changed it from the 5/8 of a circle I was shooting for to just a half-circle, which one of my knitting mentors had said won't stay on as nicely. It doesn't!

I tried to fix this by going back and adding a 12 stitch border on each side. Simple is better - it was k, p, k, p, k4, p, k, p, k but a few inches from the bottom I added a little cross, VOILA! Now it feels like a prayer shawl!



Cross pattern, on 5 stitches:

Row 1: k, ssk, yo, k2
row 2: purl
row 3: ssk, yo, k, yo, k2 tog.
row 4: purl
row 5: k, ssk, yo, k2
row 6: purl
row 7: k, ssk, yo, k2
row 8: purl

Very astute people will notice that the knit part of the border is only 4 knit stitches in a row - on the first row I just knitted instead of the ssk so it got one stitch wider. Looks good that way, I continued the rest of the border one stitch wider. I put the cross starting about 4" from the bottom.

One thing about making and then fixing mistakes is that you sometimes wind up with something you like better! The plain border doesn't take away from the flowing beauty of the shawl, but does give it the tiniest help staying on!

The "staying on" issue will be fixed, but what I liked about it is that it gives it a really nice straight edge on the sides, before, no matter how I tried to block it right it had a bulge near the top. So I'm keeping the 12 stitch border (but let's knit right on instead of sewing it on at the end!) But to do a real fix, do 6 repeats of the hemlock ring pattern, not 5 like I did. That is how I'm going to write it up.

For the center part, cast on 48 (or 26 if you want to skip the border on the edges)

The border pattern is:

k, p, k, p, k4, p, k, p, k on the knit side

and p, k, p, k, p4, k, p, k, p on the purl side

and you do it at the beginning and end of each row.

So from now on, you know to do that and since it's always the same, every row, I don't need to keep telling you, right?

I find it very helpful to use knitting markers between the repeats and also to separate the borders. I learned from experience it saves a lot of ripping out! You can cheaply make some by using a contrasting color of yarn (contrasting feel is even better, in case you tend to knit without looking on the easier rows). Just tie the yarn around the knitting needle with a good knot and cut the ends relatively short so they don't keep getting in your way. Slip the markers from one needle to the other as you get to them, and you've got yourself a pretty good system of not losing your place (especially important toward the end on this one!)

Rows 1 - 6: stockinette - knit the knit side and purl the purl side (but do border pattern, too!)

Row 7: K2 tog, YO twice, ssk, repeat for a total of 6 times (if you're skipping the border just start and end with a knit stitch).

Row 8: p1, p/k 9 in the double yarn-over, p1, repeat. Here's how you do that tricky step: knit, purl, knit, purl in the first yarnover, then slip it off and knit/purl 5 more times in the second. If it's really hard, remember to keep the stitches loose so the threads can slide a little on there.

Rows 9 - 16: knit/purl for 8 rows (stockinette).

Row 17: (yo, k11), repeat 5 more times, end with yo.

Row 18: purl.

Row 19: (k, yo, k11, yo) repeat 5 more times, k.

Row 20: purl.

Row 21: K2, (yo, k4, k3 tog., k4, yo, k3) repeat 5 more times, on the last repetition, last stitch k2 instead of k3.

Row 22: purl.

Row 23: K2 tog., (yo, k1, yo, k3, k3 tog., k3, yo, k, yo, k3 tog) repeat 5 times more, k2 tog on the last repetition, last stitch instead of k3 tog. (for the k3 tog. you can do it nice ways if you like, like slip 2 knitwise, knit, pass the two slipped stitches but it looks good either way)

Row 24: purl.

Row 25: k1, (yo, k3, yo, k2, k3 tog., k2, yo, k3, yo, p & k in next stitch) repeat 5 more times, k1 in last repetition instead of p & k.

Row 26: purl.

Row 27: K2, (yo, k3 tog., yo, k, yo, k, k3 tog., k, yo, k, yo, k3 tog., yo, k4) repeat 5 times, k2 in last repetition, last stitch instead of k4.

Row 28: purl.

Row 29: (k2 tog., k2, yo, k3, yo, k3 tog., yo, k3, yo, k2, ssk) repeat 5 times more.

Row 30: purl.

Row 31: (K2 tog., k2, yo, k3 tog., (yo, k) 3 times, yo, k3 tog., yo, k2, ssk) repeat 5 more times.

Row 32: purl.

Row 33: (K2 tog., (k3, yo) two times, k, (yo, k3) two times, ssk) repeat 5 more times.

Row 34: purl.

Row 35: (K2 tog, k3, yo, k3 tog., (yo, k)3 times, yo, k3 tog., yo, k3, ssk), repeat 5 more times.

Rows 36 - 38: knit and purl (stockinette)

Row 39: (k2 tog., k2 tog., k3, (yo,k) 6 times, k2, ssk, ssk) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 40 - 43 purl/knit (stockinette)

Row 44: (P2 tog. 3 times, (p, yo) 8 times, p, ssp 3 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 45 - 48: knit/purl (stockinette)

Row 49: (k2 tog. 3 times, (k, yo) 10 times, k, ssk 3 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 50 - 53 purl/knit (stockinette)

Row 54: (P2 tog. 4 times, (yo, p) 11 times, yo, ssp 4 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 55 - 58: knit/purl (stockinette)

Row 59: (k2 tog. 4 times, k2, (yo,k) 12 times, k, ssk 4 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 60 - 63 purl/knit (stockinette)

Row 64: (P2 tog. 5 times, (p, yo) 14 times, p, ssp 5 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 65 - 68: knit/purl (stockinette)

Row 69: (k2 tog. 6 times, (yo,k) 15 times, yo, ssk 6 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 70 - 73: purl/knit (stockinette)

Row 74: (P2 tog. 6 times, p2, (yo, p) 16 times, p, ssp 6 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 75 - 78: knit/purl (stockinette)

Row 79: (k2 tog. 7 times, (k, yo) 18 times, k, ssk 7 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 80 - 83 purl/knit (stockinette)

Row 84: (P2 tog. 8 times, (yo, p) 19 times, yo, ssp 8 times) repeat 5 more times.

Rows 85 - 88: knit/purl (stockinette)

Row 89: (k2 tog. 8 times, k2, (yo, k) 20 times, k, ssk 8 times) repeat 5 more times.

Row 90 - 93: purl/knit (stockinette)

Bind off loosly.



Here it is with all 6 repetitions of the pattern and the edge knitted on (in recycled cashmere from Twice Sheared Sheep - ebay).