Sunday, February 16, 2014

Wayfaring Stranger


An asymmetrical wrap/shawl, inspired by Hitchhker, a knitted shawl pattern, by Martina Behm.

Wayfaring Stranger is mostly Basic Tunisian crochet, with a few sc thrown in as needed.  This pattern assumes the user is familiar with those stitches and does not explain them.






Gauge and hook size are not important.  Use whatever weight yarn makes  you happy.  I do suggest that you use a hook slightly larger than called for the yarn you are using.  With Fingering yarn, I used a G hook (4.00 mm), rather than the suggested D (3.25 mm).


Setup:

Ch. 3
  1. Work 5 sc in the first ch. - 6 stitches total.
  2. Pull "rods" for Tunisian in each of the 6 stitches of the previous row.  Complete the row in Basic Tunisian.
  3. Increase 2 stitches at the beginning of the row by pulling a "rod" up between the first two rods of the previous row, draw a loop through the rod below (as normal for Tunisian) then pull up another "rod" in the space between the second and third "rods".  Pull loops through "rods to the end of the row, as for Tunisian.  Finish row as for Basic Tunisian, remember to work the 2 increases in the order they occur on the hook.
  4. Repeat row 3.
  5. Repeat row 3, except do not work the last 4 stitches.  This creates the first "tooth".

Working the Shawl:
  • Continue working as in the Setup. 
  • Increase 2 stitches at the beginning of each row.
  • Work 4 rows even, then on the 5th row, leave the last 4 stitches unworked.  This will make the 5th row become the first row of the next tooth.   A tooth is 4 rows by 4 stitches, in size and all teeth occur on the same side of the shawl, and on the opposite side from the increases..
  • Continue working until you run out of yarn, or reach the size you want.
  • Basic Tunisian does curl.  Do not panic.  Edging the entire shawl in sc, once it is the right size, should eliminate the curling.

The increases on the one side will created a curved edge.  The second edge will have "teeth", and the third edge will be straight.