Selvedges

I'm still worried about the knitting police. I'm worried that they will look at the selvedge of the Heirloom Shawl:



and have a fit.

Now, this selvedge is a twisted knit stitch on the "public" side (that's what others might call the "right" side) and a purl on the "private" side (you guessed, that's what most people call the "wrong" side.)

I don't like it. I don't know if it's my lack of skill in getting the tension right; I don't know if it's the skinny needles; I don't know if it will all come good in the blocking. I certainly hope so.

In the spirit of learning what we can from our mistakes, I investigated other possible selvedges. I did this far too late. I can't do anything about it now, but maybe next time.

I looked in Montse Stanley's "The Handknitter's Handbook", which is my techniques resource of choice. She details about thirteen or fourteen different selvedge treatments, but nothing seemed quite right.

I then turned my attention to Myrna Stahman's "Stahman's Shawls & Scarves" and there I found the "Chain Selvedge", as she calls it. I had a little practise with some nice thick wool and needles that weren't skinny, and this is what I got:



slip 1 purlwise wyif

Now that looks a whole lot better, don't you think? So, lesson learned, I think.

Despite the less than satisfactory edge, the shawl is coming along well. Here's picture of the snowdrop that appeared in the border:




Here you can clearly see the red crochet cotton I've been using as a running yarn marker. You can see how the beginning of the repeat changes sometimes, which almost threw me into a panic, but I resisted and I got over it.

Little progress today - knitting madly on the birthday present for Clare - but only the garter stitch border to go.

Watch this space.