A short note on short rows December 19, 2011 – Posted in: Mondays with Mona
While most of us are in the throes of preparations for the holidays – no matter which ones – a lot of us are also in the eleventh hour of gift knitting. I like to pretend I am on top of things this year. Mostly because I picked smaller projects that I could finish in two days (or less, depending on the time I had to spare for knitting). Then I go and add more, so the verdict on “being on top of things” is still out, and will probably be until the 25th.
One of the things I knit a few times is the Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho, published on their blog The Purl Bee, which was featured in our Free Pattern Fridays and is really so much fun to knit.
Worked from the tip up this project makes good use of a technique called short rows. If you are not a brand new knitter and ready to learn new techniques, short rows really should not scare you away. Once you have grasped the idea it is quite simple. Also, there are different methods to work them and picking the right one for yourself makes a big difference.
Short rows can be done with a wrap and turn, with a yarn over, or you use what is called “German Short Rows”. I have no idea why they are called that and it is certainly not because of the name that I am enamoured by this technique but rather by the ingenious way they are worked. I discovered them in the Ravelry newsletter from October 27th in the “Ask a Knitter” category and was then looking for a good project to try it out. I like how this method does not interrupt the knitting, as it happens with wraps and turns.
Rox put up a great tutorial with videos to show how-to and I am sure I could not do a better job so I’m sending you there. For now I’ll leave you with my almost finished WIP – you guessed it, another Bandana Cowl knit in Cascade Eco Cloud, color #1802.
– Mona
2 Comments
Lydia December 19, 2011 - 23:25
I really like that cowl! Every time I see a pattern that says to knit short rows I move on to something else. I think this would be a great pattern to learn how to do it. I love that yarn, I can’t wait to stop by the store and buy some.
Marisa December 23, 2011 - 13:28
I recently knit a great scarf/wrap pattern using short rows that I found on Ravelry. It’s called Volna, and though it’s not free it’s very customizable in terms of yarn weight, width, etc. So you can really get a lot of use out of it. There’s good wrap-and-turn practice in there! I love patterns that look way more elaborate than they really are! 😉