Knitting Tips for the Trufa Shawl
Trufa, designed by Corrina Ferguson, is a crescent-shaped shawl knit with two skeins of
Manos del Uruguay Serena. The body of the shawl is constructed with short rows followed by a lace section and a simple crochet edging. Here we would like to share our tips to help you master the techniques necessary to cast on and complete this beautiful design!
Casting On & Immediate Increases
Sometimes the trickiest part of the pattern is just getting started and set up. For this lace shawl tutorial, we begin with a
long tail cast on. Here the key is to make it loose enough. We do not recommend using a larger needle size, as that will only make the stitches larger. The goal is to leave some space
between the stitches allowing room for the increases in the following row. To do this, give the strand over your thumb a little extra slack.
Immediately the pattern calls for increasing the number of stitches by working a knit, a yarn over, and a second knit into the same stitch. Excluding the first and last stitch, each stitch after completing the increase is now 3 stitches, as seen in the images below.
Short-Row Shaping
Short rows are exactly what they sound like: a row in which you do not knit all the stitches. To work a short row, you will stop at a specific point and turn your work to continue back across the stitches you just worked until you reach the next turning point. There are a variety of different types of short rows and ultimately they all achieve the effect of creating curves in your knitting. Here, the short row begins with a yarnover, knit or purl across to the yarnover from the previous row, work two stitches together (the yarnover from the previous row and the following stitch), work two more stitches, then you turn your work and repeat.
Here, the short row is worked in three easy steps:
- Begin with a yarnover, then knit or purl across to the yarnover from the previous row.
- Work two stitches together (the yarnover from the previous row and the following stitch).
- Work two more stitches in pattern, then you turn your work and repeat.
After the first few short rows, you will notice that it looks like a bump is forming, but fear not! As you continue, that bump will smooth out and blocking will reveal the magic!
Lace Knitting
The next step of the pattern is the lace charts. We strongly encourage the use of stitch markers to mark the pattern repeats. When you transition from chart A to B, and again from B to C, keep in mind that the placement of your markers will need to be adjusted to accommodate the number of stitches in the pattern repeat.
After your lace knitting is complete, and you have cast off, it's blocking time! Check out our tutorial post,
"How to block an all-over lace pattern", for tips on how to block your finished project.
The
Trufa pattern is available to purchase on
Ravelry, or through your
Local Yarn Shop that participates in the Ravelry In-Store Pattern program.
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