Hello! I am trying to make Paton’s Crescent Knit Shawl designed by Katherine Poole-Fournier with fingering weight yarn instead of DK as the pattern calls for. Since DK is twice the size of fingering, I assumed casting on double the initial amount of stitches (119 to 238) would work, but after knitting the initial short row shaping, when the original pattern calls to set up the row as K3. PM. (K38. PM) twice. K37. PM. K3, I also doubled this as K6. PM. (K38. PM) four times. K37 twice. PM. K6, but this does not work with the lace pattern that follows. What is your advice for making this shawl with fingering weight yarn (amount of initial stitches and how to set up for lace pattern)? Thank you!
Welcome to the forum!
Very lovely shawl.
Rather than doubling the stitch count, you need to take into account the repeats as shown in the chart for the body. Increase the cast on by the number of repeats you need for the size shawl you’d like.
The body chart shows an 18-stitch repeat with a number of side sts in each section. That’s the guide to increasing the size of the shawl.
Hi! Thank you for the kind welcome and advice! So say, to make it easy, I were to cast on 180 stitches and do the short row shaping, how then would I establish the border and lace pattern? Thanks again!
Hi
Unfortunately when substituting yarns weight it isn’t as simple as doubling the stitch count.
Here’s a chart which shows stitches per 10cm for each yarn weight in their regular suggested needle size
https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/yarn-weight-system
Fingering, depending on the brand, will be around 27 - 32 sts
DK, depending one the brand will be around 21 - 24 sts
So, you’ll see doubling the fingering weight stitches won’t reach an equal size to a DK pattern.
It takes some planning and maths to work out the stitch count, where to increase/decrease, how many to increase/decrease, how frequently to increase/decrease.
The easiest aspect is probably increasing the number of repeats of a lace pattern, as salmonmac said, if it’s 18 stitches then it comes in multiples of 18 excluding any borders or selvedges, you can add a repeat, or add many repeats to make the same size but in a finer yarn.
If you want to go ahead I suggest you start with some gauge swatches and maths.
A swatch in your yarn so you can calculate how many stitches and rows you need to work in stockinette or whatever the neck band stitch is, to acheive the size given in the pattern.
Then a swatch of several of the lace repeats so you can calculate how many repeats you need at the narrowest end of the shawl, an how many at the widest end of the shawl.
Then work out the height in rows. How many cm is the shawl in height, how many rows is that in the pattern, how many rows would you need in your chosen yarn, how many lace repeats in height is that in your yarn.
Then work out increases/decreases to shape. How many do you need to get from the cast on edge to the cast off edge and how frequently do these need to happen in your yarn.
It is a substantial rewriting of the pattern.
Once you have all that, you are probably ready to cast on.
I have just made similar calculations for a cable and travelling stitches sweater I chose to modify to fingering weight yarn so have done basically the same thing and it is possible, but you might not fancy it. It depends if you feel like working the calculations or just want to get on with knitting.
If you just want to get on with knitting it might be preferable buy a DK yarn for this shawl and save your fingering weight yarn for another project.
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The border sts also have a repeat so you would take that into account when you’ve finished the lace pattern repeats. It should work out but if you’re a few sts off you can always adjust as you knit the border pattern.
It’s a gorgeous pattern and I can understand wanting to make it in a lighter yarn. But…in a way you are designing a new shawl. There are so many lovely shawl patterns written for fingering that it might be best to use your lighter weight yarn on one of them. Alternatively, work this pattern in the DK to see how it is set up and then try the modifications.
Let us know how you’re going to proceed and have fun with the shawl whatever you decide.
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I was going to suggest finding another pattern by the same designer, but Patons / Yarnspirations didn’t list the designer, which is annoying on several levels.
However, by doing a search with Google Lens, I find that it was designed by Katherine Poole-Fournier, and she has several shawls on Ravelry. https://www.ravelry.com/designers/katherine-poole-fournier/patterns
In the process, I also found a page FULL of lace shawls:
https://intheloopknitting.com/lace-shawl-and-wrap-knitting-patterns/
You can also search on Ravelry by yarn weight. This is all assuming you don’t want to do all the swatching and maths described by @Creations. But maybe you enjoy that whole process, and getting the shawl you’ve been dreaming of!