pattern help on selvage edge of shawl

Hello, I am knitting my first shawl, which is the Sunrise Sultan Shawl.

My question is on the “Wrong Side” instructions. Does it mean slip the first three stitches purlwise and purl the rest of the row or to slip the first stitch purl wise and purl the rest of the row? Also, on the other end of the wrong side row, do I repeat the three stitch instruction in the reverse?

Also, in trying to track this information down, I have found a lot of different opinions on whether the slip stitches should be done with the yarn in back or the yarn in front. If this isn’t specified in my pattern, do I assume the yarn in front on the wrong side rows (because those are purled rows) and yarn in back on the knit rows?

Thank you for your help,

Edge sts (over 3 sts)
Right side: Slip the first st knitwise, ssk, work pattern until there are 3 sts left on the needle, k2tog, p1.
Wrong side: Slip the first sts, p all sts .

Welcome to KH!


The details page on the Ravelry entry mentions slipping the first stitch. Of course it doesn’t specify RS or WS. I would slip the first stitch on both knit and purl rows. So on the WS, slip the first stitch and purl the rest of the row. That includes the last 3sts of the WS row.

It depends on the pattern whether you slip with yarn in front or in back. In general and as you suspected, slip with yarn in back on the RS knit row and with yarn in front (i.e. the side facing you) on the WS purl row.