Friday, February 06, 2009
“Diamonds on the Diagonal” Shawl
It's easy to convert the Diamonds on the Diagonal scarf pattern to make a shawl.
Recently on Ravelry.com, a knitter asked me about adjusting the pattern for the Diamonds on the Diagonal scarf so that she could make a shawl. I thought that this might interest others, too. Here is what I told her:
It depends on which of the two versions you will be doing.
For Version 1, the Diagonal “V”:
Take the Central Panel from Charts A and B and repeat it 4 or even 5 times, instead of the three times as noted on the charts. Cast on an extra 9 or 18 sts (or any multiple of 9 sts) so that you will have the right number of sts for the extra repeats.
For added length, simply work the 18-row repeat of Chart A for half of the length you wish. Then make sure that you work the same number of repeats for Chart B for the second half.
For Version 2, the Diamond Diagonal:
It is somewhat trickier and requires more of an explanation. Because the charts for that version are for the actual number of sts cast on–-and not for a sequence of repeats–-it requires a slight re-writing of the charts.
You can actually do this yourself by drawing lines down to the right of St #8 and #17 and again down to the right of St #34 and #43. Do this for all the charts for that version: Charts C, D, and E. The spaces between (8-17 and 34-43) will be the repeats that you can insert. To accomplish this, you will have to cast on an extra 18 sts or multiple of 18 sts, if you want to go considerably wider.
Because this is a balanced pattern, you will have a 9-st repeat on one side and another 9-st repeat on the other side. Hence the extra 18 sts per repeat.
For added length, again work extra repeats of Chart C for the first half and the same number of repeats for Chart E for the second half.
Others have successfully worked a Diamonds on the Diagonal shawl.
To read about one of these adaptations, take a look at my blog entry for Myrna's Diamond Shawl.
