Saturday, April 28, 2012

Solomon's Knot: Solved!

Hey Yarnies!!!


I couple of weeks ago, @Beverly Rivera was having some trouble with creating "Solomon's Knot" or the "Lover's Knot" in crochet.  I had a little bit of experience with this stitch so I was able to get her started.  Not long ago, however, she cam across another problem: decreasing.


The trouble with this stitch is not the stitch itself but the way in which the shapes are created.  Essentially, you're making squares and each of your knots creates one side of the square.


See this diagram:
You can also visit this page: FOR A VIDEO


Now, this might get you some knots but not necessarily the shaping that you need.  Let's take this pattern for instance: Solomon's Knot Shawl


The instructions are a little vague at best.  Lines like
"Row 2: Be careful that you don’t twist your work during this row!
Make 1 SK. Sc into first st.
(Make 2 SK, sk 1 st. Sc in next st) 21 times.
Note: The skipped stitch is the sc from the previous row. From now on, you will always crochet into a SK stitch, not a sc.
Turn.
"
This is CONFUSING!!! So here's a demo....

STEP 1: Make your foundation chain - I didn't follow the pattern here as I don't want to make the shawl, but I used an even number so it's similar:
8 SK's (Solomon Knots)
Now, starting on the right, make TWO MORE SK's. This will start the first row. Once you have the second SK made, single crochet in to the NEXT KNOT from the hook:


REMEMBER: When you were making your foundation chain, according to the pattern, your SK's were 2.75" in length, right? All the next ones should be shorter than that. This creates little triangles to start off the shawl. I'm going to put it another way.... I made you a DIAGRAM!


Literally, when you're making the new SK's you're not technically stitching into SC's after the fist row. Each time that you complete two SK's, you're SC-ing into a different SK to complete the "square". The diagram does a better job at explaining what I mean..


So here's the rest of mine...
Row 1 Completed
Beginning SK of Row 2
Completed Row 2


After you have gotten a couple of rows done, you should be able to see the shaping of the shawl! You're still making squares just on a 45 degree angle (thus diamonds) and you will eventually get the triangle shape that you're looking for!!

This is 3 Rows completed, note the clear triangle shape!
So there you have it!! Solomon's Knot! Beautiful and complex but light and airy for the summer. If you made this with cotton, maybe all in white, it would be a gorgeous wrap over pretty much anything! Let me know what you think and if you have questions don't hesitate to ask! I might even make a video!! LOL

-Kobuu

1 comment:

catherine said...

Great tutorial!

Thanks a lot ;)