Westknits MKAL My Version October 19 2023, 0 Comments

This year's mystery knitalong has inspired many different takes on the official Clue 1 but I haven't seen many where the instructions are written up anywhere other than Ravelry. Given that Ravelry isn't accessible to everyone and some people are more comfortable working from written instructions than just winging it, I thought I would share my alternative for clue 1 as a blog post.  I don't claim to be the first or only person to make a mitred square alternative - There are some lovely ones with a block of 9 squares for clue 1 for example - but here is my version. It comprises of 4 mitred squares surrounded by a stripe of each colour worked up to Stephen's official Clue 1 instructions. 

I'd like to thank Louise Tilbrook for her blog post on mitred squares which I think gives the neatest decreases and Katie from Yarn for the Soul who has tested these instructions for me.

Instructions

Abbreviations used the same as Geogradient Shawl by Stephen West

Square 1:

Cast on 54 stitches. I used the long tail cast on

Row 1: K25, SSK, pm, k2tog, Knit to last stitch, Sl1wyif
Row 2: Knit to last stitch, Sl1wyif
Row 3: Knit to 2 stitches before marker, SSK, sm, K2tog, Knit to last stitch, Sl1wyif
Repeat rows 2 and 3 until 4 stitches remain finishing with Row 2
SSK, remove marker, K2tog, turn
K2tog, cut yarn and thread through last stitch

You can arrange colours in many ways but to replicate my pattern I cast on and knitted the first 4 rows in my darkest shade, then worked 8 rows in each colour from darkest to lightest, then the 3 darkest colours again.

Square 2:

Cast on 27 stitches then pick up and knit another 27 stitches along the cast on edge of the wrong side of square 1 starting at the corner. See picture

Continue as for Square 1 from Row 2.

Square 3:

Repeat as for Square 2 picking up along the wrong side of Square 2.

Square 4:

Pick up and knit 27 stitches along the cast on edge of the wrong side of Square 1 towards the middle then pick up and knit 27 stitches along the cast on edge of Square 3. Continue as for Square 1 from Row 2.

Your 4 squares should look like this

Border:

With right side facing and starting in one corner pick up and knit 27 stitches along the slip stitch edge of one mitred square then pick up and knit another 27 stitches along the edge of the adjacent square. Place a marker 1 stitch in from each corner. Repeat for the other 3 sides.

On your needles you should have (1 stitch, marker, 52 stitches, marker, 1 stitch) 4 times.  216 stitches in total.

Continue with Section 1 of the MKAL pattern starting with Round 4. I changed colour every 8 rounds.

I really hope this helps you if you want to make a mitred square centre to your shawl. Keep an eye on social media to see how my shawl progresses.