The Shawl Collar

The problem with shawl collars on cardigans is that they require some "advanced" skills. They can be made in one piece with the fronts of the sweater, or shawl collars can be knitted separately and sewn on. The Brenda sweater's collar is, of course, knit in one piece with the fronts; you can tell by the way the lace pattern is continuous. Now, I've knit shawl collars before. So this shouldn't be so scary. But it is. I want it to be Right.

So I went back to the knitting library that is my dining room to refresh my memory on the particulars of collar knitting. I pulled out a number of reference books, including Handknitting with Meg Swanson which has the wonderful Shawl Collared Vest, the workbook from Carole Wulsters All in One Shawl Collar class I took at Stitches East back when it was in Atlantic City, knitting beyond the edge for Nicky Epstein's take on collar manipulation, and The Big Book of Knitting, which is my go-to knitting bible. The problem is that most of these resources use short rows as the technique for building a shawl collar, and while easy enough to execute, the technique is almost impossible to use with lace.

But The Big Book of Knitting has a tutorial for a Shawl Collar Knit with a Cardigan that looks like it might work. It depends on a front facing worked along with the body starting from the bottom. The collar extension continues after the shoulder stitches have been bound off, and will be sewn together at the back neck and onto the back neckline when completed. I remember using this technique when I knit the Loden Mist cardigan from Interweave Knits a few years back.

I think we're ready to start knitting.......