I have mainly chosen to knit rectangular scarves/ stoles/ shawls. There are several reasons for this but the three main ones are: more wearable for me; I first saw the very fine lace Unst examples and wanted to recreate these; their construction with invisible joins appealed to me a lot! I also found that as I became more skilled in the construction and techniques I could personalise these by using my own chosen combination of motifs.
During one wool week I took a mini hap class (outside to inside) with Donna Smith so I could become more familiar with the construction of a square hap….. I quickly learned that there were many ways of constructing a hap and doing the joins! It took me a long time to get round to finishing this hap.
I am a firm believer in trying out a technique first, often using larger needles and yarn and then when I am happy with the different techniques I can scale down the yarn and needle size to suit my preferences for something very lacy. Eventually I finished the hap but was not proud of what I had achieved.
I continued to knit fine lace and more recently use my own naturally dyed yarn for this. Then I became very fortunate, Elizabeth Williamson, daughter of Betsy Williamson from Shetland, moved to Woodbridge and started teaching lace knitting! This has really broadened my horizons as I have knitted in different yarns, learned to knit different shaped shawls, learnt many more Shetland techniques, many that I did not know I did not know and generally had a great time!
The most recent project we have been doing is a mini square Shetland lace hap, again outside to inside. Illness got in the way and I needed to wait for the next stage (we are fortunate in meeting with Elizabeth in person, although her workshops can be taken online wherever you are in the world.) It is a very clever and lovely design. I have posted about it here on 15 June 22.
I decided to return to the hap I had knitted many years ago whilst waiting to finish ‘Elizabeth’s’ hap. I wanted to try different ways of joining the mitres where the wedges meet and also joining on the sides of the centre to the two wedges (trapezoids). I ignored the outer lace at this stage and just knitted in garter stitch. Some of the wedges I did the decrease on the outer stitches and some one stitch in. I wondered if I could even tell the difference. One wedge would be knitted first, before the centre and the one opposite would be grafted on. (I love grafting since I have improved my technique due to following methods given for grafting, including two sided lace grafting, by Joni Coniglio documented in some recent posts here in this blog).
The other important consideration to me was the holes around the centre of the shawl, I aimed for the holes to be identical and the same number on each side.
Sample one
Hap with holes on each side and the garter stitch graft on the side opposite where I started.
In this instance I am happy with either a herringbone stitch or whip stitch join for sides 2 and 3 to the centre
Sample two
Knitting another sample to see how slipping the first stitch and then doing a whip stitch join can look. I like the neatness of the holes formed and one to add to my repertoire but not for joining the edges of the centre square when I have already knitted the holes around all 4 sides of the square.
Sample three
Bigger and with proper wedges. However, I shaped these by decreasing on every other row from the start, outer edge, and look how they kick out at the outer edges! This must be why Shetland Hap Knitters often / usually have some straight rows before starting the decreases to make the mitres!
Happy with the holes and happy with how I joined on the side wedges by joining them on as I knitted the centre
Each wedge forming the mitres is joined to two other wedges with versions of the Betsy join as I interpreted it in 4 different ways based on Hazel Tindall’s demonstration in the 50 tips from Shetland Knitters DVDs which she did with Elizabeth Johnston (3). I was waiting for my personal tuition of the Betsy join for Elizabeth’s hap, which explained and clarified the method. (The equivalent wedge joins after my personal tuition are shown in a previous blog post Elizabeth’s Mini hap)
So onto a much changed version of Donna’s knitted hap from the earlier workshop.
I used Shetland Supreme 2 ply yarn, which I naturally dyed with Alchemilla and Madder. I used size 3.25mm dpns.
Image of the modified hap
This has benefited from workshops and discussions with the following Shetland Lace Knitters ( I hope I have not missed anyone out, apologies if I have):
Kathleen Anderson
Anne Eunson
The late Ina Irvine
Elizabeth Johnston
Donna Smith
Betsy Williamson
Elizabeth Williamson
And also Tessa Lorant for the Buttercup Edging in her book ‘Lace Edgings’ and Joni Coniglio for enabling me to graft lace invisibly
…..but basically the interpretation is mine and I now have managed to work out a variation of the 2017 Mini Hap that I am happy with.
Order of construction
Lace edging knitted first, graft completed the Joni Coniglio method
Stitches picked up along a quarter of the peaks, then board/ wedge knitted including the row of holes and return row
3 more boards completed by picking up stitches along a quarter of the outer peaks for each one,finishing as the first one.
Returning to the completed first board the centre is knitted picking up one stitch from boards 2 and then 3 on every other row but finishing 2 rows short. The remaining stitch left from each side board is placed on a separate yarn holder.
The centre is then grafted to the fourth side board including picking up the remaining st from the side boards to complete the centre section.
This leaves four gaps at the mitres which are closed with herringbone stitch after dressing the hap. I felt the herringbone stitch complimented the Buttercup Edging of the lace border.
At last I feel I understand how I can knit a full sized hap, the many alternatives for knitting an outside-in hap and the effect of the different choices made. Planning and making swatches of the motifs and techniques payed off for me. I like to fully understand and be in control of all that goes on in making a knitted item. Perhaps the late Elizabeth Zimmerman should be added to my list above. She certainly encourages this approach!
Thanks for the info!
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