Shawl Knitting – Garter Tab Start

Hello!

Today I have a tutorial video for you on the garter tab start for top-down shawls. Many top-down shawls begin with a garter tab, and this can be a confusing thing for new shawl knitters. It’s really not that difficult, though, once you know what’s happening!

Here is a video showing you what goes on with the garter tab start:

We are really just knitting that horizontal section at the very top of the shawl, and then picking up the stitches along the side of that “tab” to act as our shawl body stitches. Sometimes this tab can bunch up or bow out. The key is to work it as short as possible while still allowing enough stitches on the side to be able to be picked up. Don’t work those picked up stitches too tightly. Some of it depends on the lace pattern growing out of these stitches, too. A good blocking can usually help to fix this issue.

I hope this helps!!

Until next time, Happy Knitting!