Knitting a Reverse Garter Ridge Tab in a Bottom Up Shawl
- Sönna Schuttner
- Mar 26
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 8
If you love the idea of a bottom up triangle shawl but are perplexed by how to close up the top while maintaining the garter ridge boarder, I have something super exciting to share with you: A tutorial all about knitting the reverse garter ridge tab!
My favorite characteristic of bottom up shawls is that they are shaped by decreases which means each row goes by faster and faster. I'm usually pretty excited to work on a knitting project in the beginning, but by the time I'm 700 yards in, my excitement shifts from being excited to work on it to being excited to be done. The long rows along the bottom edge seem to take my whole life each! I love that with a bottom up shawl, when that shift takes place the rows are going by faster and faster. I find it motivating. But this comes with inherent challenges. Namely: How are we to maintain the continuity of the garter ridge boarder and bind off?
This question kept me up at night until I realized the answer lay in analyzing the garter ridge tab used in top-down shawls—then simply reversing the steps!
Jump to:
From Basics to Reverse: Knitting the Garter Ridge Tab
To explain a reverse garter ridge tab, we first need to understand how the traditional version is constructed. If you have never worked one before, I encourage you to check out this SDK Blog Post The Garter Ridge Tab Cast On for a more in depth dive (it includes photos and a helpful link to an SDK YouTube video).
The benefit of a garter ridge tab cast on is the finished look of the seamless garter ridge boarder.
Part 1: The first part of the garter ridge tab is worked by casting on three stitches (or four depending on instructions) and working six rows. Instructions may also very on the exact number of rows, but you can imagine that once this is done, we will have a tiny garter ridge rectangle or "tab" (see the first image below).
Part 2: The next step involves working across the live stitches on our needle, picking up a stitch for each garter ridge bump along our tab, and then picking up a stitch for each cast on stitch.
While it may not look very shapely all squashed on the needle as it will be after the previous step, by the time we work a single increase row of the shawl pattern, the shape will be more defined and the continuous garter ridge boarder will be evident.
Take a look at the baby shawl in the photo above. The pink edge is the cast on. The shawl was shaped with decreases along each outer edge and up each side of the center spine until have reached a point with nine stitches. Now imagine we just bind off at this point with a traditional knit bind off. We would clearly interrupt our beautiful garter ridge edging!
Consider the center image above that was taken after Part 2 of the garter ridge tab was completed. Both of these shawls are in the same step of the garter ridge tab with nine stitches. This step was reached in the baby shawl by decreasing and in the garter ridge tab by picking up stitches (in other words, it was approached from opposite directions in the two images).
If the baby shawl in the image above is essentially at the point where Part 2 of the garter ridge tab had been completed, then our next task is to work through part 1 and create the tab. The is especially evident when the needles and cord are reorganized so that the stitches can be oriented as in the image below. There is a nice little rectangle space just waiting for a "tab" to complete it.
Let's knit that garter ridge tab in reverse!
Recall that the garter ridge edge of our bottom up shawl was created by knitting the first two stitches and then decreasing (on the right edge) with an left leaning decrease, usually an ssk (slip, slip, knit). In order to create a continuous garter ridge edge, we need to continue that structure.
Reversing the Garter Ridge Tab Step 1: Knit the first two stitches (depending on the pattern, you may be instructed to knit the first three stitches):
Reversing the Tab Step 2: Ssk:
After Step 1 and Step 2, there will be one less stitch:
Reversing the Garter Ridge Tab Step 3: Turn work and knit back to the outer edge.
Repeat Steps 1 - 3 until there are six stitches left. (Note: just as a garter ridge tab may instruct to cast on 4 stitches to create the tab, the reverse garter ridge tab may instruct to work until 8 stitches remain - 4 for the tab and 4 for the other side of the garter ridge boarder.) Once we are down to our final stitches, we are ready to set up for grafting the remaining stitches together!
Grafting Live Stitches In A Reverse Garter Ridge Tab:
Grafting is a technique used in knitting to join live stitches to one another with a darning needle and yarn in a way that mimics a row of stitches. It is often referred to as the "Kitchener Stitch." Although I prefer to call the technique "grafting," it is important to have the "Kitchener Stitch" in our vocabulary in case it is needed when looking up information about the technique. This method of joining stitches is frequently used on the toe of a sock or under the arm of a sweater with a greater number of stitches. In this instance, with only six stitches to join, it quite short - almost not worth the fuss (but it is worth it, I promise!).
Grafting Orientation Step 1: Before beginning the graft, we have to orient our stitches on the needles so that we can access the outer two stitches. Begin by breaking the yarn and threading a darning needle.
If you prefer using double pointed needles, you can simply slip half the stitches onto one double pointed needle and then slip the other half of the stitches onto another double pointed needle.
If you prefer working on a long cabled needle, split the stitches in half:
Pull the cable out, similar to how a "loop" is created in the magic loop method.
Grafting Orientation Step 2: Orient the stitches so that you can access the outer two stitches by sliding them up onto the needles:
Grafting Orientation Step 3: Make sure everything is set up properly:
Double check that the wrong sides of the work are facing each other and that the right sides of the work are facing out. This is especially important when using double pointed needles because it is easier to get turned around by using the wrong point.
Double check that the working yarn, or tail is coming off of the first stitch on the front needle:
Now that our stitches are all properly oriented, the graft itself must be set up.
Grafting Set Up Step 1: Insert the darning needle into the first stitch on the back needle knit-wise and sew through, leaving the stitch on the needle.
Grafting Set Up Step 2: Insert the darning needle into the first stitch on the front needle purl-wise and sew through, leaving the stitch on the needle.
Now we are all set to do the real grafting in our reverse garter ridge tab!
Grafting Step 1: Insert the darning needle into the first stitch on the back needle, drop this stitch off the back needle and sew through.
Grafting Step 2: Insert the darning needle knit-wise into the next stitch on the back needle, sew through, but do not let this stitch come off the needle.
Grafting Step 3: Insert the darning needle knit-wise into the first stitch on the front needle, drop this stitch off the front needle and sew through.
Grafting Step 4: Insert the darning needle purl-wise into the next stitch on the front needle, sew through, but do not let this stitch come off the needle.
After working Grafting Steps 1-4 the stitch count will be reduced by two.
Repeat Grafting Steps 1-4 until there are two stitches left, one stitch on each needle.
To graft the last stitch on the back needle, repeat Grafting Step 1: insert the darning needle into the final stitch purl-wise, drop it off the needle, and sew through.
To graft the last stitch on the front needle, repeat Grafting Step 3: insert the darning needle into the final stitch knit-wise, drop it off the needle, and sew through.
Address any inconsistencies in tension while sewing in the tail.
And that, my friends, is it! We have a bottom up baby shawl with a reverse garter ridge tab bind off!
SDK YouTube Tutorial: Knitting The Reverse Garter Ridge Tab
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Happy Making! ~Sönna
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