Have you knit with bamboo yet? It's a real treat! Shiny and soft like silk, but durable like linen, bamboo is also an environmentally enlightened choice. As the world's fastest growing plant, bamboo is a wonderful sustainable resource. Harvesting the cellulose needed to make yarn doesn't even kill the plant. In fact, a few short months later, it's ready to be harvested again. Also, bamboo absorbs almost five times the amount of greenhouse gasses and makes 35% more oxygen than an equivalent grove of trees. Fresh air! Plus bamboo yarn is biodegradable, naturally antibacterial, and helps protect against UV rays. Good stuff!

This is a really easy shrug to knit, so join in, beginners! -Whitney

• 2 (2, 2-3, 3, 3) skeins of Farmhouse Yarn's Bonnie's Bamboo 100% bamboo. This color is "Sand".  Note: For 13 inch size, if your back is wider than 17 inches (measuring from armpit to armpit) and/or you want your sleeves longer than 14 inches, you will probably need 3 skeins.
• 1 US#7 12 inch circular needle
• A spare knitting needle

Gauge

5 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch in the round (see our Circular Gauge Tutorial)

Finished Sizes

Circumference of Upper Sleeve: 11 (12, 13, 14, 15) inches

Length of sleeve and width of back are adjustable. 

The Cuff

Cast on 42 (48, 54, 60, 66) stitches to a 12 inch circular needle. Place a marker and join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches. 

Round 1: Knit.

Round 2: Purl.

Round 3: Knit.

Round 4: *K3, yo, slip 1 - k2tog - pass the slipped stitch over (psso), yo, repeat from * to end of round.

Round 5: Knit.

Round 6: *Yo, slip 1 - k2tog - psso, yo, k3, repeat from * to end of round.

Repeat Rounds 3-6 2 more times. 

Knit 1 round.

The Sleeve

Decrease Round: *K4, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (35 [40, 45, 50, 55] stitches)

Knit 4 rounds, ending the last round 1 stitch before the marker, make 1 right (m1r), k1.

Next round: k1, make 1 left (m1L), knit to end of round. (37 [42, 47, 52, 57] stitches)

Repeat the last 5 rounds six more times. (49 [54, 59, 64, 69] stitches)

Knit 6 rounds, ending the last round 1 stitch before the marker, m1r, k1.

Next round: k1, m1L, knit to end of round. (51 [56, 61, 66, 71] stitches)

Repeat the last 7 rounds two more times. (55 [60, 65, 70, 74] stitches) 

Continue to knit evenly until the sleeve is as long as you want. Fit the sleeve fairly snugly into your armpit. (I knit my sleeve for 4 inches beyond the final increase).

The Back

With a measuring tape, measure the distance from one armpit across your back to the other armpit (my measurement, for example, is 17 inches). You will knit the back until it measures half of this distance (for me, 8 1/2 inches). To do that:

Turn the work so that the purl side is facing you.

Purl across all the stitches, turn the work and knit back the other way.

Continue to work stockinette stitch back and forth until the flat piece is half the width of your back.

Place these stitches on a spare knitting needle, and make another sleeve and half a back. 

Assembling

There are at least two ways to attach the final two pieces together. Grafting them with the Kitchener Stitch is seamless and invisible, but maybe a little tricky with the rather unforgiving tension of the bamboo. Using the Three Needle Bind Off is, perhaps, easier, but does result in a seam.

For the Kitchener option, start by holding the pieces with the wrong sides facing each other. For step by step instructions on how to proceed, please see our Kitchener Stitch Tutorial.

For the Three Needle Bind Off option, hold the pieces with the right sides facing and the needles parallel. With a third needle, knit 1 stitch from the front needle together with 1 stitch from the back needle.

Do that 1 more time so that there are 2 stitches on the right needle. Then, pass the first stitch over the second stitch and off the needle (just like a normal bind off!)

Continue to bind off in this way until all the stitches are bound off.

Here's what the seam looks like:

Weave in the ends, gently block and you're done!