EveryLastBit KidSilk Haze Shawl Susan Newhall
This shawl design came out of my desire to use stashed leftovers from the Modern Quilt Wrap (designed by Mags Kandis), my love of color play, and my chronically cold shoulders. I wanted to design a pattern that is luxurious while remaining accessible. The color work may look complicated but is quite simple. No weaving in of ends or significant finishing beyond a good blocking is required. This pattern is suitable as a second or third project for a beginner while remaining entertaining to experienced knitters. Finished Size: (after blocking) 76in along the long end 40in deep from neck to tip (before blocking) 65in along the length 33in from neck to tip Needles: Size 6 circular needles Adjust needle size to achieve a pleasing fabric. A $60^{\circ}$ cable length or longer is essential for handling the bulky preblocked fabric as it gets longer. A shorter cable length is handy when the shawl is in the early stages. Notions: Locking stitch markers or some other device that will mark the right side of your work.
Gauge:
5 sts to the inch on Size 6 needle using one strand of KidSilk Haze and one strand of base yarn held together.
Yarn:
Rowan KidSilk Haze in assorted colors. For the large shawl pictured, 81 grams of KidSilk in 10 different colors was used. This project is ideal for a co-op project in which members each purchase 3 or 4 balls of KidSilk Haze and swap with others for sufficient yardage in a variety of colors. This is also a fabulous project for partial balls of KidSilk Haze left over from other projects. The design will enable you to knit with color until you use up all that you have and then complete the final border with the base yarn. Base Yarn: 980 yards of sport weight yarn with a halo. The large shawl used a $100\%$ alpaca in a natural dark brown purchased from a small fiber farmer and spun by Belfast Mini Mills on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Suggested Substitution: sportweight alpaca or alpaca blends such as Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light.
Notes:
1。 This is your chance to play with litle worry about whether you feel you have good color sense. The steps to creating a shawl that is your own idea of gorgeous are quite simple: a. Pick a base yarn in a color that makes your heart sing. The sky is the limit. If you love red, pick red. If you tend to wear blues and want to match your wardrobe pick a blue that you love. b. The colors of KidSilk Haze will be mixed visually with your base color. When you pick a color as your base, the KidSilk Haze colors will make variations of that color. You will have a shawl made up of lots of related greens if you pick a green base yarn. c. A dark base color will be more assertive in your overall design. A light base color will be less influential in the overall pattern and will result in more extreme color changes as the KidSilk Haze is changed out. d. If you really love the KidSilk Haze colors, use a cream or white base yarn. The shawl will be all about the KidSilk Haze. If you love KidSilk Haze colors but feel shy about wearing those particular colors, consider pairing them with a light grey or beige yarn. If you love subtle drama (and your eyes are strong) consider a black base yarn. 2. The base yarn needs to have a soft halo in order to allow your eye to blend it with the KidSilk. A different yarn with less halo can certainly be used, the effect will be different. The resulting fabric will also be fabulous! 3. The exact gauge is not as important in achieving abeautiful shawl with this pattern. The construction willallow you to try on as you go and quit when the size is perfect. 4. The fabric achieved is very important to this shawl. This is a fluffy fabric that is much too thick to drape comfortably before blocking. After blocking this is a substantial, warm shawl that will drape over your shoulders or submit gracefully to a shawl pin. 5. This shawl is a great excuse to make some new knitting friends. Team up with others and pool your Kidsilk Haze stash to widen your design choices and see how many beautiful and entirely individual shawls can be made. 6. For those who wish to know what colors of KidSilk Haze were used to create the pictured shawl, here are some details. Rowan KidSilk Haze in the following colors: 596 Marmalade, 629 Fern, 636 Mist, 644 Ember, 606 Candy Girl, 640 Glacier, 600 Dewberry, 592 Heavenly, 597 Jelly, and 633 (discontinued, a very dark purple) 7. The striping pattern was achieved by following my whims. I tried to keep the stripes from being too similar in width and I experimented with my colors as I went along. If whimsy is not your best muse, you could consider using a Fibonacci sequence, a random number generator, or a set of dice to determine the width of each stripe. You could plan your stripes ahead of time and follow your own pattern to whatever degree of exactitude you desire. I would encourage you to be as loose as you can stand to be. I firmly believe that your finished shawl will be gorgeous if you let go and play while you knit it.
The Pattern:
Starting with the base yarn only, Follow directions through row 17. Cast on 5 stitches. Knit one row. On the next row (right side row) knit 2, m1, k3 Row 3: and all other wrong side rows to row 17, knit Row 4: K 3, m1, K3 Row 6: K3, m1, K1, m1, K3 Row 8: K4, m1, K1, m1, K4 Row 10: K5, m1, K1, m1, K5 Row 12: K6, m1, K1, m1, K6 Row 14: K7, m1, K1, m1, K7 Row 16 : K8, yo,k2tog, K7 Mark the right side of the shawl. At Row 18 the KidSilk Haze strand is added. The technique is a new variation on Intarsia: Row 18: Knit 8, yo, join first color strand (see notes) K1, Separate the two yarns. Leave the color strand at the side of the work facing you and, continuing with the base yarn, YOK8 Row 19 (Wrong side): Knit 9 ( 8 border stitches and the 1 yarn over) using the base yarn. Add the second strand (your color strand) to the base yarn and, Holding the two together, K1. Separate the yarns. Move the color strand under the needle to the side of the work facing you, leave it hanging and, continuing with the base yarn, K9. (19sts) Be sure to mark the right side of your work. The Everylastbit Shawl is reversible. This can make it very difficult to see which side is the increase row. Increase rows are always on the right side. Row 20 (Right side row): Knit 8, yo, and with the two yarns held together, K3,move the color strand under the needle to the side of the work facing you and continuing with the base yarn only, yo, K8. Row 21 (and all other wrong side rows): Knit 9 (8 border stitches and 1 yarn over) with the base yarn, add the hanging color strand to the base yarn and holding the two together, K the center stitches (On row 21, there are 3 center stitches knit with the two yarns held together; on row 23 there will be 5; Row 25, there will be 7 and so on). Separate the two yarns. Leave the color strand at the front of the work and, continuing with the base yarn, K9. Row 2 (and all other right side rows): Knit 8, yo and, with the two yarns held together, Knit the center stitches (On row 22, there are 5 center stitches; row 24, there will be 7; row 26, there willbe 9 and so on). Separate the two yarns. Leave the color yarn at the front of your work and, continuing with the base yarn, yo, K8 Continue in this way, increasing on the front side of your shawl with a yarn over after the eight border stitches, grabbing the color strand from the back of the work and knitting, together with the base yarn, the center stitches. Separate the two yarns. Move the color strand to the front of your work. Leaving the color strand to hang from the front between stitches, continue with the base yarn only. Increase one stitch using a yarn over increase and knit the 8 border stitches remaining. Turn to knit the next row(WS), K9(8 border stitches and one yarnover) pick up the color strand that is now at the back of your work and holding it together with your base yarn, knit the center stitches. Separate the two yarns. Leave the color strand at the front of your work and knit 9 stitches (the yarnover from the previous row and the eight border stitches). Change colors whenever you wish.
Technique for Changing Colors
When colors are changed in this shawl, the base yarn makes the process very easy. No holes will develop and no weaving or twisting of yarns is necessary. The mohair fluff is like Velcro (I mean that in the nicest possible way) it will hold on to the base yarn even at the very end of the strand. Do not switch colors at the very edge of the shawl. Switch colors in the middle of the row or at least 5 stitches in from the increase stitch. There is no weaving in of ends involved. Just line the strands up with the new end nose to tail with the old strand and knit along. Don't overlap the yarns and you do not need to leave a tail for later weaving. If an end has worked itself out you can simply snip it flush with the fabric after blocking.
Finish this Shawl!
When the shawl is large enough or the KidSilk Haze has run out (you can even finish a row with base yarn alone if the yarn peters out mid-row), work the top border as follows. Knit 8 border stitches, yo , k1,\* yo, k2tog \* Repeat across the row until 8 border stitches remain, K8. Knit garter stitch as follows: K8, inc 1(using an invisible increase of your choosing), knit center stitches, inc 1, knit 8. The top border will be stretched in blocking and it might be wise to make it a bit deeper than the sides so that the finished border will match the sides in depth. Bind off using a very stretchy bind off. Do not worry if your bind off flares out a bit. You need to be sure that the shawl can be stretched. Blocking will add many inches to that top length and you don't want a tragedy (breakage) to occur. Wet Block this shawl using the method of your choice. Stretch mercilessly when pinning to open the fabric up and achieve the drape and size you want.
Wear this shawl with attitude and, if you wish, a shawl pin.
Enjoy,
Susan Newhall Ravelry name: suebell Please contact me via Ravelry if you need any help with this pattern. This pattern is yours to use and enjoy. Please do not copy and distribute or sell it without my permission. The pattern is free on Ravelry and can be downloaded. Please do not sell the resulting shawl or use it for commercial purposes without prior permission of the author.
