The Playful Shawl

To celebrate Sydney Craft Week's 2019 theme, PLAY, our Premium Partners Skein Sisters invited Meg Gadsbey to share this pattern for adventurous beginner knitters.

A simple, playful striped shawl suitable for an adventurous beginner knitter. This is the perfect project to play with colour and texture. Why not try high-contrast colours, or a variegated with a neutral, or two shades closer to each other for a more subtle stripe.  Play with the text – think mohair with a more textured yarn for a floaty ethereal effect. Different yarn bases create a different fabric. Yarns made from wool, alpaca, cashmere, silk, cotton, linen would all work well for this design. So go on… have a play!

Yarn Requirements:

4 ply / Fingering / Sock yarn in two contrasting colours, Colour A and Colour B.  Colour A = 360m / Colour B = 360m.

Needles and Notions:

4mm circular knitting needles (60cm or longer to accommodate the large number of stitches) or the required needle size to give correct tension

Tapestry needle (to weave in yarn ends)

Tension:

18 stitches and 36 rows per 10cm in garter stitch after blocked.

Tension is not crucial but a different tension will alter the finished size, drape and amount of yarn required.

Finished Measurements (blocked):

Length across top edge 215cm

Depth at widest point 43cm

Abbreviations:

cm = centimetres

inc’d = increased

k = knit

kfb = knit through the front and back loop of one stitch (increasing one stitch to two)

k2tog = knit two stitches together (decreasing two stitches to one)

m = metres

mm = millimetres

RS = right side of work

st(s) = stitch(es)

WS = wrong side of work

Pattern Notes:

The shawl is worked flat in one piece. Two increases at the beginning and one decrease at the end of every RS row create the asymmetric triangle shape.

Do not cut the yarn between stripes. Loosely carry the non-working yarn up the side of your work.

The size of the shawl can be adjusted by working more/less repeats of rows 1-4 to suit the amount of yarn you have.

Pattern Instructions:

With Colour A, cast on 6 sts. Knit one row.

Row 1 (RS): With Colour B, kfb, kfb, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. (1 st inc’d)

Row 2 (WS): K to end.

Row 3: With Colour A, kfb, kfb, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. (1 st inc’d)

Row 4: K to end.

Repeat rows 1-4 until yarn is almost finished or you reach desired size of shawl.

Cast off loosely. Cut the yarn and pull the end through the last live stitch to secure it. Weave in yarn ends and block lightly to smooth out the fabric.

Wear your new shawl with happiness!

 

About Meg Gadsbey

Meg is a Scottish Australian knitting pattern designer living in Darlinghurst, Sydney. She loves everything about yarn and knitting and considers herself very fortunate to be able to share her creativity with others through her knitting patterns. Meg’s contemporary accessory designs are straightforward to make and fun to wear.

Find out more

Knitting Patterns: www.ravelry.com/designers/meg-gadsbey

Use code SCW2019 at Meg's Ravelry checkout for 20% off (until 31 October 2019)

Instagram: @meg_gadsbey

Facebook: Meg Gadsbey Designs

Images: Sydney's home of fabulous yarn, Skein Sisters. Photo: Philip Le Masurier; Meg Gadsbey. Photo courtesy of the artist; Schematic of the design; illustration of the design ﴾illustration by Julia Stackhouse﴿.