Wearing this shawl feels like my mother’s fresh Cobbler tastes in the summer. Lots of warm baked fruit, that light biscuit top, and full of comfort.

This shawl has an overall shape of a hexagon with a bite out of it. It curves really nicely around your neck, and stays on without effort. The larger then normal circumference (compared to a standard triangular shawl) gives you a shawl with an edge that swings nicely if left on its own, or plenty of fabric to wrap around your neck and shoulders to keep toasty warm on a chilly day.

I really like the Wollelf Merino - it’s just a bit splitty to work with - but well worth the softness and drape. And, of course, there are the wonderful long, long gradients in the 200 gram size!

In the past when I have blocked knit items that are pinned firmly to shape, such as shawls and lace items, the edge that contains the color change often does not contain enough ease in the stitches to make a symmetrical blocked finished object - even when I’ve made a particular effort to make a ‘properly’ tensioned color change. Or, it gets blocked out with matching dimensions, but one half of the neck edge looks much more stretched or thinner than the other. Therefore, I’ve incorporated in this pattern a little trick I figured out to help myself that allows the edge that has the color change to block out just as nicely/as long as the other edge. If you are comfortable with your gauge, knit away, following the instructions. My edge modifications don’t include any unusual stitches, just the normal triangular shawl ones, if in a bit of an unexpected order! If you are closer to the beginner end of the knitting spectrum, I’d recommend that you pause after competing about ten rows to gently stretch the work in order to assess your tension at the edges to be sure that you’re satisfied with the appearance. Think of this as a gauge swatch that you can then keep going on with for the rest of the shawl! Once you’re finished knitting and blocking, the modification poof disappears, and you are left with an edge that’s symmetrical and equally elastic on both sides!

The skills needed: knit, purl, placing and slipping stitch markers, k2tog, and the pattern starts with a simple provisional cast on and a garter tab and top-down construction. (details in the pattern) There is a schematic for blocking to the finished measurements.

Dimensions: This shawl has a 66 in/ 167.5 cm curved wingspan, and measures 39 in/ 99 cm from neck to tail after blocking.

Fiber:
(1) 200g skein of Wollelf Merino DK Gradient, Blue-Grey (color A)
(1) 200g skein of Wollelf Merino DK Gradient, Gold (color B)
--alternate yarn: Vice Yarns’ Blurred Lines. This yarn is a lighter fingering/sock weight and will yield a slightly smaller shawl when used (US7/4.5mm), but the color changes and overall 500 yd skeins are perfect for this pattern. And there are some really interesting colors available.

Needle:
US9/5.5mm - 32in/80cm circular knitting needle.

Although gauge is not critical, the piece in the photos has a gauge of 4.5 st/in unblocked, and measures 66”/ 167.5cm along the curved top, and 39”/99.5cm neck to tail after blocking. You will want to, of course ☺, make a gauge swatch to check your color combination, as well as practice your color change along the edge of the work.

Notions:
Stitch markers (7), 1 yard waste yarn
Tapestry needle