(Note: This pattern is no longer available for sale.)

Gathering Storm is a half-hexagon shawl/wrap worked from the bottom up in six different hues of wonderfully soft Fyberspates “Cumulus” yarn combined with Berroco’s Andean Mist. These two yarns feel like the fur of little kittens, it is so very, very amazingly soft.

I was inspired to design this piece initially when I saw Fyberspates’ Cumulus yarn at Jimmy Beans Wool online. The colors made me think of a storm gathering over Lake Ontario or the ocean. As a writer and painter, I see paintings in my mind of characters wearing knitted items as a part of my design process. The colors I saw conjured up a woman wrapped in a shawl, standing on the shore of the Lake on a stormy day in late summer, looking out at the gathering storm.

I wondered what would be on her mind, why would she be there, looking into the storm rather than seeking shelter? As the winds whipped up she would pull the shawl closer round her shoulders against the chill air preceding inevitable strikes of lightening. Certainly, she will seek shelter soon and hopefully her troubles will stay behind, rattled away by thunder and crashing waves.

I used various textures in each of the colored sections of this piece. The bottom, white section combines a ripple stitch with a technique of gathering up a few stitches every few rows. This looks a bit like the foam of the waves.

Next comes a sea green color using the same ripple stitch but with out the gathers.

Then I used color that looked like rain and paired that with a stitch pattern called Rain Drops.

Above that we have the dark colors of thunder clouds in a cluster stitch that gives great texture and a bit of a lacey effect worked in this yarn on these needles.

Above that we have a slightly textured heel stitch, then Stockinette. Topping the piece off is a combination of mesh and garter stitch again in the darkest color. This portion rolls over into a collar or may be pulled up as a hood.

This is a very soft, snuggle wrap,that looks a bit like a cape due to,the half-hexagon shaping.