You’ve probably heard of the phrase ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul’. Some parts of the internet will tell you that the original phrase came from King Edward VI, who ordered St. Peter’s Church in Westminster to sell some of its land to pay for the building of St. Paul’s cathedral in London. Of course, the fact that King Edward died more than 100 years before the building of St Paul’s began shouldn’t detract from a jolly good yarn! And from one good yarn to another - knitters often pinch some yarn from one project to use it for something else, so we all understand this phrase very well!

The expression has been used in the world of handmade crafts for a long time. It has inspired a classic quilt block which features curved seams. Traditionally, the Robbing Peter to Pay Paul quilt is comprised of two colors, where every second block represents an inverted mirror image of the first.

In the Robbing Peter to Pay Paul shawl you will follow the same principle. Each half represents the inverted mirror image of the other. And all the yarn you save in one half (Peter) will be used for the other (Paul)!

To create a ravishing Robbing Peter to Pay Paul shawl you will need two contrasting yarns of the same weight. You can choose two solids, one solid and one color gradient, two color gradients, or – provided you have a yarn with a very long color gradient – two balls of the same gradient and work from opposite ends.

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul is suitable for every yarn weight from lace to dk, as the instructions come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. You can adjust the width and the length as well, according to your preferences.

The first version shown on the pattern page was knitted with Wollmeise Pure. I used two balls of each color and knitted the large version. For the second shawl I used two identical balls of Wollbonbon Merino 4ply with a very long color gradient. You will see the pattern fading in and out (in the middle of the shawl), when the changing hues meet their equal. I used two balls with 600 yards / 550 m each and knitted the medium version. If you knit the small version two skeins of sock yarn length should suffice. If you leave the realm of fingering yarn, the yardage will, of course, be different.

Whatever yarn you choose, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul is a fun to knit reversible project. It is knitted in modules and there is no seaming involved. All instructions are written and charted and you will find plenty of helpful photo tutorials to guide you through the different techniques. This makes Robbing Peter to Pay Paul a feasible project for most knitters.

Happy knitting,
Ursa Major