I am so happy to bring you my pattern notes for The Deconstructed Banana Shawl, so named because one day I realized the colors were banana colors and it stuck. Because I created it as a gift for someone, I used colors that I thought she would like. Colors, I might add, that I pointedly do not like. I was a bit worried about it because I am very contrary about working projects in which I don’t like the colors, but the colorwork aspects of this shawl are so enticing that I forgot about my dislike of the colors a bit and just enjoyed combining colors. I got so entranced by the colorwork that I started thinking about yarns I could pull from my stash to make another shawl with different colors. Perhaps some day I will get a deconstructed peach on the hook or a deconstructed vision of fall or, and my stash jar is calling on this one, a scrapy rainbow.

This shawl, as I created it, uses five colors of Malabrigo sock yarn (about 500 grams) and a 3.25 hook. It is worked in moss stitch with a contrasting row in the middle of each stripe. There are a lot of ends, but they are manageable and the end result is a little festival of color.

As with all of my patterns, this is not a full pattern with various sizes and yarn requirements. It is my pattern notes, charts for the increase and the border, and suggestions on how to craft your own unique shawl. There may be some math. There should be swatching. There will be designing with color. If you are comfortable with moss stitch and changing colors, this project is perfect for you.