I am always drawn to highly variegated yarns yet never know what to knit with them because the colors always seem to compete with the pattern. So when Ginny of FatCatKnits approached me about designing a pattern with one of her variegated colorways, I was intrigued. I thought that the best way to avoid potential pooling was to play with the increases on a top-down shawl and keep the stitch pattern simple. Two Roads Diverged (named after one of my favorite Robert Frost poems) has increases that change in their location and frequency as you get further along in the shawl, resulting in a very wearable “rounded trapezoid” shape.

This pattern contains directions for both variations of the shawl: garter stitch and stockinette stitch. The garter version uses directional increases (m1L and m1R), while the stockinette version uses yarnover increases for a more delicate look. Both versions can be completed using one skein of sock yarn -- commercial, hand dyed, or handspun -- and it’s easy to adjust the pattern to your yarn supply, as it can be ended at any point or enlarged by continuing the established pattern of increases.

To knit this pattern, you need to know how to:

• do a provisional cast on and work a garter tab,
• do directional increases (garter version) or yarnover increases (stockinette version), and
• do a cable cast on (for the picot bind off).

Although the same needles and same weight of yarn are used for both versions, the blocked gauge is slightly different:
Garter: 21 stitches and 42 rows = 4 in./10 cm
Stockinette: 20 stitches and 38 rows = 4 in./10 cm
Note: Gauge is not critical, but even slight differences in gauge can affect the finished dimensions and the amount of yarn used. Please be sure you have enough yarn to finish your project if working to a different gauge.

If you’d like to knit your shawl in the same yarn and colorway used for the garter stitch sample, you can buy it here.

Tech editing by eledixon