Abstractions Shawl Inspiration
It’s confession time for me friends! ….I have yet to fall in love with the traditional shawl.
Let’s break it down, shall we…shawl we? #knittingpun
I love scarves! I continue to make and buy more of them. I have waaaaaayyyyyy too many. Can’t stop, won’t stop. Even with the plethora of scarves, I’ve been looking for a piece I could easily throw over my shoulders. Not draped as a triangle scarf in front, but something that sits well across my shoulders with minimal adjustment. Triangle shawls have a long, straight top edge that tapers to a point. That straight edge just doesn’t lie nicely when draped over a 3D body.
So I started researching other shawl types. I was drawn to Faroese shawls, with their center panel and shoulder shaping. That got me thinking, why not just shape a shawl like you would shape a sweater? Raglan shaping is one way to take a 2D fabric and make it 3D. So why not use this technique to make a shawl?
Note: I am not the first person to use raglan shaping for a shawl. Far from it! I wanted to lay out my design thoughts so you could see if this shawl would be something you would want to make and wear.
Abstractions Shawl – What’s in a Name?
The name for this shawl was drawn from the yarn I selected. The MC is a yarn dyed up by the talented Odd Knots and Threads inspired by the Van Gogh painting Starry Night. Starry Night was painted from Van Gogh’s memory or imagination. This is contrasted against how he typically painted, by painting what he saw. Abstractions vs Realism. I paired this yarn with a CC from Montana Crochet (and OOAK yarn) that I thought mimicked the colors in the tree in the painting almost perfectly!
Wear it multiple ways!
This shawl pattern also includes an option to turn your shawl into a shrug! I realized since I loved the drape of this piece so much it would look super cute as a shrug. I love for all my pieces to wearable and customizable!
Abstractions Shawl Tutorials
I wanted to add in a section for tutorials. This is an intermediate knitting pattern but I think it’s totally doable for beginners that like a challenge and want to learn new techniques!
Note that I am a “left handed knitter” (I hold the yarn in my right hand and knit continental style) so my videos may look backward to you! But the technique is the same, just flipped if you are a “right handed knitter”
Crochet Cast-On
M1L, M1R
Right Leaning Double Decrease
Specifically Version 2 in this tutorial, starting at 1:33.
Pick up and knit stitches
Make sure for this pattern that you are picking up stitches under both bars of the stitch. This will ensure that you get a nice edging before you add the I-cord bind off.
I-cord bind off
Open Knotwork Pattern
**NOTE! This stitch in the Abstractions Shawl pattern is a bit different to take into account the increases and decreases!! To note here is how the knots line up diagonally. This is the effect we want for our shawl. If you are working the pattern and are ever confused about how your knots are lining up, here’s a good way to check. The YO of the knots should fall in between the 2 stitches from the knot below.
