How to Knit Shifting Stripes Shawl with knit stitches and short rows. This is a free pattern from Red Heart Yarn and Marly Bird shows you how to work with two colorways of It’s a Wrap Rainbow yarn, stitch marker, short rows and garter stitch.
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About the Pattern:
This stunning shawl is worked up using two different colorways of Red Heart It’s a Wrap Rainbow. It’s a Wrap Rainbow gradually goes from one color to the next without sudden stops in colors.
Working with short rows can seem like a hard thing for beginners. Taking it step by step and working together through the pattern you can learn how to work short rows in your knitting. Once you learn how to do it in this pattern you will be able to use those skills in many other patterns.
Short rows are most often used for shaping of garments and accessories. In this case the short rows do help with shaping but they really give a change in the direction of the stripes in the pattern.
Working with It’s A Wrap Rainbow:
Red Heart It’s a Wrap Rainbow is a super soft and drapey acrylic and cotton blend makes a shawl with just 1 ball. Colors move beautifully making a gorgeous fabric you will want to wear all year round. Coming in 8 colors you have a lot of variety to pick from.
In every pattern I talk about the importance of swatching and checking your gauge. Gauge is the measurement of stitches over a set of inches to see how the yarn, hook and the way you crochet matches to the designer. Once you get your gauge using the same hook size you will be able to see if you need to change your hook size or the yarn you are working with. Without checking your gauge first you could end up with a project that is much smaller or much larger than what I made.
Although this is not a sweater where fit is crucial it is still important to check your gauge and block for this pattern. Since the yarn contains cotton it will act differently than a 100% acrylic yarn would work. When you wet block this yarn you will see it grow as the fibers relax. Cotton also tends to be a little heavier and may lengthen over time.
When choose the hook size, make sure you are getting a blocked gauge. I didn’t want this fabric really tight or really loose. If you need reference for how to block something you can check out my wet blocking video on YouTube.
I do suggest doing wet block for this yarn. The cotton really does STRETCH and you don’t want to have a piece that is WAY TOO BIG!
Shifting Stripes Shawl Materials:
- RED HEART® It’s a Wrap Rainbow™: 1 ball each 9344 Foggy A and 9347 Whisper B
- Susan Bates® Knitting Needles: 3.25 mm [US 3]
- Stitch marker (or make your own stitch markers)
- Yarn needle
- FREE Shifting Stripes Shawl Pattern
Oh…fingering weight yarn!?! Can’t rmember the last time I worked with #3 needles.
Oh wait, my first attempt at socks, nearly 15 years ago!
This shawl is lovely! Wish I didn’t have so many WIPs in place; can’t possibly start another project.