I’m always looking for a good travel project. Cassie, the owner of the wonderful Ply Yarn in Wimberley Texas, had the perfect suggestion. The French Cancan shawl by Mademoiselle C starts out with a simple garter crescent. A braided cable edging is then worked perpendicularly to the body, attaching with a k2tog from one edge stitch and one body stitch as you go. Anzula Cricket is a super yummy yarn that was just right for this little shawl. It's mostly superwash wool, but has a bit of nylon that lends good stitch definition to the cables. Best of all is the touch of cashmere which makes the shawl comfy around my neck, and warm enough to be cozy on a chilly evening.

SUGAR POP I loved, loved, loved making this colorful Sugar Pop wrap from SweetGeorgia Yarns . Designer Lisa K. Ross combined a slip stitch pattern, a yarnover pattern and a lace pattern to form jaunty diagonal stripes against a bias-knit background. The design was perfect for taking on vacation - the knitting was easy enough to work on airplanes and outside under a canopy of trees, while also keeping my interest with fun colors and textures. I couldn't help but have fun with the colors of Tough Love Sock yarn that Sugar Pop uses. A set of five mini-skeins in the "Jellybean" colorway pops off the neutral "Birch" background. The design makes use of a garter background, with slip-stitch and yarnover stripes framing a section of lace. FWIW, I used a US #6 needle for most of the project, but #5 for the lace section. That way when I blocked the wrap the lace pattern really opened up. This is one of my shawl/wrap collection that I wear quite often. I may just make another in one of the other beautiful mini-skein sets !

I love the designs in Barbara Benson's book Mosaic & Lace Knits . I was especially drawn to the Love Child shawl, with its bands of color and clever lace and mosaic stitch pattern. Last April, when it was STILL snowing, I happened to walk into my LYS, The Artful Yarn , when they were stocking their shelves with a brand-new shipment of Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock yarn. Oh, my...the gorgeous colors! Quite a few skeins came home with me, including a bright yellow and a cheery blue. I was more than ready for happy summery colors after such a dismally long winter! I like the mosaic and lace stitch pattern so much. It makes the shawl a perfect weight for warm weather. Knitting with the Tough Love Sock yarn was a dream. It's well behaved and soft. You can check out my review of the Mosaic & Lace Knits book here .

The Reyna shawl is one of those lovely little projects when you're in the mood for something very easy to knit, or you have some pretty sock/fingering yarn you want to use up. The pattern, by Noora Laivola, is available for free on Ravelry . I don't know about you, but as the days tick down to travelling by airplane my anxiety level rises in proportion to the number of portable projects I have on hand. When I had nothing at all to work on before a recent trip across country, I was in a dither. I was thrilled to find the Reyna shawl! I zipped over to my LYS and picked up some lovely Malabrigo Sock yarn. Out of the many gorgeous colorways, I chose Indiecita - it has enough colors to keep it interesting, while not being so contrast-y as to take away from the stitch pattern. At 16" high and 44" wide, the shawl is on the small side, although it's fine as a little summery accessory. When I make another one I'll work it on a larger needle (maybe a #5 instead of a #4) or work another pattern repeat or two, but I might need another skein. This was one of my favorite travel projects. It's perfect for social knitting too!

I love knitting shawls! This time I was in the mood for something subtle but beautiful to wear during spring and summer dinners on the terrace of a favorite restaurant. Ripplerock , by Allison LoCicero, fits the bill perfectly. I chose a soft, sage color that will go with lots of my spring and summer outfits. The beautiful lace border adds a slightly dressy look for dining out. It starts by creating a crescent shaped body from the top down. Then a wide lace border is added. I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport , one of my favorites. • Mods: I worked the body of the shawl in a double moss stitch rather than the one called for in the pattern. It seemed small, so continued knitting the crescent until it was the bigger size that I wanted. I could have instead gone up a needle size, I suppose, but I liked the way the border looked on my US #5's; if I'd gone up a size some of the definition might have been lost. Thank goodness I had purchased a couple of extra skeins, so I didn't worry about running out of yarn. The bigger crescent meant I worked 22 border repeats rather than the 18 called for in the pattern. As it is, I'm glad I made the changes, since I ended up with almost the called for size, mine coming in at about 68" wide by about 24" deep. • I used lifelines throughout the making of this shawl, and left them in place as I went so I could use them as guidelines for blocking. For more details and photos, you can check out the previous post, Using Lifelines in Blocking .

Shawls Archives - AudKnits

French Cancan Shawl

I’m always looking for a good travel project. Cassie, the owner of the wonderful Ply Yarn in Wimberley Texas, had the [...]

By AudKnits|2020-02-16T16:09:30-05:00February 16th, 2020|Cables, Shawls, Yarn Shop|0 Comments

A Simple Little Shawl

If you're like me, you sometimes yearn for a very simple project to knit. Such was the case with the [...]

By AudKnits|2019-11-14T09:27:45-05:00November 14th, 2019|Shawls|0 Comments

Sugar Pop

SUGAR POP I loved, loved, loved making this colorful Sugar Pop wrap from SweetGeorgia Yarns. Designer Lisa K. Ross combined [...]

By AudKnits|2019-05-18T14:21:23-04:00May 18th, 2019|Shawls|1 Comment

Love Child Shawl

I love the designs in Barbara Benson's book Mosaic & Lace Knits. I was especially drawn to the Love Child shawl, [...]

By AudKnits|2018-08-26T11:21:42-04:00August 28th, 2018|Projects, Shawls|0 Comments

Reyna Shawl

The Reyna shawl is one of those lovely little projects when you're in the mood for something very [...]

By AudKnits|2018-08-02T16:13:50-04:00August 2nd, 2018|Projects, Shawls|0 Comments

Ripplerock Shawl

I love knitting shawls! This time I was in the mood for something subtle but beautiful to wear during spring [...]

By AudKnits|2018-07-21T12:33:38-04:00July 21st, 2018|Projects, Shawls|1 Comment

Mosaic & Lace Knits Winner

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! Ann from California is the winner of the Mosaic & Lace Knits giveaway. I hope she enjoys this lovely [...]

By AudKnits|2018-06-21T16:18:28-04:00June 21st, 2018|Giveaway, Projects, Shawls|0 Comments

Using Lifelines in Blocking

Using Lifelines in Blocking

I love using lifelines in large projects, especially when lace is involved. When I stand back and realize I've made [...]

By AudKnits|2018-05-01T14:05:45-04:00May 1st, 2018|Shawls|0 Comments

Stitches West 2018 – Kits

I’ve taken great delight in the current trend toward kits. Like the “grab and go” earthquake preparedness kits I always [...]

By AudKnits|2018-02-25T22:01:21-05:00February 25th, 2018|Events, Favorite Things, Shawls|0 Comments

Advent Calendar 2017 + MKAL

Though the holidays are long over, I wanted to blog about the most fun project EVER! Jimmy Beans Wool offered a [...]

By AudKnits|2018-02-17T19:37:51-05:00February 20th, 2018|Christmas, Favorite Things, KAL, Projects, Shawls|0 Comments