shawl – New England's Narrow Road

Knitting The Hidden Gems Free Shawl Pattern

This free shawl pattern is simple enough for beginners to get practice.

If you are looking for a simple, free shawl pattern to knit, the Hidden Gems is recommended – pattern page link below. The pattern designer, Lindsey Wong, uses hand-spun yarn and I decided to use hand-spun from my yarn stash.

I have a few partial skeins of hand-spun and began knitting this pattern with the yellow, “coconut” – I think was the name. I knit until it was gone and then began alternating two different balls of hand-spun which gave a good color combination.

This pattern begins with a short cast-on at one end of the long triangle-shaped shawl, and expands outward. Once the center diameter is reached, the decreases are done on one side.

Because I was not using full skeins, I really didn’t know when to begin my decreases. I also don’t know how much yarn I used in total, but see the pattern for suggested yarn amounts.

My Shawl Knitting Notes

This is an easy shawl that should be fine for knitters who are just beginning their knitting journey. The cast-on is at the very end and the knitting expands outward until the widest part. Decreases along one side continue to create the other side of the triangle.

There is no purling, just garter stitch – knitting back and forth. Create increases and decreases for shaping. A self-striping yarn or solid color would work.

Stitches to know: K2tog (knit 2 together), SSK (slip, slip, knit), Kfb (knit front and back)

One stitch marker is needed.

I used a size 6US, 32-inch circular needle.

This lovely little shawl could be knit with any type of yarn. Just make it to the dimensions needed using an appropriate size needle.

The end measurements of my shawl are 58 inched long and 21 inches at the widest point. This ended up being a good size to wrap around my neck.

Find the Hidden Gems Pattern Here

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Emma’s Yarn Colors Gatsby and Farmer’s Market

Whenever I buy yarn it’s a guess as to how it will look once knit up. Unless I am working with a solid color it really is a crap shoot with speckled and variegated yarns.

Below is my photo of some beautiful yarn purchased from Four Purls. The central Florida yarn store has a yarn truck which makes stops around the state to sell to us poor folk who don’t have a local store.

The yarn in my photo is “Gatsby” and “Farmer’s Market”. Gatsby is mostly white with blackish speckles. I’ve been looking online for similar yarn. The variegated Farmer’s Market caught my eye because of all those luscious shades of blue and pink. It’s a guess as to how it will look once knit up. So I’d like to share that on this page.

Emma's Yarn in Gatsby and Farmer's Market colors. — Emma’s Yarn colors: Gatsby and Farmer’s Market

I am using these two yarns to knit a triangle shawl with skinny stripes, alternating the two colors. The pattern is free to download at Ravelry. It’s called “Sun Kissed” by Veronika Jobe. Her stripes are green and white with speckles. I like the frilly lace edging. I don’t see anywhere what colors she used, only the yarn types. Someone guessed that “Optic” was the Mad Tosh color, and I think that my Gatsby skein comes close. The alternating stripes color could really be anything, but since I had purchased Farmer’s Market at the same time, I wondered what a variegated yarn would look like alongside the speckled white.

Farmers Market yarn skein is variegated blue, peach, teal, yellow-green and white. — Pretty “Farmer’s Market” skein by Emma’s Yarn

After I wound my balls of yarn (I don’t have a winder), I couldn’t wait to get started on this pattern. I have cast on and knit a few rows of the shawl, which is pretty simple (don’t know about that lace edge, but that comes later). Because both the colors are light, the stripes are not as noticeable, but I expected that. I think it’s pretty. I wish the white had more pronounced “speckles” but maybe they will show up more along the lacy border.

The Super Silky Emma’s Yarn is a joy to knit with. I just finished knitting the Dewdrops shawl using it, and had to buy more. I don’t really wear shawls, but they are fun to knit.

knitting sun-kissed shawl — Beginning knitting the Sun Kissed shawl pattern

Mystery Knit Along Clue Three Changes Made, Spoiler Images

I’m blogging about my journey as I attempt to complete a MKAL (mystery knit along) challenge. Well, for me it’s a challenge. I have spoiler images on this page, if you are beginning this KAL!

In the Through the Loops forum at Ravelry we are sharing progress, problems, questions, and ideas while knitting an asymmetrical shawl from clues doled out over the course of about six weeks by the designer. I’ve been behind from the beginning, but only by a few days. This requires a LOT of knitting. Far more knitting than I have ever done in such a short amount of time, and in a pattern far more difficult than I have ever attempted.

It takes discipline and concentration and I am having fun!

Although the shawl requires 2 skeins of yarn, a number of knitters were worried about running out of yarn. Some ran out, and I am one of them. As I began Clue #3 which would have had 3 rows of color A (my yellow color), I knew there wasn’t enough.

mystery shawl knit-along clue three — Starting Clue 3 and realizing the yellow yarn is gone!

I decided to ask in the forum if anyone had simply changed to Color B, or if that would mean running out of that color eventually.

The designer, Kirsten Kapur, suggested I could use a contrast color from my stash, which could also be added in later in the pattern. I liked this idea, so I wouldn’t have to stop knitting and fall further behind. Many people have already moved on to Clue Four at this point. I guess I will also add this new color in somewhere else. It’s my backup if Color B begins to get short.

The trouble was, my stash of yarn is pretty small. And I needed fingering weight in a color that would go with light blue and cumin yellow! Probably a pretty green or another shade of blue would have been the best choice, but I didn’t have either of those. So to finish up my Clue #3 rows I substituted a rust color for the yellow.

Now my shawl will contain three colors, but only little of the third color. I hope in the long run it will all look okay.

shawl knitting clue 3 — Added Color C, which is rust to finish up Clue #3

I have now begun Clue #4, but it’s a toughie, so I’ll wait until morning, when my mind is fresh and full of coffee, to do more knitting.

By the way, some people are actually knitting 2 of these shawls at once! And many knitters get the clue finished within a day! Then there are those who have only just decided to start, or are behind like me. At least I don’t feel like I am the worst knitter in the group.

Miss bags rust color ball of yarn — “Canyon Wren” is a rust color yarn and is now my Color C for this project.

Finishing Up The Spindrift Shawl

The Spindrift shawl was a free pattern download offered by designer Helen Stewart. I appreciate having something like this crescent shawl pattern to practice on. The pattern is fairly simple, but I did learn how to do a picot edge bind-off. You can read more about how I came to be knitting this shawl on my first post here.

The fingering yarn I chose to use was from Miss Babs, in one of the Wild Iris, Yummy-2ply colors named “Sorcerer”. It closely matches the colors in the designers image of the finished shawl, and I thought hers was lovely.

To go with Sorcerer, I chose a lavender color yarn from Mrs. Crosby called “Monkey Orchid”. I will use that color to finish the edge.

Shawl yarn from Miss Babs in fingering weight, and lavender DK by Mrs. Crosby

Notes on the Finished Shawl

I had to reference a video about making the picot edging. (Find it on my Day 2 blog post.)

I knew I would probably not have enough yarn because my skein was shorter than the recommended length. The lavender color was attached for the picot edging and once I got the hang of that bind-off, it went quickly.

Still left, the weaving in of ends, washing and blocking. I have never blocked anything, but I have the boards to do it with. My time is taken up with the MKAL I am working on (and am behind!). So this shawl will have to wait.

spindrift shawl — The Spindrift Shawl is finished

Screen Shot 2018-07-05 at 4.07.51 PM — The lavender picot edging

Finally I found the photos of this finished shawl. This was a very good beginner pattern with practice for yarn-overs and doing a picot edge. It’s a small shawl so it knits up fast. Download the Spindrift pattern when you sign up for the Curious Handmade workshop. See details here.