Novelty Yarn Shawl

Its time to break into the abandoned projects bag. I think I need to finish a few of these before I can start my next new project. I've negotiated with myself that if I finish two more I can start a new one. We shall see.

I started this project last year. Mendra asked me to make a shawl for his aunt: something red. I decided on a shawl and wanted to have fun with it.... buy a bunch of red novelty yarns and do a very simple pattern with a fun fringe -- making the yarns the focus of the piece.

I've started and stopped it a few times. The entire piece is done in a garter stitch -- so its an incredibly repetitive movement: the same stitch, every row, every stitch. Red is a tough color too -- and I've doubted myself many times with my selection of yarns. Will she like it? The mohair sheds, will that be a problem? How will it look when I'm done? What if I spend all this time and it looks like poop? doubts doubts doubts. I've realized that I've gotta suck it up, trust myself and finish it.

Here's the pattern I loosely made up. If it changes by the time I finish the project I'll update it.

• materials:
  • yarn: 5 or 6 skeins of various novelty yarns. All yarn should be of approximately the same guage.
  • needle: size 11, 24" circular needle, or size appropriate for the yarn you've selected. Use a long circular needle in order to fit all the stitches on your needle. Consider using a thicker needle than suggested by the yarn guage, so that you create a nice loose stitch to show off the novelty yarn.
• pattern:
  I chose a main novelty yarn (A), and randomly alternated the yarns something like this: A, B, A, C, A, B, A, D, A, E, A, C, A, E, etc
  Each yarn is repeated for a random number of rows (usually somewhere between 3 and 6).
  On each row, leave a 5 inch tail for the fringe. Join a new piece of yarn on each row.
  • Cast on 160 stitches in A
  • knit every row (garter stitch). Be sure to leave a tail for the fringe.
  • Continue in garter stitch until the piece measures 2 feet tall, bind off.
  • Add extra fringe as desired.