I got some lovely yarns as a gift for my 40th, which was (checks notes) nearly two years ago. Yikes.
They were too precious to put into just any old thing – particularly the one with loads of colours speckled through it. Finding myself in need of a project for a long weekend, I went looking for a pattern that called for just two skeins of DK.
I am well aware that I’m stretching the meaning of ‘need’ in the above sentence… I appreciate you not mentioning it.
I found Texture (Ravelry link) by Helen Kennedy (designer’s Insta). It’s a triangular bias shawl with a fun stitch pattern that gives it, well, texture. Its stated yardage was within the bounds of what I had, once I added a lonely skein of purple, and it looked interesting.
The fabric is somewhere between linen stitch and crochet. I’ve not gotten on with linen stitch in the past, but this stitch was very easy to do. It feels soft and crinkly, like a chunky seersucker. The pattern was simple and nicely written. I needed Knit Companion to keep track of the rows, and wouldn’t have been confident in reading the knitting if I’d lost my place. But the app makes it easy.
I had 46g of the speckled skein left at the point where the pattern is finished using it – so I went ahead and added a stripe to the end, to use it up. I saved some of the purple for the final bind off; I read that another knitter used 7g for the bind off, and I allowed 12g as I knew my shawl was bigger than the pattern. In the end I only needed 5g, but better safe than sorry!
I love how the speckles show up in this pattern. It’s very different to anything I’d usually make, much more colourful. It’s good to switch things up, right? But I did remain true to my preferred pallet with my favourite purple, and it sets off the colours nicely.
This is Texture (Ravelry link) by Helen Kennedy (designer’s Insta). I used 100g of DK merino by Dina’s Home of Crafts, 93g of Stylecraft Special DK, and a 4mm needle. I made it in three days, and I added some extra rows in purple, then an extra stripe in the variegated yarn. My final row was 171 stitches wide and I needed 5g of yarn for the i-cord bind off.
The Crafty Yarnster 