Happy Friday! It’s pride weekend here in Seattle and I’m looking forward to checking out some block parties, markets, the Storm game, and maybe the parade – it will be a little cool but that’s probably for the best haha.
I’m starting my celebration by showing off a super colorful new finished object – my Butterfly Shawl!
This is Butterfly | Papilion by MarinJa Knits. I made it using some Uneek fingering and a contrast color I got at Rhinebeck several years ago. And I think these colors do reflect an earlier version of knitting Kathryn. It’s definitely taken me a long time to figure out color theory in terms of what works well together, and I don’t think 2018 me succeeded as much in that regard. The contrast color is a bit too similar to large parts of the Uneek to really make the delicious short row patterns in this shawl stand out. And sure, I could have changed this before making the pattern but since I bought these yarns to make this shaw so many years ago I wanted to commit to that.
This pattern is a lot less intimidating than it looks upon downloading, and I’m so glad I made it. I’d definitely call it an intermediate pattern, as you have to understand how short rows work and it doesn’t list out every single thing you need to do. I’m actually not sure I could have made this in 2018 when I first bought it. It took me a long time to really understand the wrap and turn short row, for a long time I wasn’t picking up the wrap because it wasn’t as obvious compared to a German short row or twin stitch which were my first experiences with short rows.
I also added a crochet border to this shawl! The day I finished this, I ran into someone who was clearly wearing a handmade crochet top and I complimented her on it. We compared crafts briefly and she mentioned that she likes telling people to add crochet borders to their knits. And then as I was finishing it, I had so much yarn leftover, Jenny’s surprisingly stretchy cast on looked like perfect chains, and I figured I could show off a bit more of those fun color changes! I used a pattern I found on Daisy Farm Crafts to make the shell stitch and I think it worked super well! It make the shawl feel just a little more finished, so I’m really glad I did it.
I definitely recommend this pattern if you’re looking for a fun project that also uses just enough brainpower to keep it interesting.