Contains:
- Knitting pattern for garter stitch gradient shawl
- Schematic, in-progress photos, and coloring page included
- Suitable for advanced beginners
Materials you need at home:
- Approximately 915 m of fingering weight yarn (505 m of MC; 75 m C1; 75 m C2; 80 m C3; 80 m C4; 100 m C5). Sample was knit in Black Trillium Fibers Lilt Sock (85% superwash merino/15% mulberry silk)
- 3.5 mm/US 4 needles, or size needed to obtain gauge
- Tapestry needle for weaving in ends
First Point of Libra is an ancient term used by navigators and astronomers for the equinox that marks the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere.
A casual garter wrap is the perfect accessory for the warm days and cool nights of late summer and early fall here in the northern hemisphere. This triangular shawl uses a gradient set of five plus 505 m of the same base in a very light color that plays nicely with your gradient. Natural, white, or very light grey are good options for most gradients. (You could also make your MC very dark and work the gradients in reverse order.)
Skills required: long-tail cast on, decreasing, increasing, picking up stitches (all but a very few of the picked-up stitches are along a slipped-stitch garter edge, which takes away all the guesswork)
This is a very easy, low-stress knit. You won’t need the pattern in front of you except at the beginning and end of a clue. Great for travel or porch knitting. The simple design lets the yarn do all the work.
Finished measurements: approximately 152.5 cm across and 66 cm deep
Gauge: 22 stitches to 10 cm in lightly blocked garter stitch
Note: Though conversions to the metric system have been made on this page for your convenience, the pattern itself uses American measurements.
Laura Aylor
If ‘knitting designer’ had been one of the job choices for those aptitude tests they give you in high school, I wouldn’t have spent so many years trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. My best subject in high school was math; my best classes in college were logic, drawing, and a commercial art class. After careers in computer programming/analysis and child-rearing, knit design snuck up on me, but I think it’s the perfect use of my odd skill set! I love every step of the process, from figuring out how to actually make what I’ve envisioned to putting the finishing touches on a pattern, not to mention all the knitting that comes in between!
I also love reading and hiking and spending time on Brier Island in Nova Scotia every summer.