This project got its start as an example for a shawl design class I taught in August. It is also a response to the situation I’ve been griping about called Left-over Sock Yarn.
Some of you may remember this photo.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Once I truly looked at the yarn that was in the bowl, I realized that I had the makings of a multi-color garter ridge shawl. After discarding the red and green yarns, I took a cue from my own advice about color value and separated the leftovers into two piles – darks and lights.
The medium blue ball in the center is the connector between the lights and darks. I also tossed in the very pale blue full skein with a thought that it could make a good border.
The light yarns went into one bag, the darks into another. Starting with the medium blue yarn I cast on about 30 stitches and worked three ridges of garter. Initially I chose yarns by randomly drawing balls from each bags, alternating light and dark and knitting as many rows as I felt like before changing colors. But very quickly, a desirable pattern emerged – four ridges of light alternating with three ridges of dark. The extra ridge of light separated the color changes.
After working the black yarn, I started over with the darks – blue, brown, royal blue, teal, black.
I call this my Sea and Sand shawl.
Once I get up to around 300 stitches, I’ll choose a color to make the border. My creative juices are flowing as I consider pattern options. Since it’s a shawl border, the pattern must be very stretchy. First I thumbed through Barbara Walker’s fabulous “Treasury of Knitting Patterns”(published in 1968) where I spotted a few possibilities. Here’s three that meet my criteria:
All three could work very well. I’ll be knitting some swatches of these patterns.
Thank you Barbara Walker. Your book is truly timeless.
Daily Fiber 
You are amazing as always!
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Looks great! I also have a sock yarn problem which I solve by making Flax Light (Tin Can Knits) for babies and kids.
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My MIL makes blankets out of her leftover sock yarn, keeping one for herself and donating others. I like the shawl idea – and the garter stitch is nice for that. And, Barbara Walker! You can never say enough about her compendiums – I still have the ones I bought in the 1960s when I was a teen!
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I admire you MIL. Myself, I never warmed up to the idea of knitting a blanket. To me it seems like a lot of time and yarn just to make a rectangle.
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Beautiful and the colors are perfectly paired!
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What a great way to use up leftover yarn! Can’t wait to see the final shawl.
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Did you recognize the sticker?
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Oh yeah! 😆
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Beautiful. The stripe pattern looks great and combines the colours very effectively. Looking forward to seeing the lace edge. Which one? Hard to choose.
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Do you have a favorite lace pattern?
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It looks great! Wonderful way to use up leftover yarn 🙂 I love the way your pattern is working out!
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Thanks.
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