Be Brave with Color Choices to Knit This Shawl

Helen Kennedy says her shawl pattern, Always Be Brave, came about because people shopping at a local yarn fair were drawn to heavily multicolored yarns but didn’t know what to do with them.

She designed the shawl to use a wild multicolor yarn along with a high contrast solid color yarn, using a slip stitch pattern and reversing the colors midway through to make a different effect in the fabric.

The original version of Always Be Brave was made with sport weight yarn and was published in Knitty for Deep Fall 2019.

Helen has reworked the pattern and released a new version using fingering weight/sock yarn and released it as its own pattern on Ravelry.

Both projects are large asymmetrical triangles and they are worked sideways from a tip to the long edge. It is mostly worked in stockinette stitch with slip stitch colorwork adding texture and contrast.

Helen used single ply sock yarn to make her version; you’ll need about 420 yards/384 meters of each color. The shawl comes out to about 72 inches in wingspan (that’s 180 cm) and 20 inches/50 cm deep at the widest point.

This project is a great one to try out slip stitch or mosaic knitting patterns if you haven’t tried them before. There is a chart involved but it isn’t difficult to follow, and once you have a hang of the slip stitch pattern it’s pretty easy to do.

You can find the updated pattern on Ravelry.

If you’re looking for more mosaic knitting patterns to try, check out my mosaic knit cowl, which is another one that uses a multicolored yarn along with a solid. I’ve also gathered a collection of mosaic colorwork knitting patterns you can try. It’s a really fun technique that makes colorwork that looks a lot more involved than it is.

[Photo: Helen Kennedy]

Next Pattern:

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?