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]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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