A tonal yarn, at least by my definition, is a ball or skein that is all one color, but includes subtle (or maybe even not that subtle) variations of light and dark throughout the ball. It might have little sections of each color or long runs that fade into each other and make it difficult to tell where the different colors begin and end.
You might also call it a semi-solid yarn. But whatever you call them, they’re a fun way to play with a bit of color variation without having to do any work.
The Grainwise shawl by yamagara was designed with a tonal yarn in mind, specifically A Verb for Keeping Warm’s Even Tinier Annapurna. The asymmetrical triangle is worked beginning with stripes of stockinette and reverse stockinette, edged with a bit of lace and shaped with short rows to give it a ragged edge.
When about half of the yarn has been used, garter stitch takes over and decreases are worked to get back to a point.
While this version of the shawl uses a light fingering weight yarn, you can do the same thing with yarn of different weights, and make it as big or small as you like depending on your preference and how much yarn you have.
This pattern is a really lovely way to use an understated yarn, but because the stitches used are simple, you could also use a more colorful yarn if you wanted. (Or even stash busting oddballs, you probably knew I was going to say.)
You can get a copy of this pattern from Ravelry.
Looking for more sock yarn shawls? I’ve got a nice collection of sock yarn shawl knitting patterns, each of which says it uses a single skein of yarn, though of course it depends on the yarn how much yardage you get in a skein.
[Photo: yamagara]
