Knit a Three Color Zigzag Shawl

It might be a little early for folks in the Northern Hemisphere to be thinking about fall knitting, but that’s the only thing I can think of when I look at the Electric Sheep shawl knitting pattern from Beata Jezek for Hedgehog Fibers.

I think that’s because it uses tweed yarn, which always makes me think of cozy cabled sweaters and all the things we love when the weather starts getting cooler.

I usually will talk about how you can use any yarn you like for any knitting project, and of course you can, but in this case I think the tweed yarn really adds something fun. While the colors are generally neutral, the little flecks of color from the tweed make the design more interesting both to knit (as you’re waiting to see what happens next) and to wear. It’s like a shawl covered with sprinkles!

The asymmetrical triangle is worked from the center point out, with increases and decreases shaping the shawl and creating the zigzag effect. Three coordinating colors of yarn are used to give a sort of fade effect. While it’s pretty in grayscale as shown, it would be great with more colorful yarn choices as well.

The yarn is DK weight, and the finished shawl is about 24 by 75 inches, or 60 by 190 cm. As always you can try a different weight of yarn to make a project that’s a different size, but again, if you have access to a tweed yarn it does give this project a distinctive look I think is worth keeping.

You can download a free copy of the pattern when you sign up for email updates from Hedgehog Fibers. If you like you can also check the pattern out on Ravelry, but you can’t download it directly from there. But it is a great place to check out how the shawl looks in different colors.

[Photo: Beata Jezek]

A Shawl to Wear While You’re Reading and Knitting

Mosaic Shawl Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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