There have been many great innovations in the knitting and fiber arts world in the more than 20 (!) years that I’ve been writing about these subjects online. Different fibers and materials and styles of knitting needles and new tools have made knitting more fun and given us plenty to put on our holiday wish lists.
One of my favorite things to come out of the yarn world in recent history is cake yarns. These colorful cakes feature an array of colors (or tones of the same color), which makes it easy to make a project using a single ball that looks more complicated than it is.
And when you combine a cake yarn with a simple design, it’s a big win. Beginners can make projects that automatically look more complicated just because they’re not a solid color, even though it’s no more work on the knitter’s part.
An example of this is the Piece of Cake Shawl from Maria Wellmert. It’s a triangular garter stitch shawl with a slip stitch edging that’s super simple to knit. The hardest part might be remembering to pay attention to how much yarn you’ve used so you can start decreasing when you need to so you don’t run out of yarn before the end of the project.
If you’ve been a reader here for very long you might sense that I’m going to suggest this might be a great stash busting project, too. You can use up a bunch of odd balls and make a wild colored shawl, or pick all the leftovers of a particular color that you have to make a more harmonious design. Or anywhere in between.
If you’re using smaller balls of yarn you might want to make a magic ball before you get started so you don’t have to think about changing yarn as you knit. It’s almost like having a DIY cake of yarn!
You can get the free pattern for the shawl on Ravelry.
[Photo: Maria Wellmert]
Free Knitting Pattern Zig Zag Shawl
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Love the colours in this shawl.