Mosaic Knit Shawl Patterns

I have a special fondness for mosaic knitting as a step up from knitting stripes. It’s still pretty easy to do and makes really pretty effects in a knitting project. If you’ve never tried it (or even if you have) these mosaic knit shawls are a fun way to show off the technique.

Add some bands of mosaic colorwork along with stripes to a triangular shawl to give it a more dramatic look. The Malibu pattern from Isabell Kraemer uses sport weight yarn and can be worked in two or three colors (three is shown here). It’s worked from the top down and you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Cheryl Faust’s Dark Matter Shawl is another top down triangle, but this one has an allover mosaic pattern with color changes. It can be worked in fingering or sport weight yarn and it’s easy to adjust the size to work with different yarn weights if you want. Check it out on Ravelry.

Chevronopolis is a shifting chevron shawl designed by Maxim Cyr that uses two colors of sport weight yarn. One of them is multicolored so it adds another layer of complexity without making the knitting any harder. This one is also on Ravelry.

Another fun graphic shawl design (and also on Ravelry) is the Pendants pattern from Justyna Lorkowska. This one uses fingering weight yarn with one solid and one gradient with long color changes to make the diamond motifs different colors.

Mix and match mosaic patterns with the Trail Mix Shawl from Industrial Whimsy on Etsy. There are 10 different patterns that you can mix and match or repeat however you like. The design can be worked in two colors or up to 20 colors using mini skeins of sock yarn.

Of course mosaic can be combined with stripes and with other techniques such as lace. The Callisto pattern from Strickwetter uses mosaic designs, stripes and lace in three colors of sock weight yarn. This reminds me of a shawl I knit as a gift a long time ago and I wish I’d made one for myself!

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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