Protea Shawl by Hayley Tsang Sather

Protea Shawl

Knitting
August 2018
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
US 5 - 3.75 mm
US 2½ - 3.0 mm
700 - 825 yards (640 - 754 m)
English
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A formatted for Knit Companion version of Protea Shawl is also available on Create2Thrive.

Clarification for Section B, larger version note: No extra 3/9 increase. Do the ML/MR increases on the RS rows only and repeat rows 17-18 until you have 103 sts on the needles. You’re essentially adding 4 more rows in stockinette stitch.


Protea Shawl is a crescent-shape shawl using a pair of complementary yarns – one variegated and one solid/semi solid in contrasting color. It is named after the exotic flower, Protea, for its associations to change and transformation across cultures, thus symbolizes diversity and courage.

Protea is the third (after Affinity and Nephthys) original design of Hayley’s that utilizes her love for juxtaposition by combining solid fabric with lace. It may also be knitted in heavy-lace-weight yarn for a more open fabric, or as well in sport/dk-weight yarn for a warm and cozy result. Test knit samples use approximately 437y/400m of Color A and 360y/330m of Color B. Protea may be knitted with or without beads. The number of beads used for all sections totaled 600.

Skill Level
Intermediate. Row-by-row written instruction for part of the pattern and charts only for the lace sections.

Gauge
Gauge isn’t important but will determine the final size of the shawl.

Size
One size but options to add more rows on certain sections are noted for a slightly larger result. You may also elect to omit some rows (also noted in pattern) for a slightly smaller version.

Yarns
One skein each of two fingering-weight yarns with one being variegated and the other in a contrasting solid/semi-solid color using US4 / 3.5mm or US5 / 3.75mm. If you are a loose knitter, smaller needles – US4 / 3.5mm (US2.5 / 3.0mm for the Brioche Section) – are recommended to keep Color A to just one skein. Options are given for a slightly smaller shawl as well as for the loose knitters to keep Color A to one skein.

Finished dimensions may be adjusted by knitting additional rows as noted or using a heavier-weight yarn and/or larger needles. You will need an extra skein of Color A if you elect to knit all the extra rows.

Tips on assigning Color A and Color B
Knitting a Brioche swatch (p. 5 of pattern) may help you decide which side of the Brioche you prefer and setting that color as Color B. There are two fairly small solid-color areas in Color A – and none in Color B – so that may also be a determining factor. If your variegated doesn’t knit up to your liking in stockinette stitch (e.g., too stripe-y), then use it as Color B so the solid-color areas of your Protea will be in the solid/semi solid.

Tools
Circular needles in size US2.5 / 3.0mm or US3 / 3.25mm for the Brioche Section and US4 / 3.5mm or US5 / 3.75mm for the rest (depending on yarn weight and your knitting tension), cable needle, crochet hook, stitch markers, blunt tapestry needle, T-pins, and blocking wire(s) and mat (optional).

Beads
Size 6 rounds or size 5 triangles for fingering weight. Bead all or just some of these sections.

Section B 30 beads
Section C 52 beads
Section D 5 beads
Section F 80 beads
Section G 129 beads
Section H 304 beads
___________________
Total 600 beads

Test Knit Info
Test knit info is included in the pattern so you may check section-by-section usage to ensure a successful result.


I want to thank my wonderful test knitters – Anne / AnneBinMaine, Glenys / Geekay, and Tish / Tish603 – without whose help and support, this pattern would never have happened!!!