Winginit! by Lesley Anne Robinson

Winginit!

Knitting
July 2020
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
20 stitches and 40 rows = 4 inches
in garter stitch knit flat using Small needles (taken after blocking)
US 4 - 3.5 mm
901 yards (824 m)
One size: 72” / 183 cm long and 16” / 41 cm wide, measured after blocking
English
This pattern is available for $8.00 USD buy it now

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Winginit! A rectangular shawl knit partially on the bias with garter triangles at each end. Diagonal stripes of garter stitch, condo knitting, open bird’s eye lace and honeycomb mosaic give this shawl a beautiful landscape to play with color and texture. The name of this pattern was inspired by birds, birds-eye view landscapes, and the fact that I just feel like I’m wingin’ it these days.

In July 2020, I was going to visit a lovely yarn shop in Williamsburg, Virginia, The Flying Needles! I was very excited to have the opportunity to teach there. Well, because of the global pandemic, we decided to postpone the workshop weekend. As you can imagine, we all needed some hope and fun to help us through these uncertain times. I thought it would be a nice idea to design a special shawl using Robin’s Promise Yarn, a beautiful yarn that is dyed by the shop owner, Susan. I love that each color is inspired by and named after birds and the earth. I hope this pattern can bring you some hope.

Yarn Notes: Grab 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn for this! I recommend one skein of speckled / variegated and one skein of semi-solid or solid. This pattern uses almost all or all of each skein of yarn. If you are a loose knitter, I would recommend going down a needle size just in case. To avoid running out of yarn, I recommend knitting a gauge swatch. If you have more than the allotted yardage you can knit and block a swatch. Alternatively, to ensure you don’t run out of yarn, you can knit a swatch to the pre-blocked gauge, listed here and in the pattern itself, and then unravel the swatch and use it in your project. This way you can continue if your gauge is correct, or change needle sizes if need be. If substituting yarns, please note the yardage / meterage amounts. See the last photo here for the yarn that I used.

Skill level: Beginner friendly!! No brioche knitting here at all. I design a lot of brioche patterns, and even I need a break sometimes! Techniques used: knit, purl, yarn overs, knitting increases and decreases, slipping stitches, bias shawl shaping. I wrote this pattern to be a great beginner pattern! If you have never knit lace or mosaic before, both of the stitch patterns used in this pattern are straight-forward and very repetitive. Condo knitting is simply garter stitch using 2 different sized needles!

Construction Notes: This lightweight rectangular wrap starts off with only a few stitches. You will cast on and knit a garter stitch triangle, increasing one stitch at each edge until you reach the number of stitches required for the body of the shawl. Once you have reached the correct stitch count, you will begin knitting on the bias. Alternating stripes of garter stitch, condo knitting, open bird’s eye lace, and honeycomb mosaic make up the body of this shawl. You will also be alternating the order of the two yarn colors, so that you can see every outcome and combination together. The shawl ends with another garter stitch triangle, but this time you will be decreasing down to only a few stitches in the opposite corner. This helps the shawl retain its rectangular shape, while allowing the diagonal stripes in the shawl body.

The open stitch patterns used in the shawl make it perfect for warmer weather!

This pattern has both written instructions and a chart for the Lace Stripe only.

One size: 72” / 183 cm long and 16” / 41 cm wide, measured after blocking; Schematic included with pattern.

Materials:

Yarn: 901 yds / 823 m Fingering / Sock weight yarn
Color A: 463 yds / 423 m
Color B: 438 yds / 400 m

Shown in:
A: 1 skein in Robin’s Promise Yarn Co. Songbird in Moss-Backed Tanager (green variegated; 4ply 75% Superwash Merino wool, 25% Nylon; 463 yds / 423 m per 100g)
B: 1 skein in Robin’s Promise Yarn Co. Little Bird Fingering in Pheasant Ring (dark teal; 4ply 100% Superwash Merino wool; 438 yds / 400 m per 100g)

Needles:
Small: 24” / 61 cm or longer US 4 / 3.5 mm circular needle
Large: 24” / 61 cm or longer US 15 / 10 mm circular needle OR size needed to obtain gauge. Circular needles are used to accommodate large number of stitches.

Tools: tapestry needle, row counter

Gauge: Blocked: 20 sts x 40 rows = 4” / 10 cm; measured in garter stitch knit flat using Small needles.
Pre-Blocked: 24 sts x 56 rows = 4” /10 cm in garter stitch knit flat using Small needles.

Many many thanks to Susan from The Flying Needles and Robin’s Promise for the yarn support and design inspiration!! This has been such a fun collaboration! I also want to thank my amazing Tech Editor, Meaghan Schmaltz, for her efforts and expertise, as well as for test knitting this pattern. And finally, a HUGE thank you to my awesome test knitters!!! Be sure to check out their projects for some serious color inspiration!!

I also want to thank my wonderful husband, Brian Robinson, for taking these photos.