I initially took up spinning because I wanted to create my own handspun yarn, to my exact specifications. Oh my naivety! Two and a half years later, I can now confidently spin fiber into a specific weight of yarn but spinning a yarn to precisely match the gauge of another skein of yarn is beyond my abilities.

Luckily, even a Gauge Police deputy like myself, knows that it’s okay to knit a project with multiple yarns that don’t knit up at the same gauge. Phos was designed to highlight handspun yarn and exploit differences in gauge. Using a denser handspun yarn, B, that knits up with fewer stitches and rows per inch, gives Phos an exaggerated texture while also adding color patterning to your shawl. If your handspun isn’t quite as bulky as Shepherd Shades, chose a thinner commercial yarn to pair it with in order to preserve the tactile quality of the slipped stitch pattern. There is no reason why you can’t knit Phos entirely in commercial yarn either.

The second sample pictured is knit in three colors of Shepherd Shades, with alternating dark and light shades of purple for each yarn B stripe.