This shawl is made entirely from scraps - no need to purchase any yarn if you have a random assortment of leftover fingering, sport and DK in your stash. This squishy shawl was inspired by a rag rug made by my grandma to carpet most of her house (read on for the full story), but it has the bonus of containing the leftovers of all the beloved projects and gifts you have made over the years.

You do not need to be an expert in color theory to make this! There is literally no wrong way to position the colors - the overall effect will be like a rag rug: colorful and charming. (And larger sections of alternating only two colors reduces the number of ends you need to weave in!) I hope you enjoy this story, and maybe it makes you think of a maker who inspired you. :)

When I was little, we used to go to my grandma’s house up on Timothy Ridge in Western Ohio for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. On those visits, which lasted anywhere from a week to ten days, she taught me to sew and imbibed within me a love of making things. She was truly a product of the Depression Era, never wasting anything and always using fabric scraps to make rag rugs.

One of the most notable elements of her large red circa 1850 farmhouse was the massive curving oak staircase that ran through the entryway and up to the long wooden floors upstairs. She had carpeted the downstairs hallway, all the way up the sinuous staircase, and all through the upstairs hall to the bedrooms with a rag rug made from scrap fabric of every color and kind. This rug was bright, random and cheerful, kind of like my grandma.

In designing this whimsical, folksy shawl, I feel like I have captured the spirit of this handmade rug. I think this has been my favorite thing I have ever knit, and my favorite shawl to wear. It flew off my needles and pretty much knit itself. Soft and squishy, it goes all the way up to your neck with no gap for cold air to squeak through, and is charmingly asymmetrical in the way it drapes.

Containing pretty much every color, this adds a pop of stunning to a neutral, basic outfit. Put this on and it becomes the outfit, just like the rug dressed up those old oak floors.

Timothy Ridge is an asymmetrical, chevron shaped shawl made from a random mixture of leftover fingering, sport and DK weight yarns, just like my grandma’s rag rug was made from scraps of leftover fabric. This shawl is done completely with garter stitch, and stitches are picked up to create the chevron shape.