We’ve all had it with winter. Time to look forward to spring and cast on some lovely lightweight shawls! We still have plenty of cool weather ahead, even here in the deep South. Something bright, soft and optimistic will banish any winter chill that remains. Through Friday, March 4, take 30% off these lovely lightweight shawls in my Ravelry shop. Use coupon code B3LIGHTS at checkout.
Lightweight shawls are such a pleasure to knit, particularly after a long winter of heavy yarns and stitches. Let go of those cables and worsted weight yarns for a moment and turn your attention to something gentler, a lovely lightweight shawl!
MAYPOLE
I’m a big fan of polka dots! I find them fresh and lively and an instant mood-elevator. So back in May of 2018 I worked polka dots into the border of a lovely lightweight shawl. Enter Maypole! For its first incarnation, I chose two yarn colors, a solid for the body and a variegated for the border. It was a fine idea, but it did little to showcase my lovely border of dots. To do justice to Maypole, I gathered two skeins of Cashluxe Spark from SweetGeorgia Yarns in Tangerine and knit a tonal version.
My favorite part of Maypole is the exuberant loop-the-loop edging! It’s made of I-cord knitted on to create a clever scallop.
The Maypole Shawl is an easy, semi-circular shawl that begins with a gentle stockinette body. Evenly spaced increases create very pretty directional shaping lines that put me in mind of a spider’s web or the spokes of a wheel. The lace border is a whimsical lace pattern of fat polka dots floating in mesh. It is knitted continuously with the shawl body and very pretty to look at.
CUMULUS
Cumulus is a quick and easy lightweight shawl that makes a great fingering weight stashbuster.
Bands of puffy garter stitch flanked by smooth valleys of stockinette energize the fabric’s surface using only the most basic stitches. Directional decreases coax garter stripes into cloudy rippled waves along the edge of this lovely lightweight shawl. Cumulus is a fun and easy knit that strikes the perfect balance of car or TV knitting with an engaging edge treatment.
The Cumulus Shawl is a shallow, semi-circular lightweight wrap worked from the top down increasing at 6 stitches every right side row. It works up beautifully in any fingering weight yarn. First, choose your neutral. Pair that with tonal, kettle dyed or hand painted yarn just for the fun of it!
ANNAPOLIS
Ah, stripes. Neutral or flashy, tonal or solid, two-row stripes adapt themselves to almost any color combination and are effortless to knit.
I think the Annapolis Wrap, is as close to being yachty as I’m likely to get. It’s lightweight and jaunty. It’s a long triangle with easy-to-memorize shaping worked in 2-row stripes. It provides the knitter with a good long stretch of fairly mindless “boat knitting” (for in between sailing tasks), followed by an engaging lace border which is knitted on as the shawl is bound off.
A fairly large wrap, Annapolis uses the specified yarn almost completely, but adapts itself to smaller or larger interpretations. The border can be applied to any number of stitches so your final stitch count after knitting all those nautical stripes is just not that important. Choose something soft and warm in colors you love and you’ll have a toasty wrap in no time!
