A new knitting pattern made its appearance to my Ravelry Store! The shawl pattern is called ‘It Takes Three’ and it’s the perfect pattern for some relaxed knitting. I will tell you more about the construction later on in this post. First, let me give you a little bit of a background story on how the It Takes Three Shawl came to this world at all!
A Lovely Skein of Yarn
Once upon a time, I bought a lovely skein of speckled yarn at the booth of Wol met Verve at a craft fair. The yarn is a sock yarn with some silk added to it. I don’t have to tell you that it’s soft, do I? I fell in love with all of the subtle colours… pink, orange, yellow, purple, all on a cream or ivory background. It was my very first skein of hand-dyed yarn!
I don’t know about you, but I cherish these special skeins. Up to a point where you can’t get a second (or third) one anymore because it’s so old and sold out. Needless to say, that happened to this one too…
I had picked a crochet pattern for this yarn and, surprise, it wasn’t enough. Not even close. That was my first attempt and I learned the hard way that crochet consumes a lot more yarn than knitting does.
Second attempt and lessons learned, I chose a knitting pattern that would work with only one skein. I don’t remember which one it was, but given that my knitting skills were rather basic at that time, this project was not going to be a very successful one either. The shawl-to-be ended up in a basket never to be looked at again.
Then, after gaining some more knitting experience I was ready to give this lovely skein of yarn another go. I bought a few matching solids from the Wol met Verve Basic Sock collection and now it took only a few smaller attempts to come up with the shawl that you see here: The It Takes Three Shawl.
Third time lucky. I think by now you can guess what inspired me when thinking of a name for this pattern, right?
The Idea
Shawls are my favourite accessory to wear. However, I don’t like them to be too big and bulky. So, my challenge for this design was to create a shawl that is large enough to keep you warm on colder spring days or chilly summer evenings. I wanted to keep it light and airy. That’s why I chose a rather large needle size for this yarn. Added advantage: it works up a lot faster!
My goal was to create a shallow triangular shape. That way it is wide enough so that you can drape it around your neck. But the tip of the shawl is not so deep that you’re completely covered in it. Again, light and airy!
And I wanted it to be fun and colourful!
The Construction
I think that I managed to incorporate all of my ideas in this design. The It Takes Three Shawl is a triangular shawl that is worked bottom-up. You start knitting small at the tip and slowly the rows are getting longer and your shawl grows. This kind of construction makes it very easy to adapt the size of the shawl to your preferences: just add or leave out sections!
The entire shawl is worked in soothing rows of garter stitches which make it a very relaxed knitting project. It’s very compatible with binge-watching your favourite series or just mindless knitting.
I’ve used the intarsia technique for the colour work and blocks of colour are alternated with stripes. The pattern, of course, contains detailed information to help you if you’ve never used this technique before.
Three generous and multi-coloured tassels provide the finishing touch! I’m secretly in love with them!
The Bonus
I love to work with a thicker yarn every now and then. And since this pattern is so easily adaptable, I made one in a DK yarn too. The yarn I used for this one is a cotton and acrylic blend and I combined navy with a pale grey for a more neutral version. It looks completely different, doesn’t it?
Of course, this one has tassels too!
You can find the details for this one on the Ravelry project page that I created for the DK version.
You receive the pattern files for both versions when you buy the pattern. Consider the DK pattern a free bonus!
It Takes Three…
What’s in a name? A third one is on my needles at the moment!
I am working with almost primary colours for this one: red, yellow and blue. And a beautiful, yet subtle, speckled yarn.
The yarn is kindly selected and supplied by Sylvia of Wol met Verve and this one will be on display in her booth at future yarn festivals! How fabulous is that? Thank you very much, Sylvia!
Are you tempted to knit one yourself? You can find the pattern on Ravelry! If that is a problem for you (due to the recent changes Ravelry has made), then please contact me directly and we will find a way to help you!
Will you show me your finished shawls? I’d love to see them on social media (#ittakesthreeshawl and #merinoandtomatoes) or Ravelry!
Last, but not least: a BIG thank you to Annette who was so kind to model both shawls for me!
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