Like Tears in Rain
One yarn trend I've noticed in the last couple of years in hand-dyed mohair. La Bien Aimée has it, Hedgehog Fibres has it, Martin's Lab has it... If you're anyone in the indie dyeing business, you're doing mohair.
I've been fascinated by the fluffyness of mohair but unsure if I'd ever wear it. Would I know how to use it? Maybe if I paired it with something. Now, there was an idea...
Petrichor Yarns is a local-to-me indie dyer with a unique color sense. Her signature colorway is called Raindrops, a neon pastel (if there is such a thing) mix of pink, turquoise, gray, splashed with black speckles. Couple that with a semi-solid silk mohair and you've got the makings of a wonderfully light shawl.
Tears in Rain is worked from the top down as a hybrid between a semi-circle and a crescent. The shawl features alternating sections of stockinette in merino/stellina singles and lace in the fluffy mohair.
I wanted to use a really simple lace pattern that wouldn't be obscured by the mohair. That's why the lace in the pattern is super easy to memorize: it's the same two rows over and over, and one of them is the purl-back row. Essentially you have to memorize six stitches and that's it!
The shawl is finished with a looped crochet border. If you've ever worked a knitted picot bind-off, this is a much faster way to achieve a striking-looking bind-off. And if you've never crocheted before, don't fret! It's just chain stitches and single crochets. DEAD. SIMPLE.
As for the name... With names like 'petrichor', meaning the smell of earth after the rain, and 'raindrops', the shawl would obviously have to be something rain related. In the end the answer came, as they often do, from pop culture.
In the original Blade Runner, there's a famous monologue Rutger Hauer's character gives towards the end of the movie:
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
On Ravelry: Tears in Rain
Pattern: Tears in Rain by Susanna Winter
Yarn: 1 skein of Petrichor Yarns Merino Single Bling in Raindrops & 2 skeins of Mohair/Mulberry Silk in Silver
Needles: 4.5 mm Cubics
