Mystery Revealed: Spring It On!
I can't believe how quickly the spring has just flown by! The fifth and final clue of the Spring It On! mystery shawl was released this Monday so it's time to reveal the complete shawl.
I've designed so many two-color shawls that for this year's mystery shawl I wanted to use three colors instead. The color scheme just had to be green for spring, right? Melinda of Samelin Dyeworks had a gorgeous chartreuse-bordering-on-lime colorway called Ogre (isn't that just the perfect name for the color? a not-so-subtle Shrek reference) and we started building the color palette around it. Something darker, something lighter... add the rich forest green of Hunter and the subtlest canary yellow Quack-quack (another amazing name!) and we had our colors.
I originally envisioned the shawl as something much more simple: lots of stripes, a little garter stitch here, a bit stockinette there, throw in a lace border, and Bob's your uncle. But I myself found that utterly boring to knit and imagined how you, dear knitter, would feel with having a mystery shawl with just stripes.
And that's when the stars and bricks entered the picture. The shawl ended up being something that would constantly change and keep the knitter engaged, although with repeating elements to make the design coherent.
Clue 1 of the shawl sets the asymmetrical triangle shape of the shawl. I just love this shape so much! The first clue also introduces the first choose-your-own-adventure option of the shawl with the twisted stars that could be done two ways. You can find video tutorials for both options here: How to Knit the Twisted Star Stitch [Tutorial]. The last bit of Clue 1 is a section of garter stitch and eyelets that'll make a re-appearance later on in the shawl.
Onto Clue 2 and the third color! The second clue starts with a section that's probably closest to the original plan I had. Garter stitch and stripes, one of my favorite textures! The clue then segues into a short lace section... which we'll also see again later.
Clue 3 has you make another choice: even stripes or brick stitch? This was another spot in my sample when my mind was going "boooriing". The brick stitch was a total last-minute whim that ended up being one of my favorite features of the shawl! This clue ends with some more garter stitch and eyelets. Confused about slipping stitches? See the video tutorial here: How to Knit Two-Color Brick Stitch [Tutorial]
Clue 4 is the biggest of all the five clues. There's always that one clue that has you racing against the time to catch up, right? The twisted stars make a comeback — with a vengeance! — only this time they're on a garter-stitch background. The clue ends with the stars of the last row hanging over the precipice...
Onto the home stretch with Clue 5. The shawl ends with an organic, fern-like lace border. The border comes with three options depending on how much further you want to knit... and how much yarn you have left. And there's also two options for the bind-off: i-cord or picot. I opted to make an i-cord bind-off because it gives a nice framed finish to the edge.
My sample shawl turned out pretty huge! Maybe that shouldn't have come as such a surprise since the pattern uses over 1,000 yards of fingering-weight yarn.
If you haven't quite finished your shawl yet, don't worry — there's still time to enter the prize draw! Post a photo of your finished shawl in the Finished Shawls thread in my Ravelry group by May 12, 2019. I will do a random draw and pick 3 lucky knitters who will each get a free pattern from my Ravelry store, a project bag from Chameli Designs, and a set of stitch markers from Ruskanlehti.
Check out more photos of the shawl in my Instagram Stories or with the hashtag #springitonmkal.
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