The ancient Greeks believed that every visible thing around us was made of some combination of 4 “pure” elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

I have created the Elements shawls and wraps using only four basic stitches, which most beginner knitters already know: knit, slip 1, kfb, k2tog. No purls, no complicated shaping, no tedious cast-on or bind-off. Easy mosaic colorwork uses slipped stitches and only one color per row. It makes fun and addictive knit with striking results.

You can knit them by working from the written instructions or the detailed charts.

Elements: Earth – is a triangular-shaped shawl, worked sideways from tip to tip. The size of the shawl can be adjusted by working more or fewer repeats of the main body.

Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply 100% superwash Merino wool (400 yd / 3.9 oz (365m / 110g),

• MC - 1-2 skein, shown in Hops
• CC - 1-2 skein, shown in Coastal Fog

Or any similar fingering weight yarn in 2 contrasting colors

Needles: US #5 / 3.75 mm circular needles

Notions: digital scale, 2 markers, darning needle, blocking wires (optional)

Gauge: 24 sts x 46 rows = 4” in (k1, sl1) slip stitch.

An exact gauge is not crucial for this project. It is essential to choose the right size needles for your yarn. Choose the needle size that makes neat slip stitch fabric. You should be able to see all the patterning in the first few rows. You might get a different gauge.

Size: sample shown - wingspan 80” depth 32”, MC: 137g/500y, CC: 170g/618y

Written instructions are available in two formats:

• compact (6 pages, 11 pt)

• large print (18 pages, 20 pt), the version with big letters for those who use portable devices like tablets and e-readers; also for those knitters who have difficulties reading small font on paper.

Charts (5 pages, 11 pt) with only minimal notes are available as a separate file. If you want bigger charts, you can print them as a poster (in Acrobat: tile scale 125% with 1” overlap will spread each page on 2 sheets of paper, the equivalent of 17”x 11”).

On Instagram (find me as @galimka_knits) use hashtag #elements_earth_shawl