Let’s face it… we all have it! Beautiful skeins of sock yarn that you’ve bought just because colors were perfect and skein was so squishy. You’ve had to have it! Then you’ve tried few patterns with it, but beautiful yarn doesn’t want to be lace or cables, it doesn’t want to be anything but colorful mess. I think I have a solution…

Lakes and Rivers shawl was designed with difficult yarn in mind. It worked neck-down, mostly in garter stitch with short row sections(no warps) in-between. Size is completely customizable, it can be big shawl or small shawlette.

Reversed gauge - each “lake” repeat measures 3.25” x 0.75” after blocking. Exact gauge is not important for this project, it is given to get an idea how dense knitted fabric has to be. Both yarns in the sample shawl are superwash merino, which grows significantly while wet.

Difficult yarn(MC) for “lakes” and “rivers”:

• handpainted,
• variegated,
• ombre,
• leftovers

Helper yarn(CC) for banks, in contrast color to difficult:

• solid,
• semisolid,
• tonal,
• ombre

Sample shawl: - 80”x20”(blocked)

Difficult yarn(MC): Vortex Fractal in Aster, approx. 400yds
Helper yarn(CC): Knit Picks Stroll in Dove Heather, approx. 400 yds

Hashtag in Instagram #lakesandriversshawl