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Paint a Rainbow is a semi-triangular shawl with a simple but interesting construction, squishy garter stitch combined with simple lace, and colourful stripes. You can make it with one solid and one variegated colourway, or you can use many colours - small amounts of yarn left over from other projects will be perfect. I used Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply left after two projects: Minimalist Rainbow (/patterns/library/minimalist-rainbow) sweater and Scrappy Stripes mittens.
The size of the shawl can be easily modified by changing the number of pattern repeats. The pattern contains both charts and full written instructions.*

If, after making the shawl, you have any left-over yarn, you can use it making Scrappy Stripes mittens.

Size
Wingspan: 165 cm/65 in
Depth at the widest point: 48 cm/19 in

You can change the size by working a different number of chart repeats in Part 3 - the pattern contains notes on adjusting the size. (Any changes will affect yarn usage.)

Gauge (blocked)
Garter stitch: 21 sts and 42 rows = 10 cm/4 in, with main needle

Gauge is not crucial for this project, but it will affect yardage and finished size if different from above.

Yarn
Fingering weight merino wool or wool blend:

Background colour (BC): 365 m/400 yds in a solid or semi-solid colourway; shown in Miss Babs Tarte in Quicksilver (75% merino wool, 15% nylon, 10% tencel, 457 m/500 yds per 122 g).
You can replace Tarte with Yummy 2-Ply.

Contrast colours (CC): a total of approx. 400 m/440 yds in several colourways - you can use mini skeins or yarn left over from other projects; shown in Miss Babs Yummy-2 Ply Mini Bundle in Vivid (set of 10 mini skeins, 100% merino wool, 72 m/80 yds per 23-gram skeins).
Alternatively, you can use one variegated colourway as CC, you will need approx. 365 m/400 yds.

The yardage for several combined colourways is larger than for a single variegated yarn to give you some freedom in where you finish one colour and join the next one.

I used the following colourways:
CC1: Marine
CC2: Blue Poppy
CC3: Hyperbole
CC4: Iantha
CC5: Sunny
CC6: Ugli
CC7: Spicy Papaya
CC8: Dahlia
CC9: Caribbean Flamingo

I chose a light grey colourway as the background to achieve a slightly muted effect. If you want the CC stripes to stand out more and appear brighter, use either a lighter colourway (for example White Peppercorn) or a darker one (for example Oxidized Silver).

Needles and Notions
Main needle: 3.75 mm/US 5 circular needle, 100 cm/40 in long, or size to obtain gauge
Larger needle: 4.5 mm/US 7 needle (any type, for bind off only)
Optional: 1 removable stitch marker