I was so excited about the release of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” in movie form and the prospect of new wizarding adventures, I wanted to create something that Newt Scamander might enjoy wearing, showing off his interest in magical creatures. ‘Scamander’ therefore features wriggly things (which could be creeks full of newts in honor of the Greek river god of the same name, Flobberworms, snakes, or any other wriggly beastie you can dream up), little fangs, and pairs of eye(let)s.

The original shawl was made with a limited edition color set of Lorna’s Laces String Quintets aptly named “Newt’s Suit”, which matched one of Newt’s outfits in the movie and is unfortunately no longer available; but it would also look fun either in any other set of gradient mini skeins with a contrast color, or with just two contrasting colors of sock yarn.

About the pattern:
The shawl is worked side-to-side, or rather wriggle to wriggle, and works up quite quickly in mostly garter stitch. The waviness is worked right in, and so are the little ‘eyes’ and ‘fangs’ that will make any lover of fantastic beasts smile.

The color possibilities for this piece are endless – either the wedges or the wriggles could be solid or a gradient set of shades, it can be worked with just two contrasting colors or as many as 17 if you wanted to get eclectic or do some serious sock yarn stash busting.

Materials:
5-colored version: 1 Lorna’s Laces String Quintet (127g / 525 yds) in color “Newt’s Suit”,
1 Skein of Lorna’s Laces Staccato (25g / 107 yds) in color “Owls of a Kind”
OR
Any 6 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Staccato (25g / 107 yds) in colors that make a gradient or nice set plus a contrast color
OR
215 yds of fingering weight yarn for color A,
425 yds of fingering weight yarn for color (B) – the sparkly sample in the pictures was made with Canon Hand Dyes – Oscar Sparkle Sock in ‘Fred and George’ (color A) and ‘Magical Me’ (color B).

Size 2.5mm / US 1.5 circular knitting needles, 24” or longer (or size to obtain gauge)
Darning needle
Stitch markers

Suggested alternative yarns:
Dream in Color Smooshy, Cascade Heritage / Heritage Paints, Hedgehog Fibres Sock, Schoppel Zauberball 100, Miss Babs Gradient Yummy 2-ply, Vice Gradient Kit, Canon Hand Dyes William Sock

Gauge:
21 sts x 40 rows = 4” / 10cm in garter stitch, unblocked