Cimarron Shawl
DO YOU FIND that when you have finished a project, you haven’t just created a wearable item, you have also knit a story into physical form? When I pick up a handknit item, I can viscerally remember what I was experiencing with each stitch: This is the sweater I ripped out countless times on a sleepless red eye flight over the Atlantic. This is the shawl I knit to process the grief of my grandmother’s passing. This is the sweater I made when I spent a sun-drenched week romping through the Arizona desert with a dear friend. These are the socks I finished when I was so very sad that all I could do was pour myself into a chair and mindlessly work round after round of stockinette.
We can’t often choose the circumstances of our lives when we create things, but I do often think about the energy I am infusing into each project. Is it frustration? Sadness? Anger? Grief? Sometimes these are simply what’s present, and knitting serves as the moving meditation to process hard feelings. But I am also intentional in weaving gratitude into each stitch, too: gratitude that, as my fingers form stitch after stitch, I can allow my body to feel what it needs to feel; gratitude for the sheep that grew this wool and the farmers and artisans involved in turning that wool into yarn; gratitude for the simple joy of melding color and texture; gratitude for the sunlight streaming in from the window and the cozy cup of tea by my side; gratitude for the ability to create something beautiful with my own two hands. In this way, every project becomes an entry into my textural gratitude journal—written in stitches, not words.
May the Cimarron Shawl be this for you: an opportunity to feel what you need to feel and a canvas for your gratitude, whatever that looks like for you in this season.
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Design & Construction: The Cimarron Shawl is triangular shawl. It is worked top-down in sections that alternate between garter stitch and brioche. The final section includes a small band of mosaic knitting. Large tassels accent the three points on the shawl’s bottom edge.
Brioche: Written and charted instructions are included for all brioche so you can choose your preferred method of instructions for knitting these sections!
Yarn Selection: If you want your shawl to look like the sample shawl, chose 2 colors and then select one fingering and one laceweight yarn in each of those colors. Alternatively, if you choose 4 different colors, you will end up with a more striped effect throughout your shawl.
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SIZES
One sizeFINISHED MEASUREMENTS
46 in. wide x 28 in. deep 115 cm wide x 70 cm deep -
YARN
Light fingering weight – wool or wool blend
Fingering yarn 1 (F1): 58 g/270 yds (247 m)
Fingering yarn 2 (F2): 72 g/334 yds (306 m)
Lace weight – suri alpaca silk or mohair silk blend
Lace yarn 1 (L1): 22 g/192 yds (176 m)
Lace yarn 2 (L2): 32 g/280 yds (256 m)SUGGESTED YARN
Makerwool Fingering (100 g/463 yds (423 m)) – 75% superwash merino, 25% nylon
F1: 1 skein
F2: 1 skein
Makerwool Suri Silk (50 g/437 yds (400 m)) – 65% baby suri alpaca, 35% silk
L1: 1 skein
L2: 1 skeinThe sample shawl is knit in the colorways Cinnabar (F1 and L1) and Natural Beauty (F2 and L2).
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US 3 (3.25 mm)
For your chosen needle size, you will need 40 in. (102 cm) circular needles. You may also find it helpful to begin with a smaller cord, such as 16 in. (40 cm), and size up as your shawl grows.
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Measure gauge knit flat, after blocking.
21 sts and 42 rows = 4 in. (10 cm) in fluffy garter stitch
18 sts and 24 rows = 4 in. (10 cm) in brioche stitch -
Garter tab cast-on, knit increases, knit decreases, brioche knitting, stranded mosaic knitting, chart reading