I can’t quite believe it, but I have knitted a shawl! In my mind this shawl will always be known as the Fargo shawl as it was knitted over about 5 episodes of the second series, but its actual name is Quaker Yarn Stretcher Boomerang (paid pattern).
The story behind the shawl is pretty straightforward. At Christmas I was lucky enough to be given the most beautiful ball of Noro Kureopatora colourway 1024.
It was so brightly coloured and really tactile, very soft and squishy. It is 100% wool. I really wanted to do this yarn justice.
First off all I thought I would try a Noro stripe scarf and I bought a contrasting skein in green but it did not look at all like I imagined it would and quickly abandoned the idea.
Next I tried a Hitchhiker scarf in cream and Noro stripes. Oh dear. Less said about that, the better.
So I had a look (spent hours) on Ravelry and found the Quaker Yarn Stretcher pattern and decided it was ‘easy’ enough for me to do, that I had enough yarn and that it would not take me months to make, so off I went.
The shawl is supposed to be knitted loosely which was a challenge for me as I am quite a tight knitter. The yarn is DK but I used a 6mm circular needle to give it the right gauge. I did wonder how the yarn would knit up as it was thick and thin in places but it wasn’t a problem.
So here is my first knitted shawl…
I had a hard time taking pictures of this shawl. There was lots of hilarity when I asked my brother to take some pictures of me in the garden. I am just not very good a posing for the camera. My mum even had to help out!
It was not obvious looking at the wound ball that this wool had such dramatic colur changes and although I had googled it, I loved watching the colours emerge. In my mind, it looks like a sun setting over a deep, dark ocean. I wonder what you see.
I will use this pattern again. I have the other ball of Noro I can use but looking at all of the projects on Ravelry (nearly 2000!), it is a very adaptable pattern.
x
Yes, that seems doable, even for me! It’s still beautiful even though they’re simple stitches.
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Thank you and yes, it is very doable. I think that a simple pattern allows you to use a more fussy yarn too.
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It’s gorgeous.
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Thank you so much. I think it needs to be worn with a single colour so it can shine but tbh I wasn’t going to get changed just to take some photos 🙂
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That is gorgeous. I love the colours and you’ve certainly done it justice 🙂
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Thank you! I’m just glad that I found a pattern that I could follow and not mess up 🙂
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What a gorgeous shawl you’ve made! I love the colours too 🙂
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Thank you Eleonora. I am so pleased with it. It is so soft and warm too 🙂
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Looks great!
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Thank you!
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That is so beautiful! I love the colours in the yarn! I’ve been looking at easy knit patterns for shawls I may give this one a go, as being dk hopefully it will be quite quick!! How much yarn did you need?
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Thank you Sharon. It was super easy and took me maybe 6 hours. I used 100g of the Noro Kureopatra which measured 270m. The pattern emphasises a loose tension, so although the pattern had recommended 5mm needles for DK wool, I used a 6mm circular 80cm long. I’m looking for a new shawl pattern now, one with some detail as I have some plain wool I want to use up.
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Lovely, thanks for that. X
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How gorgeous! It looks so lovely, Alida and I do like your description of the colours.
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