Rock Island

It seems like Spring has been battling its way onto the scene in fits and starts for weeks. Despite a few bizarre instances of April snow recently, the warmer air seems to finally be sticking. It's a perfect time to think about some serious lace knitting, and today's pattern fits the bill nicely.

The Rock Island Shawl is a piece that I designed for a special collaborative project. Last year, the nice folks at Lorna's Laces invited me to be a part of their ongoing Color Commentary Series, in which designers are given free reign to develop a new colorway for LL yarns.

At the time, I had a very specific deep black-violet on the brain and wanted to pursue that. The original color inspiration came from some wonderful graffiti that I saw on Grand Street in Brooklyn that used heavy swaths of rich indigo and black. We worked back-and-forth for weeks and finally ended up with the finished colorway (shown above), which I'm thrilled with.  I've named the color Grand Street Ink, after its original inspiration, and it is now available in their wide range of yarns.

I chose to design for the color with Helen's Lace, a fine laceweight  50/50 wool-silk blend. The silk took the dye beautifully and the finished fabric of the shawl is almost veil-like.

The piece contrasts simple garter stitch with intricate Shetland lace motifs which are worked on both RS and WS rows, also over Garter Stitch. As a result, the shawl is completely reversible – both sides look the same. The triangle is worked backwards from standard construction, beginning first with the knitted edging. After the lace edging is worked, stitches are picked up from a yarn-over-selvedge along the straight edge and the main portion of the triangle is worked directly from those stitches. This means the most labor-intensive elements of the shawl are completed first, and pattern rows get smaller as you go, which is always a nice psychological bonus.

I think the design would look wonderful in fingering weight yarn as well... I may have started one already.

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Resources: The Rock Island pattern is available through Brooklyn Tweed or Ravelry. Brooklyn Tweed's "Grand Street Ink" colorway is available at Lorna's Laces.