Strong&Stone

Sometimes you have to go outside of your comfort zone.

Today I want to present a new pattern to you. Lombard, a beautiful garter stitch striped shawl (or shawlette) worked from the top down in four colors. One of the things I love most about designing is playing with color. And this was just about as crazy as I get. :-)

For those of you that want the pattern…click here!

First, let me say this pattern is named for the great Carole Lombard. The Academy Award nominated actress who tragically passed away in 1942. Her beauty, elegance, and crazy inspired every stitch of this piece. :-)

When I started out to design a shawl I knew I had some guidelines. That I would need to follow. The shawl had to be top down, had to have garter stitch, had to have stripes, and couldn’t use too much yarn. I chose this exquisite yarn from Sublime called Egyptian Cotton DK. A DK weight cotton that carries more as a fingering than anything else. I chose it in the fabulous numbered colors that I call, Maritime, Cream, Dusty Rose, and Maroon. I chose a stripe pattern I had seen on a shawl from the 1950’s and adapted it for the pattern! 

This was my first adventure in summer/spring knitting. And I loved it! The shawl is a great blank canvas for experienced knitters and a wonderful beginner project for those newbies! The construction is fun and quick to work up with increases each row that make it so much more fun…cause let’s face it…who wants to fall asleep knitting!? The pattern can even be lengthened or shorten as you see fit! Plus that bind off: SO COOL! :-) Stretchy without looking sloppy. Remember Simple should never look stupid!

The sample is knit up in Sublime Egyptian Cotton DK, a DK wieght 100% Egyptian Cotton yarn that carries much like a fingering. I don’t normally go for cotton yarns nor do I usually go for such soft colors but I fell in love with a few of the colors online and couldn’t help ordering some for me. It’s pretty lovely to work with, and the colors and the drape of the fabric it creates are pretty hard to argue with!

Lombard has been fully tech edited and it’s available for purchase as a digital download on Ravelry here. More technical info is available on the Ravelry page.

-Rohn