Irida Shawl - Ply Magazine

I'm a little late in posting about this, especially since the Autumn issue of the magazine is now coming out, but better late than never, I suppose.  So, last year, I was contacted by Jacey Boggs about contributing to the very first issue of Ply Magazine, a brand new magazine for spinners.  The theme of the issue was "firsts", first sheep, first wheel, buying your first fleece, etc.  And she asked if I would design up something that a knitter could use as his/her first shawl project.  I jumped at the chance to be part of this fantastic new publication, and what resulted was the Irida Shawl.

Irida (Greek for rainbow) is a simply constructed triangular shawl knit from the top down with a lacey chevron pattern and garter stitch bands that show off the color changes of an ombré handspun yarn. The pattern is intuitive, perfect for those new to shawl knitting, and creates a lovely, wearable piece that puts your handspun on center stage. No one skein of handspun is the same, so this shawl is designed to be customizable, with notes on altering the pattern to suit your needs. And if you don’t have an ombré yarn on hand, the shawl would also be quite pretty made with different skeins in different colors, as long as they are the same weight.

I love the photos in the magazine, with the shawl modeled by a sweet young girl!  And here is what Irida looks like on a larger human (i.e. me):

Seeing the color changes in this awwwwwesome yarn come about was very fun.

And I love how the little bit of yellow at the edge makes the shawl look a bit like it's glowing.

You can find Irida on Ravelry here, and more deets are below...

Size: Length of top, straight edge: 48”/ 122 cm; Height at center: 24”/ 60 cm

Yarn: 450 yards/ 412 m of a DK weight yarn

Needles: US 6 (4mm) circular needle, at least 32"/ 80 cm long

Gauge: 18 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in Stockinette St and Chevron Lace pattern

Other pretty patterns from the issue are here, and though the First issue is now past, I encourage you to check out current and future issues of Ply here!