Northern Lights Shawl(ette)

In April, while my parents were visiting, we spent a weekend in the lovely city of Norwich. It is a charming place, full of history and beautiful buildings. A small and perfectly formed city.

One of my favourite parts is the covered market. It is row after confusing row of all sorts of stalls selling everything: butchers, greengrocers, cafes, cards, ribbons, toys, clothing, gifts, luggage and, of course, yarn. I had to get something while I was there, and what better souvenir for a knitter than a skein of yarn? I loved the colours of King Cole Riot, so while it is not an artisan yarn, nor a fibre composition of particular merit, I was taken with it and bought it in the colourway Rhapsody. I liked the blues and pinks, although it has come up with red as the dominant colour. The colour changes move evenly and then reverse through the skein so that each stripe is flanked by the same colour. Eg: violet, teal (start), violet, grey, red, pink, lavender (middle of change), pink red, grey, violet. And so on.

I was going to crochet a ripple scarf but there wasn't enough drape so I browsed Ravelry specifically for a scarf or a shawl in this yarn.  I loved the way this pattern really showed off the dramatic colour changes to their full effect. Most makers had used two skeins but I went ahead with one and knitted until I ran out of yarn. It is enough for a shawlette, which I find more wearable than a shawl anyway.

Tragically, I found this really boring to knit. There are no changes, just a yarn over at each segment and a psso once every 4 rows. I enjoy lace knitting and wanted more of it.  That said, the zig zag stripe effect is lovely and would have been more pronounced, had I had more yarn to carry on with. The acrylic content of the yarn means that the blocking has worn off and the points have lost their prominence and it curls when I wear it, but it is a nice flash of peacock brightness on a grey day.

As a souvenir from the epicentre of the worldwide wool trade, once upon a time, I'm extremely pleased. Ravelry link here.