Sheep Wagon Shawl

I was lucky enough to grab the Sheep Wagon Shawl pattern by Joanna Johnson while it was free during its first days on Ravelry. Now the pattern costs $4, but that's still a small price to pay because it's a lovely, well-executed design.

This is the shawl I referred to in my previous post that I worked using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease yarn.

I varied from the original pattern by incorporating some gradient striping based on the chart in the Gradient Mitts (free pattern) to transition from top color (Taupe) to bottom color (Charcoal), making this a simple, two-color striped shawl. I doubled the number of rows in the gradient stripes, so instead of being worked across 30 rows, I worked them across 60 rows, starting after row 62 of the shawl pattern.

Bottom edge stitch count: 535.

Update 4/10/15: I added a crocheted lace border adapted from Kim Guzman’s Cinnamon Fling wrap (free pattern) to accomplish two things. One, to alleviate the inevitable hem curl with stockinette fabric. And two, to add a few more inches in length.

The funny story here is that I ran short of the Charcoal Cotton-Ease yarn. This is visible in the above photo, where you can see a color variation in the bottom knitted rows of the shawl. I wasn't able to find anymore of that shade in my local stores, and I wasn't able to find anymore of it to buy online (not any that was reasonably priced, at least). I was about to give up, but I reached out to yarncraft designer Darleen Hopkins of Crochet by Darleen Hopkins. Darleen has made a lot of her designs using Cotton-Ease, so I explained my problem of running short of the Charcoal yarn. She did have a newer skein of that color and generously offered to sell it to me. We all know how yarn companies like to mess with their dye processes, so naturally the two versions of Charcoal weren't an exact match, but at this point in my big shawl project I was not about to give up! Thank you, thank you, Darleen, for saving me!!!

I was able to complete the Sheep Wagon Shawl pattern to length, but this is how close I came to using the entire skein Darleen sent me - just 1.4 ounces left (including the label band):

So a few days later when I decided to add the crocheted lace border, I opted to do that in black Caron Simply Soft - something STILL AVAILABLE IN MY LOCAL STORE. Hahaha!