I think my love of rainbows has been well documented on this blog. A simple search for rainbow will bring up lots of posts. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that when I cast on for the new Stephen West Fantastitch Shawl, my color palette is a super bright rainbow.
In between knitting a baby blanket and starting my Pebble Tunic, I decided I wanted to cast on this shawl after seeing some awesome color combinations. Sometimes I just need things that can engage by brain a bit to help me disconnect from the day. Baby blankets are a great thing to knit when you don’t need to look at your hands (like during a conference call) and the Pebble Tunic has large portions of stockinette that don’t get me excited, but this shawl does.
I didn’t do a gauge swatch and I think I was coming out slightly small so when I got to a new section I just changed to the next needle size up. I kind of love West Knit patterns because you honestly don’t have to be perfect, it’s about just mixing things up.
The yarn is all fingering weight that has been in my stash. I used the 3 colors of Undercover Otter my husband brought me after his trip to Amsterdam, the leftover skein of rainbow yarn from Knitty and Color from my Linus cardigan, a skein of insanely bright hot pink yarn from Periwinkle Sheep that I don’t even remember when I picked it up, a bright orange I picked up from Fibre Space and a bright neon yellow leftover from one of the first skeins of yarn I ever bought. It’s a bright mix and the colors make me happy and just as I’m about to get tired of a section I get to add in a new color and a new stitch pattern! It’s fun to see this evolve and it will be a great light weight shawl for spring.
Yards of Happiness 
Wow to those colors ! I can see myself with all black on swinging that shawl across my shoulders. Very nice !
Hooray for Rainbows! That’s a gorgeous knit.
I love your shawl! It looks amazing. I love how you describe using your stash and even going up a needle size. That’s inspiration for all your readers.
I love this😍😍😍😍😍
I thought of you this morning, Dana, as I was knitting. I don’t think I’d ever wear a shawl as vibrantly colorful as your rainbow shawl, BUT, I’d love knitting one. It would be so much fun and I’m learning to just enjoy the process and let go of expectations. It’s a slow process, but I’m learning. Thanks so much for your blog. You’ve inspired me so many times!
It looks amazing and like so much fun!!
Dana this is gorgeous!!! I’m a shawl/ scarf girl and always have been, I’d love to see this one day😊 Hope you and Kendall are safe & Healthy🤗
How and where do you block such a large shawl?
They were all superwash yarns so I just put it in the washing machine. I don’t have enough blocking mats so I just hung it on a drying rack and then spread it out a bit more in my basement. Not perfect but it did the job.