The Painted Wings shawl pattern is a free knitting pattern for an exaggerated crescent shawl worked from the top center growing outwards. After casting on, every single row is the same until the bind off, making for a mindless knit.
Painted Wings requires two skeins of yarn: one fingering weight and one mohair. This is the perfect project to show off a single skein of variegated sock yarn. The variegation will create a watercolor effect in the garter rows and little pops of color in the picot bind off. The rapid increases ensure that there will be little to no pooling.
My first iteration of this design was with a yarn named “Once Upon a December” inspired by Anastasia, hence the name, “Painted Wings.”
Skills
Knit
Knit Front Back Front
Yarn Over
Bind Off
Pass Stitch Over
Cable Cast On – I learned from this tutorial by Andrea Mowry
Sizing
One Size: 14” Depth, 82” Top Edge
Gauge
20 stitches and 51 rows over 4”/10cm in garter stitch with the fingering/sock yarn, blocked
Materials
Yarn
- Yarn A: Manos del Uruguay Alegría in ‘Ming’ (75% superwash merino wool, 25% polyamide, 445 yards per 100g skein)
- Yarn B: Emma’s Yarn Marvelous Mohair in ‘Whisper’ (72% kid mohair, 28% silk, 459 yards per 50g skein)
Needles
US7 (4.5mm) 40-inch circular needles or size needed to obtain gauge
Notions
Scissors
Tapestry needle
Abbreviations
k knit
kfbf knit front, back, front
sl slip
st stitch
wyif with yarn in front
yo yarn over
Notes
Each row begins with a slipped stitch to create a smooth edge. This edge has very little stretch and emphasizes the exaggerated crescent shape. If you would rather the edge have a little more ease, knit the first stitch instead of slipping it.
Minimize the number of ends to weave in by holding a cut yarn tail together with the new strand of yarn and knitting them as one until the tail is used up.
This project is extremely forgiving. No one’s going to notice if you get the right side and wrong size mixed up or if your stitch counts are off.
Written Instructions
Section 1
With Yarn A, cast on 7 stitches.
Set Up Row (WS): Sl1wyif, k1, yo, kfbf, k1, kfbf, yo, k2.
Row 1 (RS): Sl1wyif, k1, yo, drop yo from row below, kfbf, k to last 4 stitches, kfbf, yo, drop yo from row below, k2.
Row 2 (WS): Repeat row 1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 9 more times. There will be a total of 22 rows (11 garter ridges) including the cast on and set up rows. Break yarn. (93 stitches)
Section 2
Join Yarn B, repeat Rows 1 and 2 11 times (22 rows, 11 garter ridges). Break yarn. (181 stitches)
Section 3
Join Yarn A, repeat Rows 1 and 2 11 times (22 rows, 11 garter ridges). Break yarn. (269 stitches)
Section 4
Join Yarn B, repeat Rows 1 and 2 11 times (22 rows, 11 garter ridges). Break yarn. (357 stitches)
Section 5
Join Yarn A, repeat Rows 1 and 2 11 times (22 rows, 11 garter ridges). Break yarn. (445 stitches)
Section 6
Join Yarn B, repeat Rows 1 and 2 11 times (22 rows, 11 garter ridges). Break yarn. (533 stitches)
Picot Bind Off
Join Yarn A.
*Cable Cast On 2 st, k1 (k1, pass right-most st over left-most st on right needle) 4 times, pass st on right needle back to left needle.
Repeat from * until the end of the row, dropping the yarn overs as you come to them.
Break yarn.
Finishing
Weave in the remaining ends and block, smoothing out the crescent shape.
Happy Knitting!
