This past Winter I was feeling lack of focus on everything, also knitting, and this beautiful project have been the perfect pick me up, I've loved watching the color unfolding while playing together, and now that I've finished I'm feeling so much inspired to do more, more dyeing, more knitting, more designing, more everything!
If you're in need of a little boost to kick off Spring season and getting in the mood for everything it has to offer, grab your favourite Gradient colourways now and cast on!
No worries, I've took accurate notes of all my modifications (can you believe it? It is one of those things I usually think of and then forgot to do!) so you can knit this beautiful version of The Traveler Shawl too!
When I saw the first Traveler piece I knew it would have been gorgeous in a striped version, and since when the shawl came out in December I've wanted to cast on with my Gradient sets.
At first I could not decide on my color combo, the possibilities are endless!
 |
 |
 |
 |
I finally decided I wanted a subtle contrast, so I choose Amarena and Castagna. The warmth in Amarena and the pink tone in Castagna makes for a sophisticated color palette.
It took me a few tries to figure out how to work out the stripes in the pattern, and to be sure of yarn usage and gauge, as as the yarn is much finer than the one called for, but it all worked!
Two sets are enough for the smaller size, big enough to wrap around yourself. I had 14 gr total of leftover.
Here are my mods, in case you want to make a striped one as well. Enjoy!
General info:
To make my striped version, the rows you see as knit rows and purl rows on RS, are worked in different colors.
The pattern works that you always see 2 knit rows and 2 purl rows, but in fact it is a 5 row repeat, because to create the purl row you have to work 3 rows, as the first and last ones create an half purl row.
So you'll work 2 rows with the color you want for your knit rows, and 3 rows with the color you want for your purl rows.
So the purl rows color would have needed more yardage, but I wanted to use no more than one Gradient set per color, so I decided to reverse my colors in the second triangle, and it worked perfectly, as I ended up using almost the same amount of each color.
Gradients sets are made of 5 mini skeins of one color in 5 different concentrations.
I decided to work both colorways from light to dark, so I started with the lightest mini skein and I just changed to the next darker shade whenever I run out of yarn.
Anyway it is possible and would be just as beautiful if you work both colors dark to light, or even each one in the opposite direction, so one dark to light, and the other light to dark.
Here are the instructions to work the stripes.
Please note this is ONLY about the color changes, for completed instructions, you can buy the pattern from Andrea's website or Ravelry page.
I'll refer to Color A and color B. In my sample I used:
Color A - Castagna (Brown)
Color B - Amarena (Pink)
color A - Cast on
color A - Setup Row 1 (WS)
color A - Setup Row 2 (RS)
change color
color B - Setup Row 3 (WS)
**PATTERN REPEAT**
color B - Row 1 (RS)
color B - Row 2 (WS) do not turn at the end.
At this point you'll have to change to color A, but the working yarn A is at the other end of the needle.
To work it, remain on your WS, and slide the sts back at the other end of the needle, to work another WS row.
Change color, but instead working the next two rows as written in pattern, in the original order:
color A - Row 3 (RS)
color A - Row 4 (WS)
work them in the opposite order:
color A - Row 4 (WS)
color A - Row 3 (RS)
Again you'll have to change to color B, but your working yarn B is at the other end of the needle.
Remain on your RS, and slide the sts back at the other end of the needle, to work another RS row.
change color, and work the next rows of the repeat as written in pattern:
color B - Row 5 (RS)
color B - Row 6 (WS)
color B - Row 7 (RS)
change color
Yarn A is again aligned, so just change color and continue working in pattern:
color A - Row 8 (WS)
color A - Row 9 (RS)
change color
Yarn B is again aligned, so just change color and continue working in pattern:
color B - Row 10 (WS)
That's the modified repeat!
It may seem daunting but believe me, after the first one or two repeats it will become smooth sailing! Give it a try working one or two repeat, and you'll hardly be able to put down your project!
After that first repeat I worked 16 more repeats instead of the 18 called for in the pattern. To keep count I attached a bulb pin on each Row 10. On the last repeat I worked Row 10 with color A, and worked the Icord bind off with color A.
At this point I used up 3 minis of color A Brown and 3.5 minis of color B Pink, so I had 2 full minis of A Brown and 1.5 minis of B Pink.
In the second triangle I reversed my colors to balance yarn usage.
**SECOND TRIANGLE - SETUP**
color A - Setup Row 1 (RS/BO) then switch to color B to rotate work and pick up sts.
color A - Setup Row 2 (WS)
change color
color B - Setup Row 3 (RS/DEC)
**PATTERN REPEAT - SIZE ONE ONLY**
color B - Row 1 (WS)
color B - Row 2 (RS/DEC) do not turn at the end.
Like before, you have to change to color A, which is at the other end of the needle. Remain on your RS, slide sts back at the other end of the needle to work another RS row.
Change color, but instead working the next two rows as written in pattern, in the original order:
color A - Row 3 (WS)
color A - Row 4 (RS/DEC)
work them in the opposite order:
color A - Row 4 (RS/DEC)
color A - Row 3 (WS)
Again you'll have to change to color B which is at the other end of the needle. Remain on your WS, and slide the sts back at the other end of the needle to work another WS row.
change color, and work the next rows of the repeat as written in pattern:
color B - Row 5 (WS)
color B - Row 6 (RS/DEC)
color B - Row 7 (WS)
change color
Yarn A is again aligned, so just change color and continue working in pattern:
color A - Row 8 (RS/DEC)
color A - Row 9 (WS)
change color
Yarn B is again aligned, so just change color and continue working in pattern:
color B - Row 10 (RS/DEC)
Rep [Rows 1-10] until 7 sts remain to bind off.
I promise it is so much easier done than said.
If you give it a try, if you have doubts or need help with the modification, let me know. Have fun!
Valentina