I’ve been knitting consistently for almost two years now. That sounds like a fair amount of time, but I still feel pretty new to the hobby. I’ve been successful in a lot of different projects, but I’ve never knit a scarf or a shawl. I see so many shawl patterns on LoveCrafts and on Ravelry; they seem like the most popular knits, but I was never really interested in them because I didn’t think they were my style. But after making the Fantastitch, I think shawls are the perfect knit — big enough to be interesting, but small enough to finish in a reasonable time and easy to store.
Keep reading for my experience knitting my first shawl — the Fantastitch Shawl by Stephen West:
YARN
I ordered some yarn from La Bien Aimee just because I liked the colors — with no project plan in mind! I usually don’t buy yarn unless I have a planned project ready to go. I prefer it that way because each project’s yarn is specially curated and has a purpose. But I sometimes wish I had some bright, fun yarn at home for when I wanted to start something new; this was one of those times!
This yarn is so pretty and soft. I ordered:
- Merino Singles – Pinku
- Merino Singles – Tang
- Kumo – Tang
- Kumo – Ponyo & Sosuke
- Kumo – Andromeda
- Cashmerino – Anemone
- Cashmerino – Peanut Butter & Jelly
I held onto the yarn for a while and just admired it on the shelf before I started getting antsy — what could I make with it?
FANTASTITCH SHAWL
I was working on my Favo Sweater and my Happiness Cardigan and really enjoying those knits, but I wanted to find something to make that I could use my new fingering weight yarn from La Bien Aimee. I spent a lot of time on Ravelry, looking through different patterns but I wasn’t 100% on anything.
I had seen some beautiful Fantastitch shawls on Instagram and it was already in my Ravelry queue. I’d knit a couple Stephen West Patterns before (the Marled Magic Sweater, and the Briochevron Blanket) which I enjoyed knitting, so I decided to commit my new yarn to the Fantastitch!
The Fantastitch is a semi-circular shawl that showcases many different stitches and patterns. There is a small version and a large. The pattern calls for 7 colors to accentuate the graphic details and clean lines. I was super excited to knit my first shawl.
PREPARATION
Once I decided on the Fantastitch, I wound my yarn and assigned each color a letter to correspond with the pattern. The pattern suggests using seven colors — three regular fingering yarns and four fluffy lace yarns. I had seven colors over three bases — four fingering and three fluffy lace, but you could use any combination of yarn that you have.
Color Assignment
I assigned my colors to the pattern:
- Color A – Merino Singles – Tang
- Color B – Kumo – Andromeda
- Color C – Cashmerino – Peanut Butter & Jelly
- Color D – Kumo – Tang
- Color E – Cashmerino – Anemone
- Color F – Merino Singles – Pinku
- Color G – Kumo – Ponyo & Sosuke
However, since my colors were pretty similar, I ended up swapping around the pattern’s color assignments to give a better contrast for some of the sections.
Needles
I started out using my US 5 needles on a 14″ cable, but as my Fantastitch grew, I moved up to a 30″ cable, then a 50″.
I used my Chiaogoo Interchangeable set, and an additional 50″ cable I bought separately. I have been really happy with this set, and also bought the shorties set too which is perfect for sleeves! Both sets work together for even more combinations.
If you’re new to knitting, definitely consider investing in an interchangeable set. I feel like I “wasted” so much money on individual circular needles when I first got started — I wish I had just gotten this set to begin with.
CAST ON
I used the German twisted cast on that I learned from knitting my Favo Sweater. I think it looks pretty and makes a nice edge. I worked the pre-section instructions, but I had a hard time finding the 8 stitches to pick up from the cast on edge. I hadn’t gotten very far so I decided to frog it and start over.
When I cast on the second time, I placed a removable stitch marker in each of the cast on stitches to help me find them when it was time to pick up and knit. This worked really well for me, and I felt like I was off to a good start.
SECTIONS 1 – 3
I loved working the first few sections because I got to see how my palette would look together and watch the shawl quickly grow. The sections start out so small, but by the end of section 3, you’re already at 131 stitches.
Working the sections with just the one strand of the suri/silk was a little awkward since it’s so thin and fluffy. It is very pretty though and adds such a fun texture.
It was really fun to get to use my cable needle again. I didn’t realize there were cables in this shawl, but I felt really comfortable with it from my experience with knitting the Favo Sweater.
Each section is clearly labeled and well-organized in this pattern. I work all my patterns from my iPad which makes it easy to highlight my place, and cross off or erase as I go. I also really like how there’s a stitch count at the end of certain rows — it helped me to know I was still on track with the increases.
I really like the look of the eyelets/lacey stitches from the yarn overs. I think they give a nice detail and make the shawl have more movement. I felt pretty comfortable with the yarn overs and understanding the hole they create from working my Magnolia Little.
SECTIONS 4 – 9
I loved working the triangles in section 4. It was really nice to get a little comfortable with the section and not think too much since there was a lot of pattern repeats.
For section 5, I switched out my Color D for Color B to get a better contrast against section 4. I remember when I used to hate seed stitch, but I really enjoyed this section. It’s so fun to realize how much I’ve improved since I first got into knitting. The alpaca is chunkier than the mohair I’ve used in the past so it was less awkward to knit this section than I expected.
I love section 6 — I think it’s my favorite section. I used my Peanut Butter & Jelly with Kumo – Tang and it looks so good. Slipping stitches was fun and I love the brick pattern.
I liked having the entire section 7 in the suri. The Kumo is pretty silky, but it’s chunky enough that you can still easily find each stitch.
The slipped stitch v pattern in section 8 was really cool to knit. I really fell in love with this shawl I this section. I made some color swaps here for a better contrast. I used Color E and Color F together. There is an additional chart in the back to help with this section, but I preferred the written instructions.
With section 9, there were a few repeats which made it really easy to knit and watch a movie or show. We’ve been watching CSI recently on Hulu! This is a fun section to watch grow because the diagonal ribbing is really unique. I love the peanut butter and jelly colorway from La Bien Aimee so much. This is the same color I used for my Favo Sweater!
BREAK TIME
I took a huge break while knitting this shawl. I never used to knit more than one WIP at a time because I didn’t want to get overwhelmed, but I decided to give it a try. I knit the Astraeus Sweater and then Moonbeam Sweater; a cute little kitty toy; and I also completed another Flax Sweater (knitting highlight here). It was nice to have a few other projects to switch between, and then to knit a few rows of Fantastitch when I had some time.
But after a while, I felt bad having my beautiful Fantastitch and gorgeous yarn just tucked away in a bag most of the day. I enjoyed the process of knitting it, and I wanted to devote more time to it.
SECTION 10 – 13
I picked back up on section 10 which was another few rows of seed stitch and a two-row stripe. I did my seed stitch in Color D which I think gave a better contrast. I love the Kumo yarn because it’s super soft, and the colors I got are super pretty. I love a little pop of fluffy texture and want to incorporate that into more future projects.
I also really enjoyed making the little two-row stripes throughout the shawl. It gives a fun hint of a new color, and it’s fast to complete. I love this shawl because you’re constantly moving to a new section, and using a new color. You really feel like you’re making progress, and moving on to the next section kept me motivated.
I was really excited to start section 11 because it was a new pattern I’ve never knit before. I used Color F and Color G that I hadn’t combined before. These little dots were a lot of fun to knit, and I think it looks a lot more complicated than it was. This section had a few repeat patterns which was really easy to keep track of on my iPad.
Section 12 was a nice break from all the pattern tracking in section 11. I really enjoyed the variety in the Fantastitch.
I decided to knit the large version of the shawl, so I knit the twisted rib in section 13. I think twisted rib looks so crisp. When I first learned twisted rib with my Magnolia Little, I had a slow time with the ptbl, but it went a lot easier for me in this shawl.
SECTION 14 – 16
Section 14 is so pretty! I used my Color C with Color B. This section was fun to knit and looks really interesting.
I love the honeycomb pattern. It’s especially pretty with the fluffy suri popping out between the peanut butter and jelly border.
I wanted to tie in the Ponyo & Sosuke Kumo color more so I knit section 15 like my section 7. This color is really fun with little pops of pink, purple, and green. My Fantastitch had been technically perfect up until this section, but when I did the two-row stripe in my Color F, my stitch count was off by 2. I was pretty bummed, but I couldn’t figure out where I went wrong. All my yarn overs looked right. I really wanted this shawl to be “perfect”, but I didn’t feel comfortable tinking back just for two stitches, especially with all the yo and then the silky suri stitches above it. I just added some random stitches on the next ws row to get my count right. 😬
Row Count + Stitch Markers
With the increasing total stitch counts, I found it a lot easier to just leave stitch markers in my knitting every 50 stitches. This made counting easier and also helped me keep track of where I was within a pattern.
With the final section 16, I was getting excited to finish my first shawl. The rows were super long by this section, and each row was taking me around 45-50 minutes. I don’t like to stop in the middle of a row, so I really had to commit to the time before I started to work another row.
I struggled a bit in this section too. Maybe I was just out of sync from my stitch count mistake earlier, but it was hard for me to memorize the patterns for the different rows. This section was pretty big, but I really love how it looks.
FINISHING
To give it a really polished look, you do an I-cord bind off which I had done in my Marled Magic Sweater, and also the Pengweeno I made for my niece. I think the I-cord looks so clean and professional.
The i-cord took a long time; I split it up over two days. I didn’t realize how huge this shawl really was since it was mostly bunched on my 50″ cable, until I started the bind off.
Once I finished with the I-cord, I tucked in all the ends and did a light blocking with a spray bottle. I finally got to use my blocking mats! I bought them mostly so I could make this shawl look super crisp, but I know I’ll get a lot of use out of them.
Pinning the little chevron points at the end of the shawl made such a big difference!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I was really happy going through the different sections of the Fantastitch, and coming across techniques that I’d already learned in a previous pattern. I’m really proud of myself with this shawl.
I feel like I leveled up from all my previous knits, so this project was easy for me. I usually have to research a technique or watch a tutorial with a new pattern, but this time I understood and/or had done all of the different techniques.
This shawl is gigantic and beautiful. I had so much fun making it and getting to work with my beautiful yarn from La Bien Aimee. I love my Fantastitch and am looking forward to eventually knitting my next shawl — the Starflake Shawl, also by Stephen West!
FANTASTITCH RATING
Layout = ★★★★★
Organization = ★★★★★
Clarity = ★★★★★
Value = ★★★★★
Final Product = ★★★★★
Check out my Ravelry page for more pictures of my Fantastitch, and a look at my other completed projects.
