I knit a second Fantastitch out of left over stash yarn. I love this pattern so much and revisiting it after a year helped me get my knitting motivation back. Keep reading for my experience knitting another Fantastitch Shawl by Stephen West.
After participating in the Shawlography MKAL (mystery knit along), I found myself feeling unmotivated to knit. :/ I really enjoyed the MKAL and having daily goals to meet so I could be ready for the next clue, and once that was over I was feeling a little uninspired.
Obviously I still loved knitting, but I wasn’t feeling excited about any project. Normally I have 3 or 4 projects going at a time, but each day I was casting on something new, trying to find a project that I was excited to knit. I made a few sweaters for my dog, little outfits for my niece’s stuffed toy, and I even started a few bigger projects — another Briochevron Blanket, the Nightshift Shawl, and this new Fantastitch.
My original Fantastitch was the very first shawl I ever knit! I remembered really loving the different sections and how it all came together into a beautiful fabric, and I thought it would be fun to experience that again.
YARN
I wanted to try to use some of my left over yarn stash for this Fantastitch, but I wasn’t sure I’d have enough of each color. The pattern does a great job of giving measurement requirements for each color, but I was mostly focused on trying to get a cohesive palette in a similar base to what the pattern called for.
I had a lot of yarn left over from my Shawlography so I started there, and my husband helped me pick some complimentary colors for my palette. I used:
- A) Sansa – Cashmerino, La Bien Aimee
- B) Whale – Melted Baby Siri, Qing Fibre
- C) Boise De Rose – Cashmerino, La Bien Aimee
- D) Mulberry – Rustic Stella Suri Alpaca, Hello Stella
- E) Gold Rush – Simply Stella, Hello Stella
- F) Anemone – Kumo, La Bien Aimee
- G) Hyacinth – Kumo, La Bien Aimee
- Yellow Brick Road – Cashmerino, LaBien Aimee
I love these colors together; I think they have a cool, spring vibe. The colors are mostly solid/tonal, so the contrast is more crisp and the stitch motifs can really shine.
I didn’t weigh my yarn prior to starting this shawl, but I felt like I had a lot of yarn to work with. My main concern was having a cohesive color scheme and matching the yarn bases as best as possible to the pattern recommendation. I decided to cast on and see how far I could go.
KNITTING THE FANTASTITCH SHAWL
The Fantastitch is a large semi-circular shawl that highlights different stitch patterns in each section. There is a lot of variety with all of the yarn textures, color combinations, and stitch patterns, so you will never be bored. I love the little boost of accomplishment/motivation as you finish each section and move on to the next.
My original used a lot of colors that were similar (lots of orange/pink and purples) so the contrast wasn’t as crisp for certain sections, and I had to swap colors around for more stitch definition. With this Fantastitch, I wanted to stay true to the pattern’s color assignments.
Fantastitch
Seeing the first few completed sections is nice because you can get an idea of how the colors will play together. I definitely struggle a bit in the color palette cohesion department, but I love the way the colors in this Fantastitch look. I especially loved how I was able to give purpose to my left over yarns.
Choosing stash yarns that were a similar base for each color assignment was also a big consideration so my stitch patterns could really shine. In this slipped stitch block section for example, I think the fuzzy blue outlining the solid pink looks really striking.
I really enjoyed working on this shawl, the feel of my smaller needles, and using all of my beautiful yarn to create this beautiful fabric. I got my knitting motivation back and just enjoyed seeing the shawl come to life.
My favorite sections are the fuzzy ones; they look like they are glowing! I love the little halo of fuzz and it’s so soft.
When I wasn’t working on my shawl, I stored it in the La Bien Aimee project bag. I love this bag so much. It’s super spacious and sturdy, it has pockets inside, and the zipper is smooth and heavy.
Modifications
The pattern gives the option to create a small or large version Fantastitch. I knit the large version in my original shawl, and wanted to knit the large size again. I knew I probably wouldn’t have enough yarn to finish all the way, but figured I’d keep going as far as possible.
Brioche Mod
Instead of twisted rib in Section 13, I chose to do one-color brioche. I thought it would be more fun than twisted rib (ptbl isn’t my favorite), but still have a similar appearance. I did BRKyoBRK for the increases and I love the squish the brioche creates.
Ending Modification
Knitting brioche took a lot of yarn and I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to get much farther in pattern. I still wanted to knit the chevron border but my stitch count was far from where even the smaller sized shawl would be at the border.
The border section of the pattern is a repeat to accommodate either the small or large version. I counted how many stitches were required for the chevron repeats and made a plan to get to a multiple of that. Then I used a knitting calculator to help me evenly increase on my last row and get to the stitch count I wanted.
My colors A & B were running low so I had to swap around my colors here. I still wanted the textures to match the pattern, so I chose to use my C & G. Color C was my greatest quantity non-fluffy color, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough to completely finish the pattern.
I knit as far as I could in pattern until I ran out of yarn. Even though I had a fair amount of fluffy yarn left, I didn’t have enough of the Cashmerino to continue. I weighed the yarn I had left, but I realized that it wasn’t going to be enough for the I-cord bind off either.
I went stash-diving again and pulled out the Yellow Brick Road that I used in my Shawlography. It has a slightly more chartreuse look than the Gold Rush color I’d been using, but I thought it worked and I had a lot of it.
FINISHING
Wrapping up the icord was a lot less stressful, knowing that I had enough yarn and it went by pretty quickly since this shawl was essentially the small size.
I wet blocked my shawl and pinned the chevron points down to dry. I still had to use my two sets of blocking mats even though this shawl is smaller than my original.
I’m really pleased with how it turned out and I loved working on it.
FANTASTITCH ~1 YEAR LATER
Knitting the Fantastitch again was a lot of fun. I read through my original Fantastitch Knitting Experience post, and at the time, I was so proud of how much my knitting had improved. I was able to knit my first shawl without having to YouTube a new technique. Coming back to the Fantastitch almost a year later, I feel a lot more accomplished.
This pattern was familiar, so I knew what to expect, but I also made a few modifications. I changed one of the twisted rib sections to be brioche, and ran out yarn near the end so I made some finishing modifications. These small adjustments were easy for me, whereas last year, I don’t think I would have felt comfortable attempting to deviate from the pattern. It’s nice to see growth and improvement in my knitting skills.
This is my first finished object of the year! Check out my Ravelry page for more pictures of my Fantastitch, and a look at my other completed projects.
