I love the Fantastitch Shawl by Stephen West. It was the first shawl I ever knit and it is my most-knit project. This Primary Pastels version is my fifth Fantastitch!
The Fantastitch is so much fun because it uses multiple colors to knit so many different stitch patterns. The color and stitch variety make it motivating to knit. Each color change and texture change encourages you to move on to the next. This is the perfect project for me and what inspired me to attempt designing my own shawl recently.
YARN
With this Fantastitch, I wanted to use up some of the leftover yarns from my Trinity Brioche Shawl and also incorporate some full skeins from stash. I was inspired by this image of Sailor Moon, and came up with this sort of pastel primary color palette with neutrals. I wanted to use a mix of fibers and textures, so in addition to sock yarn I used some fluffy yarns.
- Onyx – Sock: Hedgehog Fibres
- Stone – Kumo: La Bien Aimee
- Avoine – Kumo: La Bien Aimee
- Coral – Sock: Hedgehog Fibres
- Tang – Kumo: La Bien Aimee
- Electric Orchid – Baby Paca: The Wandering Flock
- Strawberry – Melted Baby Suri: Qing Fibre
- Lemon Drop – Merino HT Fingering: Moon Drake Co.
- Champagne – Melted Baby Suri: Qing Fibre
- Telang – Baby Paca: The Wandering Flock
I really liked how these colors looked together and I was excited to cast on another Fantastitch!
PRIMARY PASTELS FANTASTITCH
With this shawl I just wanted to relax and follow the pattern. I had just finished trying to knit my own shawl design, and while that was fun and I learned a lot, I needed a break. Knitting from a pattern is so nice because all the work has been done for you. You don’t need to think about stitch counts or incorporating patterns. I was excited to just enjoy the process and play with my pretty palette.
I knit this shawl to pattern, but my only modification was color placement. I just used whatever colors I thought would look nice for a particular stitch pattern or next to other colors. I have the most fun when my knitting is more carefree. This is a familiar pattern to me and I wasn’t being too stressed about color placement or assigning colors, so this was a fun knit.
Here’s some progress pictures of my Primary Pastels Fantastitch while knitting:
I loved knitting this shawl and seeing the different colors come together. I really love using the fluffy Kumo and Melted Baby Suri yarns to contrast with the sock yarn. That combination is like the ultimate beauty for me.
Chevron Border
One thing I did differently with this shawl that really helped me was placing stitch markers around the three stockinette stitches between the M1L/M1R. In previous shawls, I used stitch markers to help me track the pattern repeats, but then the stitch markers were “off sync” on subsequent rows. So this time I knew where I wanted to place my stitch markers which helped me track the increase and decrease sections more easily.
Section 13 – Row 3 (stitch marker placement – pm)
during the pattern repeat:
“……M1R, pm, sl3 wyib, pm, M1L….”
This allows you to more easily track the peaks and valleys of the chevron border.
Blocking + Finishing
I had been using a darning needle to weave in the ends in between knitting a few sections. It’s more manageable to tidy up the ends along the way instead of doing it all at once sometimes. Because of the Fantastitch’s twisted rib edging, I couldn’t really weave in while I knit as easily.
I washed and blocked my Primary Pastels Fantastitch shawl to help all the stitch patterns to open up and to exaggerate the chevron border. I use blocking mats to lay out my shawl and use pins to follow the gridlines to help get the symmetry I want. I used individual t-pins for smaller details like the chevron points, and larger pin blocks for longer straight areas like the edge.
Once my shawl was dry, I unpinned it and used scissors to trim off the long tail ends. Blocking makes a night and day difference for my shawls and I love seeing the transformation.
I am really happy with this Fantastitch! Check out my Ravelry to see my other Fantastitch shawls or what projects I’m working on next!
