Have you heard of a sock blank? It is this really cool concept where the yarn supplier takes an entire skein of sock yarn and pre-knits a long strip of stockinette yarn. This provides a palette where the dyer can then work their magic. From the knitter’s point of view you buy this beautiful strip of art which slowly unravel as you knit directly from the blank. Or you can go ahead and ball the whole thing up and knit from that.
The amazing thing is that, when knit, the colors completely rearrange themselves and you get this beautiful variegated yarn that doesn’t really pool. For this new shawl I worked with the sock blank Sea Garden from Gale’s Art to create a top down crescent shaped shawl. Gale requested lace and beads and I think I fulfilled those requests. I might have gone a bit bonkers with the beads.
But I don’t regret a single bead. It is so sparkly. I may not be a big fan of myself when I am putting them on (who thought this was a good idea is something I mumble to myself), but the end result is so worth it. It isn’t a spectacularly large shawl, I designed it to make the most out of a single skein – more of a shawlette really.
It works as a kerchief!
But it is easily adjustable. There is the main lace motif and then the edging. You can adjust either to suit your desires. Because the color was named Sea Garden I decided to try and evoke a watery feel. The central lace pattern is wavy, which also does double duty in moving the gradient around a bit, and the bottom is meant to look like a fisherman’s net awash with the sparkling drops of the sea. This desire also led to the naming of the shawl. I took a line from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T S Elliott:
Each to Each
Tumped Duck 