Wonderland Yarns Striped Swoosh Shawlette Knitting Pattern

Wonderland Yarns Striped Swoosh Shawlette

What is Being Made

The Striped Swoosh Shawlette is a triangular shawl designed by Stephanie Shiman, featuring a distinctive swoosh shape created through strategic increases. This knitted accessory measures approximately 58 inches in wingspan and 12 inches in depth at the center after blocking, making it a versatile wrap suitable for layering or draping across the shoulders.

Craft and Project Type

This is a knitting project classified as a shawl and wrap. The design uses a top-down, seamless construction worked flat on circular needles, meaning the shawlette is created from the top point downward without requiring seaming, resulting in a smooth, unified finished piece.

Knitting Techniques

The Striped Swoosh Shawlette employs several fundamental knitting techniques to achieve its shape and visual impact:

• Garter stitch forms the primary fabric structure, created by knitting every row. This produces horizontal ridges and creates a reversible, textured surface ideal for showcasing color changes.
• Increases using kfb (knit in front and back) are strategically placed to expand the shawlette from 7 cast-on stitches to 257 stitches, creating the characteristic swoosh silhouette.
• Stranded color work integrates multiple colors throughout the pattern by carrying the unused color up the side of the work, eliminating the need for cutting yarn between color changes.
• I-cord bind-off finishes the piece with a decorative, flexible edge that maintains elasticity and prevents curling.

Stitches Used

The pattern utilizes essential knitting abbreviations and stitches:

• K (knit): The fundamental knit stitch worked throughout the garter stitch fabric
• Kfb (knit in front and back): An increase stitch that creates two stitches from one, used strategically to shape the shawlette
• K2tog (knit two stitches together): A decrease stitch incorporated into the pattern structure
• I-cord bind-off: A specialized finishing technique that creates a cord-like edge, recommended to be worked with a double-pointed needle for ease of manipulation

Pattern Structure and Color Progression

The Striped Swoosh Shawlette features a thoughtfully designed color sequence that creates visual interest through garter ridges. The pattern repeats rows 2 through 5, with each four-row repeat producing one garter ridge in the contrast color and one in the main color. The color progression uses five different contrast colors from the Wonderland Yarns "Mad Hatter" Mini-Skein Pack, worked in descending quantities: 8 garter ridges in the first contrast color, 7 in the second, 6 in the third, 5 in the fourth, and 4 in the fifth. After all five colors are exhausted, the pattern continues with 6 additional rows in the main color while carrying the final contrast color up the side.

Materials and Yarn

The Striped Swoosh Shawlette is designed for Wonderland Yarns "Mad Hatter" sport weight yarn, which is composed of 100% superwash merino. The yarn requirements include one 4-ounce skein (344 yards) in the main color and one 5-ounce Mini-Skein Pack containing multiple contrast colors. Sport weight yarn is a lightweight, smooth yarn that drapes beautifully and is ideal for creating delicate, flowing shawls.

Needles and Gauge

The pattern calls for US 8 and US 9 circular needles, each measuring 30 inches or longer to comfortably accommodate the increasing stitch count as the shawlette expands. The working gauge is 16 stitches and 31 rows, measuring approximately 4 inches in garter stitch. A double-pointed needle is recommended for working the i-cord bind-off to reduce the repetitive movement of sliding stitches back and forth along the circular needle.

Construction Notes

The pattern begins with a very loose long-tail or knitted cast-on of 7 stitches, which serves as the apex of the triangular shawlette. The foundation row and subsequent pattern rows incorporate increases at specific intervals to create the swo