One Skein Shawl Knitting Pattern - City Lights Shawl

'Choose your Yarn' kits are available for the City Lights shawl.

The pattern is also available to download on Ravelry

 When I worked in the city, one of my favourite ways to spend a rainy lunch break was to sit in the window of a coffee shop and watch people being hurried and impatient, quickly trying to make it to their next destination. As the skies grew darker, the colours that were reflected off the street grew brighter. Colourful puddles appeared under illuminated shop windows and raindrops trickled down the window, breaking and blurring the colours outside like an abstract painting.

As one of the organisers of the Cambridge Yarn Festival, one of the events we have put together is a London Yarn Crawl in November. Being in London in November brings back these memories of rainy, colourful days. The City Lights shawl was designed for this event and it’s a one-skein shawl that will really showcase all of the colours in a variegated yarn.  

A shawl of two halves, this one begins with a section of stockinette that sets out the colours and lets every stitch shine brightly. Then halfway through, the lines of colours start to break up with ‘yo, k2tog’ stitches. This simple lace stitch displaces the colours of your yarn like broken raindrops yet keeps things interesting as you work each row.

The end result is a quick-knit shawl that will keep you warm and cozy on those rainy days - whether you are the one scurrying to find shelter, or the one sipping your coffee and watching the blurry world from the other side of the window.

If you are new to knitting lace, this shawl would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try as it uses just yarnover and k2tog stitches to create the lace. A video tutorial on how to work the [yo, k2tog] stitch combination can be found here https://www.undertheolivetreeknits.com/lace-stitches.html.

The pattern has been professionally tech edited and test knitted prior to publication and includes a hand stitch count checklist so you can tick off each row as you go.

Stitches Used – Sl1 wyif, knit, purl, kfb, ‘yo, k2tog’ lace stitches

Sizes – One size 

Measurements – The finished, blocked item has a wingspan of 81” (205.5cm) and a depth of 17” (43cm) 

Materials

• 437-464yd / 400-425m, 3.5 oz / 100g 4 ply, sock or fingering weight yarn. The yarn used in the pattern pictures is Under the Olive Tree Knits Sparkle sock yarn, 75% merino / 20% nylon / 5% Silver Stellina in the Purple Skies colourway 
• US size 5 (3.75mm) 32” (80cm) circular needle
• 1 stitch marker
• A tapestry needle for weaving in the ends

Gauge: 22 stitches and 33 rows to 4” (10cm) in stockinette stitch after blocking 

Pattern Testimonials

"Another super easy, attractive shawl from Jemma. Lovely to have as ‘TV’ knitting for a confident knitter as the pattern is very undemanding and easily memorised" Angela

"I enjoyed this pattern a lot and think that a beginner might want to try this as one of their first shawls. The stockinette section gives them enough time to learn the side increases and decreases prior to getting to the lace. Then the lace is repetitive enough so a beginner would not get frustrated. My yarn’s color changing of the yarn kept it interesting for me" Pat

"I enjoyed knitting this pattern as it was easy to knit. I think it’s a very pretty shawl and I am pleased with my choice of yarn" Mel