NEW PATTERN! Rattan Shawl

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II'm really pleased to let you know that I've published my latest shawl design; Rattan Shawl.

Rattan was inspired by the yarn itself. I've been savouring my last two skeins of beautiful Tosh Merino Light in my stash for some time. The first was a muted blue that turned into a Settler Shawl late last year. This glorious wheat coloured yarn (appropriately named Winter Wheat) told me in no uncertain terms it wanted to be something distinctly modern, with lines, structure and texture.

Yarn often tells me what it wants to be. Does your stash talk to you too? I've learnt through trial and error that it's best to listen carefully to what my yarn is saying. It's much easier to work with that little voice than to try to mould my yarn into a design that's already in my head.

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I mostly wear my shawls wrapped around my neck like a scarf, with the ends hanging forward. I find that they stay on better, look stylish and keep my neck warm in cooler weather. My favourite shawl shape to wear in this style is a crescent shawl. I love how a shallow crescent shape gains in length what it looses in depth. When I wrap them around my neck I get the benefit of squishy layers of knitting stopping any draft getting in but also get the benefit of those long drapey ends hanging beautifully at the front.

Rattan is a crescent shawl with lots of length and it's fabulous to wear. I've also included instructions to make it larger so if you want a bigger, even more fantastic shawl, you can do that really easily.

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Rattan is a great shawl for knitters of all experience. It's full of familiar stitches; knits, purls and yarn overs and where I've used a new stitch, like KYOK - I've included a link to a tutorial to show you exactly how to knit it. 

The ribbed sections use twisted stitches. Twisted stitches create a really structured look which I love and isn't tricky to do. Instead of knitting or purling into the front leg of your stitch - you knit or purl into the back leg. 

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I've been hearing lots of questions about blocking shawls lately and talked at length about how I block crescent shawls in my latest podcast. If you're confused, hopefully this'll shed some light on the whole mystery of blocking! I am planning a blog series about blocking soon too.

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My Rattan Shawl pattern is available to buy now on Ravelry now.

I do hope you enjoy knitting and wearing your Rattan Shawl - I love seeing photos of your Truly Myrtle projects - so send me a picture, tag me on Instagram or post a picture of your shawl in the Truly Myrtle Ravelry group.

Happy knitting!