For several years, one of my closest friends lived in Asheville, North Carolina. About once a year I’d make the drive up to see her or stop in for a few days on my way back from the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. This shawl makes me think of those visits and that town: the twisted stitch pattern evoking the mountains and rivers of Appalachia; the shape and style both modern and a bit unexpected; the soft coziness of the fabric just the thing for a cool mountain morning.

Asheville Morning is worked from end to end in a slowly widening rib. The cable pattern at the top border can be done with or without a cable needle. The pattern includes instructions for adjusting the length of the shawl, working the 2-stitch cables without a cable needle, and working the m1p increases. To make this shawl, you will need to know how to knit, purl, and slip stitches, and either be comfortable with working 2-stitch cables and increases or be open to trying new techniques with some guidance. Pattern includes both written and charted instructions.

Finished Measurements
77 in/195.5 cm long; 13.5 in/34.5 cm wide at narrow end; 21 in/53.5 cm wide at wider end (see schematic in photos for details)

Yarn
Amano Yarns Skinny Yana (100% fine highland wool; 437 yds/400 m per 3.5 oz/100g); 3 skeins (shown in 1507 Berry Crush)

Needles
US5/3.75 mm needles for working flat: recommend 14 in/35 cm straight or 24 in/60cm (or longer) circular needle, or size needed for correct gauge

Gauge
23 sts & 35 rows = 4 in/10cm in k5, p4 rib, blocked hard.
26 sts & 35 rows = 4 in/10 cm in stockinette stitch worked flat
Exact gauge is not essential, but differences in gauge will affect size and yarn requirements. See Pattern Notes for more information about gauge.

Notions
Required: blocking pins; blocking mat (or something to pin the shawl to when blocking); yarn needle
Optional: 1 stitch marker; cable needle; blocking wires

About the yarn
Amano Yarns Skinny Yana is a singles (1-ply) fingering weight yarn spun from non-superwash 21.5 micron Peruvian highland wool. This yarn is soft and somewhat elastic, with a slight halo; its structure gives a distinctive asymmetry to the ‘V’ of the knit stitches. The yarn is dyed in the wool (i.e., before being spun), so as long as all of your skeins are from the same dye lot, there is no need to alternate skeins. If substituting yarns for this project, look for a fingering weight yarn that’s not too springy—too much memory will pull the ribbing in—and that gives you a fabric you like at a gauge that results a good shawl size for you. You will need approximately 1345 yds/1230 m.