It started with the thought: What if contemplation isn’t idle but essential?

In a world that values never-ending and highly optimized productivity, sitting with unfocused thoughts—letting them meander, reconsider, or dissolve entirely—feels contrarian.

Contemplation is (one of) capitalism’s antithesis: it’s slow, nonlinear, and inherently “unproductive.” Yet it’s also where we dream, problem-solve, and reclaim agency over our minds.

I know this intimately. During my years of burnout and mental health struggles, my brain’s timeline shrank to surviving this hour—never mind, next week. Recovery came with an unexpected gift: the return of mental space to contemplate. To think beyond immediate survival. To play with ideas again.

The Contemplation Shawl is an homage to that long and transformative journey, featuring an asymmetrical triangular shape with a textured garter stitch body and winding cable borders. This design encourages you to “make each stitch sweet”, resulting in a soft, squishy fabric that rewards slow and deliberate knitting.

Knit starting at the top tip, the shawl begins with an intercrossing cable border, quite fitting as a meditative exercise in attention and awareness (might want to shoo others out of the room!).

Once this border is established, the body expands into a rhythmic garter stitch, creating that iconic textured fabric that invites the squiiiiishhhhhh (and sniff). The final ribbed edge is finished with a polished tubular bind-off, providing seamless intergration to balance the shawl’s ribbed stitch flow.

As you knit: Where will your mind wander? To a creative project left dormant? A boundary that needs guarding? A dream you’ve been too busy to water?

Protect that time fiercely—it’s your sacred space of agency and autonomy.

Yarn

• Quantity: 900 - 930 yards
• Weight: Fingering / Sock
• Yarn Used: Yarn Matter Smooth Sock

Fiber Content:

• 40% Silk (11 micron)
• 30% Extrafine Merino Wool (19.5 micron)
• 30% Yak (20 micron)
• Ply: 4-ply
• Yardage: 465 yards (425 m) / 100 g 2 full skeins (Twilight)

Needles

• Recommended: US 3 (3.25 mm), 32-inch (80 cm) circular needle
• A long circular needle is necessary to accommodate the increasing stitch count as the shawl grows. Adjust needle size if needed to match gauge.

Gauge

• 24 sts & 48 rows = 4” (10 cm) in garter stitch (blocked).
• Gauge is not critical but will affect yardage and final dimensions.

Notions

• Stitch markers
• Two cable needles
• Tapestry needle

Finished Measurements

• Bind-Off Edge: 41” (104 cm)
• Side Edge (Right Side): 65” (165 cm)

The patterns have been professionally tech-edited for clarity and accuracy. If you have any pattern inquiries, please email us at hello@thepracticeoffibre.com. We do not respond to Ravelry DMs.