This Shawl is named Kindness of Strangers because I wanted to honour the fact that we mostly don’t make our crafting journey alone. In the past, a lot of knowledge was passed along in person from family members and friends and although that is still the case for many, a lot of us are learning and improving in our crafts through the kindness of strangers who generously share their skills, knowledge, and time. From local crafting groups and spinning and knitting guilds, to online sharing of projects, answering of questions, recording videos, and encouraging others, it is an amazing way to empower people and enrich their crafting and their lives.

I didn’t fall into spinning by myself. I was convinced by a friend to give it a try and with her help and the help of countless strangers (some of which are now lovely friends) along the way, I was able to learn how to spin my own yarn. I am so happy for this craft that is a joy to do and enriches my knitting, and will always be grateful to those that contributed to teaching it to me.

I created this shawl because I had a skein of handspun yarn that I had enjoyed making so much and couldn’t wait to knit. I wanted to enjoy the unique subtle colours and texture of the handspun yarn without too much pressure for the spinning to be perfect and still get a pretty and very wearable finished object.

This fingering weight (4ply) shawl pairs a feature yarn, be it handspun, a gradient, speckle, or variegated, etc. with 2 solid colours to create a classic piece that can be worn anywhere. You can keep it subtle, or choose bold colours or any combination you like. It is worked on the bias from corner to corner which gives it supple edges for easy blocking and the garter stitch makes it a relaxing meditative knit. It is also designed to be worked on the bias so that it is easily adjustable. You can use any weight of yarn you like since you can check the width you will be getting for the final product while knitting the start, making the tension not very important and thus perfect for handspun yarns.

All instructions are written and include Youtube links for stitch & colour work help. A tick sheet with stitch counts, shaping instructions, and colour placement is also provided to help you keep track of where you are up to.

Yarn
The pattern is written for fingering (4ply) weight yarns but is very adjustable so DK (8ply) will look great too. Raxor Yarns & Fibres have created some lovely fibre and yarn combinations for this pattern so that you can choose to either spin your own, or mix handspun and commercially spun yarn or just use all commercially spun yarn, so check out their website!

Main (MC): 100g Fingering weight yarn approx. 365m/400yd/100g/3.5oz. (sample used 95g of my own handspun merino from Raxor Yarns & Fibres which was 365m/400yd/100g/3.5oz.).
Contrast (CC1): 100g Fingering weight yarn approx. 365m/400yd/100g/3.5oz. (sample used 100g of Lana Gatto Wool Gatto which is 166m/181yd/50g/1.76oz. in col.White).
Contrast (CC2): 100g Fingering weight yarn approx. 365m/400yd/100g/3.5oz. (sample used 82g of Lana Gatto Wool Gatto which is 166m/181yd/50g/1.76oz. in col.Black).

Needles & Notions
Pair of 4mm (US 6) needles. I like to use an 80cm circular needle set but straight are fine also.
2 stitch markers (optional as they are only used as reminders to perform side shaping).

Tension/Gauge
18 sts per 10cm (4”) over garter stitch after blocking.

Finished Measurements
Approx. 36cm wide x 240cm long (14” x 94.5”) after blocking.

Many thanks to my lovely testers maria101 emilymcrae Mellyboo pollywaffle