This shawl is designed to be knit with two skeins of yarn that coordinate with each other but that don’t match exactly. The shape is crescent-like - formed by knitting five triangles pointing in alternating directions.

The sample is knit with one muted skein and one that’s wildly variegated with short runs of color; I think of this as one mild and one wild. Many variations are possible: one gradient and one wildly variegated yarn, two self-striping yarns with different length stripes, multiple scrap yarns left over from other projects, even two solid yarns. Instructions are also provided for working with a single yarn.

The shawl is worked half in garter stitch, half in reverse garter — the ridges in the narrow triangles are thus offset from the ridges in the wider ones. This helps a little bit with pooling. Also, if a less open increase is substituted, the offset helps create a subtle boundary between the triangles. (Almost exactly half the stitches are purled.)

Size:
* Shawl is 11.5 inches [29cm] deep, 30.5 inches [77.5cm] along the cast-on edge, and 83 inches [2.1m] along the longest edge.

Gauge:
* 21.5 stitches and 27 ridges over 4 inches [10cm]. Gauge is important with this shawl to avoid the risk of running out of yarn.

Materials needed:

• 393 yards [360m] fingering weight yarn in color A. Sample uses Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn in Blackberry.
• 393 yards [360m] fingering weight yarn in color B. Sample uses Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn in Northern Lights.
• If using only one yarn, 786 yards [720m] fingering weight yarn. US size 5 [3.75mm] circular needle (or size needed to get gauge), at least 40 inches [160cm] long.
• 4 stitch markers. Stitch markers are highly recommended for this pattern, as the long stretches between knit and purl make the transition easily overlooked.

Techniques:

• The pattern assumes you know: long-tail cast-on, knitting, purling, yarnovers, single and double decreases, and binding off with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off.
• Only written instructions are available. There is no chart.
• Schematic is provided.

Thanks to my technical editor, Stephanie Boardman, and my pattern testers, AlisaB, AnotherYarn9, momoffive2009, and swedishIngrid.

A note about the pattern test: the shawl as written was slightly bigger and required more yarn than two 400 yard skeins; it has been rewritten since for a smaller amount of yarn. Thanks to my testers for helping with this!