No intarsia, no stranded knitting, only one color worked at a time. The end result looks much more complex than this shawl is to work.

In the 1960s San Francisco’s “colorists” started repainting the demure pastel Victorians in elaborate palettes of anything from five to 12 colors--or more. Technically, the row of houses known as Postcard Row never got the psychadelic color treatment of the buildings that inspired this shawl, but the name was too catchy to pass up. Playing with patchwork-style squares, interspersing them with bands of simple chevron lace, this shawl takes advantage of the natural biasing in the fabric to fit in some modular pops of color, just like the bold trim colors that make the city’s buildings iconic.

This is the perfect shawl to use up a special skein of variegated yarn, and some minis, which I find to be the perfect travel souvenir or impulse purchase at a yarn show. If you’re thrifty, of course, it’s also a great way to use up precious scraps. Each garter square requires only about 3.5 yards/ 3.2m/ .75g of yarn.

Sizing
75”/ 190.5cm cm wide by 25”/ 63.5 cm deep.

Shawl can be made larger by casting on additional stitches, and working extra repeats as necessary to decrease the additional stitches. This will, of course, require more yarn.

Chevron lace repeats add more length to shawl than patchwork squares. Substituting more rows of patchwork squares without casting on additional repeats will result in a shorter shawl.

Yardage Requirements
Main Color (MC): 463 yards/ 423 m
Contrast Colors 1-5 (CC1-5): 49 yards/ 45 m (without tassels) each, or 55 yards/ 50 m with tassels.
Each patchwork square requires approximately 3.5 yards/ 3.2m/ .75g of yarn.

Sample shown in Machete Shoppe Simple Sock in colorways Foxglove (MC), Mojito, Blueberry Pancakes, Kombucha Brew, Sweet Grass and Sea Siren (CC1-5).

Needles and Notions
US 4 (3.5 mm) 40”/ 100cm circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge.

Darning needle to weave in ends and make tassels.

Credit or business card, or equivalent-sized piece cardboard, for making tassels.

Pattern Format
Written instructions and charts are provided for the lace pattern. Written instructions are provided for the modular garter squares. A photo tutorial is provided for working the tassels.

Skill Level
Intermediate. The lace pattern is not complex, but the design requires picking up and knitting many stitches, and the number of live stitches varies drastically when working modular patchwork squares.