Lava Lake Yarns

Though I’ve been knitting a ton of socks this year, thanks to my goal of knitting more Christmas socks, I was itching to cast on a bigger project, like a shawl.  Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to take a break from socks….sometimes.  Ha!  

Let me tell you more…

The Shawl

I love how big my two MKAL shawls from Stephan West are – and apparently I really like big shawls.  I love it when they sit on my shoulders without falling down.  So when I wanted to knit a shawl, I looked to Stephen’s patterns….  And I looked to see which shawls use a bunch of  yarn….because I have too much yarn.

I settled upon Lava Lake because it looked simple enough to be able to pick up anywhere and knit, yet fun enough to keep my interest.  And, honestly, I can’t remember the last time I knit anything in a gradient.  

The Yarn

Yes, I have plenty of yarn.  But finding a gradient amidst all those skeins is not the easiest thing to do.  

Thankfully, I had three skeins of yarn from Suburban Stitcher (in colorways Flutter, Hibiscus, Bang Bang) that faded beautifully.  I dug through my stash and found two more skeins to add to those as the lightest and darkest colors…  And I really like the result!

The lightest colorway is from Olann – Underwater Ballet.  And the darkest color is a Walk Collection colorways – Smoked Salmon.

Conclusions

My only slight hesitation with the yarn for this shawl is that I already have a coral-based shawl – Stephen West’s Slipstravaganza.  But I love coral and at least this one won’t be rooted in navy.  

I can’t wait to see this shawl take shape!  

Do you have a favorite Stephen West shawl design?  If so, let me know!  This won’t be the last one I knit, for sure!