
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!

