


A little show-and-tell for you today. I finished knitting this mantle just in time for my recent meditation retreat. I can’t decide if it’s brilliant or ridiculous but I think I love it. (Though it was really pretty ideal for days of sitting and walking in moody spring weather.)
Knitters are the biggest shawl enthusiasts, because a shawl is basically just a flexible canvas for all sorts of interesting knitting. And I really think that the next candidate for underappreciated garment to bring back is the mantle. It’s basically a sweater without the pesky design considerations, which translates to a bigger canvas and no shoulder geometry.
My original motivation was to use up a whole pile of leftover Lopi yarn, which meant that I had to modify the original design to suit the colors and amounts of yarn on hand. I drew the yoke design with colored pencils and graph paper during our February snowstorm and then knit it furiously to see if it would actually work (a few on-the-fly modifications required but mostly, yes). I lost momentum when I got to the solid blue but it got exciting again as key colors dwindled. In the end, I managed to use every last inch of the light blue, and had less than a yard left of the oatmeal and the dark blue.
This was just the sort of knitting project I’m enjoying these days – good pattern inspiration paired with plenty of room for creativity, low yarn investment, and an unfussy finished product.
More details on Ravelry.
Oh that’s gorgeous! It looks so cozy.
Thank you! Definitely cozy!