Apr 6, 20182 min read

It Started with a Sketch: Soft River

Soft River is my second collaboration with The Fibre Co. Last fall I designed Shawlands, a big, cozy security blanket type shawl made with their then latest yarn, Arranmore Light.

This time TFC were looking for accessories and garments using their lighter weight yarns, perfect for knitting in the warmer seasons. Soft River is the polar opposite to Shawlands: flowy and lightweight. The pattern is written for The Fibre Co. Meadow, a luxurious blend of merino, baby llama, silk, and linen. Needless to say, the yarn has a beautiful drape, a lovely hand, and the linen content makes it just ideal for the summer.

The shawl design was inspired by long-exposure photographs of running streams: very long shutter speeds create the impression of gently flowing water over smoothed river rocks. I wanted to capture the same soothing, calming, and peaceful atmosphere with the design.

Soft River can be described with 3 R's: reversible, resizable, and relaxing.

Reversible

The shawl is worked with a stockinette body and garter stitch cables. It can be worn both ways: either with the stockinette or the reverse stockinette side showing. The garter stitch cables on the edges look the same either way. And if you weave in yarn ends along the edges of the shawl, there really is no wrong side!

Resizable

The pattern comes in two sizes, written for either one or two skeins of Meadow. The smaller size is perfect for a summer accessory shawl while the larger one will keep you wrapped in warmth throughout the year. But to top that off, the shawl can easily be knit to any size you want. The pattern comes with easy-to-follow instructions for adjusting the size of the shawl as needed, for example to use up all the yarn you have.

Relaxing

Soft River is made with calming stockinette and simple garter stitch cables. Once you’ve done one pattern repeat you already know how to do the rest of the body. There is no need to count rows because the garter stitch ridges on the cabled border serve as handy cues for when it's time to do another cable turn. You can get into a wonderfully rhythmic knitting flow — and switch your brain off.