Sea Aquarel

Sea Aquarel Knit Shawl by Gretha Mensen

What is Being Made

Sea Aquarel is a crescent-shaped knit shawl designed by Gretha Mensen as a perfect project for using up leftover yarns, stash, scrap yarns, or mini skeins. The shawl offers exceptional flexibility in color work, allowing knitters to create the design using as few as 2 colors or as many as 29 different colors, making it an ideal stash-busting project for fiber artists with diverse yarn collections.

Construction and Techniques

The shawl is worked flat from the top down, beginning with a garter tab cast-on. Stitches are strategically increased along the edges throughout the project to gradually expand the fabric and create the distinctive crescent shape. This top-down construction method allows knitters to easily adjust the final size of the shawl by continuing to work additional rows until reaching their desired dimensions.

Stitches and Stitch Work

The pattern utilizes garter stitch for the foundational tab at the beginning of the project. Edge increases are worked throughout the body of the shawl to shape the crescent form. The specific increase placements and stitch patterns create the shawl's elegant silhouette while remaining accessible to beginner-level knitters.

Yarn and Materials

Sea Aquarel is designed to work with fingering weight yarns, making it compatible with a wide range of premium and standard yarn options. The sample shawl was knitted using an array of fingering and lace weight yarns, including Madeline Tosh merino Light, Malabrigo Mechita, Malabrigo Lace, Garnudsalg Blackhill Cashmere, and TréLiz Zeus. The main color (MC) requires approximately 275 yards, while contrast colors (CC1 through CC8) range from as little as 11 yards to 75 yards, depending on the specific color placement and yarn weight used. When working with lace weight yarns like Malabrigo Lace, two strands are held together during knitting to achieve the appropriate fabric density. Standard knitting needles appropriate for fingering weight yarn are required to complete this project.

Skill Level

Sea Aquarel is rated as a beginner-level knitting project, making it accessible to knitters new to shawl construction while remaining engaging for more experienced fiber artists seeking a straightforward, color-focused design.