This is a Bao Bao Shawl. Designed by Isabell Kraemer, the pattern is available to buy on Ravelry or as a digital pattern in the Pittenweem shop.
I've used John Arbon Yarnadelic Sport to knit our shop version. It's a 100% Falklands Corriedale wool. It's a woolly wool but still soft! You need 3 colours. I used one skein each of Ordinary Joe (stoney beige), Blue Monday (denim blue) and Toxic (neon green).
I used approx... 320m of Ordinary Joe, 300m of Blue Monday and 85m of Toxic.
Bao Bao is a large triangle shawl. You start at the top back with a garter tab cast on and then increase at both edges and either side of the centre spine. You do end up with a lot of stiches - 393 at the cast off edge. It took about 40 minutes to cast off!
Our shawl measures (after blocking) 160cm along the top edge and 65cm at the deepest point. Just slightly smaller than the pattern dimensions.
The stitch pattern is called a dip stitch where you knit into the stitch that's three rows below the stitch on the needle. This creates an extra stitch which you then decrease on the following row. There's a link to a tutorial in the pattern. It's very straightforward to work. Just don't drop the stitch off your needle. This is not fisherman's rib!
It looks really interesting on the backside.
As usual with Isabell Kraemer's patterns, the Bao Bao Shawl is well written with clear instructions and regular stitch counts.
She has also included links to a long tail cast on, a garter tab cast-on as well as how to carry the yarns up the side, so you don't need to cut the colours after each row.
I did a full blocking process on this shawl. Mainly to even out the stitch pattern but also because my cast off edge was curling...
Bao Bao unblocked
Bao Bao blocking
I soaked the shawl in Eucalan then drained the water. I then carefully squished as much water out the shawl as I could in a dry towel. I laid it out on my foam playmats (you can usually find them in the summer or toy aisle in B&Q or big supermarket).
I used my blocking wires to get as straight an edge as possible. Sometimes when you just use pins you can distort the edge, making little unintentional peaks. The wires give a continuous structure that you can pin out.
I used knit blockers instead of individual pins. These aren't essential but do make it easier.
One thing you can't scrimp on is patience! Weaving those wires evenly and neatly through the stitches cannot be rushed. Especially if you use a dark yarn like me 🫣. So don't expect it to be a quick task.
I then left it to dry completely before unpinning.
As a large shawl it's perfect for wearing instead of a jacket or coat or layering it up in winter.
As a large triangle it would make a great sofa shawl to pull over your shoulders when it gets a bit chilly.
And it's great fun to knit! A quirky stitch pattern AND stripes makes it a quicker knit (trust me, stripes are very motivating) and you could go off-piste and stripe it in lots of different colours.
Although written for a sportweight yarn you could use a 4ply or a DK. and you can knit it as big as you like.
If you like the look of the dip stitch pattern, Isabell Kraemer has used it in other items including a jumper, cowl and hat.
To recap
You can buy a copy of Bao Bao Shawl on Ravelry or as a digital pattern in the Pittenweem shop.
You can buy John Arbon Yarnadelic Sport here. I used 1 skein each of Ordinary Joe, Blue Monday and Toxic.
I used a 3.5mm circular needle. You'll need at least 100cm to hold your stitches. I started with a 60cm and moved to 100cm as the number of stitches increased.
You'll need 4 stitch markers too. These will sit on your knitting needles between stitches and the pattern tells you where to place them. These markers will remind you to make the increases.
For blocking, you need a wool wash (I used Eucalan), pins and somewhere to pin it out like foam playmats or towels. Blocking wires and knit blockers do make it a bit easier.
We sell blocking wires in the Pittenweem shop but they're not available online as I can't post them easily.
