Pattern Spotlight: Escondido Falls Shawl

Ready for an adventure with cables and lace and color? The Escondido Falls Shawl is a wedge-shaped shawl worked from the bottom up, with an edging of lush lace and dense cabling. You can work it in either two colors, in one color, or in one color for the body and cable section, and a second color for the lace.

I got to meet Gerty, Anzula's new 100% Targhee yarn, this past summer at TNNA. I'm big fan of American wool, and was thrilled that Anzula was coming out in a breed-specific American wool, milled in the US, in their amazing palette of colors.

I decided to do a two-colored cable shawl to explore how Gerty would play with the cables, lace, and colorwork. I chose Clay, a greenish neutral, as the contrast color for the lace and cables, and Teddy, a warm rich brown, as the main color.

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Escondido Falls Shawl in Clay & Teddy Anzula Gerty.

After working on the pattern, I thought it's be great to do a single colored version as well, for those of you who just want to play with TWO techniques (cables and lace) at a time. :)  

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Escondido Falls Shawl in Blueberry Anzula Gerty.

The Targhee is extremely bouncy. You can block the heck out of it and it springs back.  I initially blocked the two-colored cable shawl to 90¼” / 229 cm along the lace edge to really open up the lace; it now measures 77¼” / 196.5cm, two weeks or so later (the lace edge looks great). 

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The lace is still perfect even with the spring back of this bouncy yarn.

I chose to give this shawl a California place name. I love exploring California parks, and especially waterfall hikes. There are some really neat waterfalls in the Los Angeles area, especially if we’ve had a wet winter, and one of the best is Escondido Falls in Malibu.

See my blog post here for more details. (Tip: sign up for my newsletter via my blog to get a discount on this pattern through midnight October 2nd 2017 PST.)

The pattern is available on Ravelry for $7. Line by line instructions are included for the single color version; the two colored version is charted only.

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Keep up with all things Stephannie on Ravelry here and on her website sunsetcat.com.  

Gerty is available in the shops listed below, all of whom are happy to ship!

Baskets of Yarn - Charlotte, NC - (704) 733-9053
Wasatch and Wool - Park City, UT - (435) 575-0999
Yarn Refuge - Reno, NV - (775) 384-1600
Knit One Purl Two - Rockford, IL - (815) 904-6030
Harps & Thistles Yarn Emporium - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - (234) 208-9482
Avenue Yarns - Albany, NY - (510) 526-9276

Special orders only: Swatches - Fresno, CA - (559) 435-2813
Special orders are dyed to order and are typically ready in 3-5 weeks.You can place a special order for Gerty (or any of our yarns) at your favorite local shop. See a list of shops here and our map here. 

Pattern Spotlight: Elakala Cowl

I first learned that Anzula was introducing a new yarn right before this year's summer TNNA show in Columbus. I couldn't wait to see what it was, and I wasn't disappointed. I just loved the bounce and springiness of Gerty. I chose a skein of Au Natural and a skein of Teal and took them home.

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I thought about designing a two-color shawl with my two skeins of Gerty; but, I'll be honest, I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of a shawl. That's what I usually design, but I really enjoy  stranded colorwork knitting. After bouncing some ideas off my sister, I decided to do a colorwork accessory inspired by the Elakala Falls in West Virginia.

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The Elakala Cowl begins with 1x1 ribbing in Teal then moves into the stranded colorwork. Both colorwork motifs remind me of swirling, falling water. For the second half of the cowl, both motifs are inverted, both in color and in orientation, making the colorwork look like a reflection of itself. The cowl is finished off with 1x1 ribbing in Au Natural.

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The pattern for Elakala is available on Ravelry. Until October 3, the pattern will be available at 20% off with the coupon code 'gogogerty'.

Local yarn stores can purchase print patterns wholesale through Stitch Sprouts.

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Keep up with all things Mindy on her Ravelry page and at www.mindywilkesdesigns.com

Gerty is available in the shops listed below, all of whom are happy to ship!

Baskets of Yarn - Charlotte, NC - (704) 733-9053
Wasatch and Wool - Park City, UT - (435) 575-0999
Yarn Refuge - Reno, NV - (775) 384-1600
Knit One Purl Two - Rockford, IL - (815) 904-6030
Harps & Thistles Yarn Emporium - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - (234) 208-9482
Avenue Yarns - Albany, NY - (510) 526-9276

Special orders only: Swatches - Fresno, CA - (559) 435-2813
Special orders are dyed to order and are typically ready in 3-5 weeks.You can place a special order for Gerty (or any of our yarns) at your favorite local shop. See a list of shops here and our map here. 

Pattern Spotlight: Hanashōbu

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When I first held Anzula’s new yarn, Gerty, in my hands, I let out a squeal. The 100% American Targhee wool felt amazing in my hands. It’s woolly, but also soft and light to the touch. It has spring to it and I knew it would be great for textured stitches. Charlie helped me choose 3 colors to design a cowl. The design was going to be launched as a kit at TNNA’s Summer Show on Sample It night.

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Hanashōbu is a species of Japanese Iris. The colors that the Anzula team helped me pick out were perfect for the cowl’s name sake. I used Slate, Orchid and Violet for this cowl. The Slate which is a grey was used as the main color. 

I swatched for a while and ripped out many times before I settled on something I loved. The cowl uses a slipped stitch pattern and then lace.

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Hanashōbu is knitted top down and begins with the collar of the cowl. The collar is knitted with a slipped stitch pattern which is meant to be folded down like a turtle neck sweater. The rest of the cowl is knit in a lace pattern that increases so that it flares out over your shoulders. There are minimal ends to deal with because the colors are carried as you knit it.

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One of my favorite parts about this pattern is that you will have enough yarn to make a second cowl. It’s perfect for bff’s, mother/daughter, or sister gifts. As you can see, my daughter loves wearing her Hanashōbu. My sister also looks great in the cowl, too.

Gerty blocks out beautifully. It really retains its stitch definition even after a short soak and good block. Look at the pretty lace detail on the bottom of the cowl.

The pattern is now available on Ravelry here. From now until Sept 30, you can buy Hanashōbu for a discounted price of $4 by using the coupon code “ILoveGerty” at the checkout. For yarn shops that would like high quality print copies for their store, they can be purchased at wholesale through Stitch Sprouts 

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You can see more of Angela's patterns on Ravelry and on her website.

Gerty is available in the shops listed below, all of whom are happy to ship!

Baskets of Yarn - Charlotte, NC - (704) 733-9053
Wasatch and Wool - Park City, UT - (435) 575-0999
Yarn Refuge - Reno, NV - (775) 384-1600
Knit One Purl Two - Rockford, IL - (815) 904-6030
Harps & Thistles Yarn Emporium - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - (234) 208-9482
Avenue Yarns - Albany, NY - (510) 526-9276

Special orders only: Swatches - Fresno, CA - (559) 435-2813
Special orders are dyed to order and are typically ready in 3-5 weeks.You can place a special order for Gerty (or any of our yarns) at your favorite local shop. See a list of shops here and our map here.