When Lorajean whispered sweet magical unicorn secrets in my ear a few months ago, I was all in. She had this plan for a sparkly, fabulous kit, showcasing some of her favorite makers’ take on the unicorn. JaMpdx was making a cocktail cup, A Needle Runs Through It was making a bag and some stitch markers, Lorajean was using Pixie Stix (mini skeins) of all eight currently-existing unicorn colors, and I was tasked with designing a pattern.
The asymmetric triangle already looks vaguely unicorn-esque, and once the term Uni-horn jumped into my brain as I started thinking about using that shape for this project, I could go in no other direction. I did lots of ripping and swatching, because I wanted a shawl that would showcase all of the colors AND use a good portion of each mini skein without there being the danger of running out of yarn. More difficult than it sounds when you’re using 45-yard minis. This final iteration, the Uni-horn Magic shawl, is everything I wanted it to be. I put a simple mesh pattern together with garter stitch, and added a wee kick of picot at the edge (the pattern also has directions for a smoother i-cord bind off, if something more simple appeals more to you). The unicorn-colored mesh sections get smaller as the garter sections get bigger, and it’s fairly easy to keep track of where you are: each pairing of mesh + garter equals 42 rows.
I’m so in love with this shawl that I’ve already made a two-skein version, using Unicorn Night Mares in Pixie Plied and Buckle My Shoes in Victory Sock, and I can see more of these in my future. The asymmetric shape is super duper wearable and fun to work, and the rows never get to that holy-shit-how-many-stitches-in-each-of-these-things situation that a more traditional top-down shawl can reach.
Join me in feeling like a magical unicorn by making your own, and let’s brighten up this sometimes-dim world with a little sparkly magic of our own. You might even get lucky and snag a kit, if you head over to Knitted Wit’s site soon…