TBT :: Leafy Greens

This is part of a weekly series of trips down knittery lane (a lame take on memory lane), in which I go on (and on) about inspiration for an older pattern. The patterns discussed will be offered for $2 off for the week, until the next TBT post. Use coupon code tbtshannonsq-lgs on Ravelry to get your $2 off of Leafy Greens this week…

What could be a more perfect pattern to showcase today, on day two of snow days here in Portland, than a very bright green, spring-y pattern? Leafy Greens was a really early design for me, and continues to be one of my very faves.

When I first designed Leafy Greens, it was really an excuse to work with the big huge skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL Sport in Mossay that had made its way into my stash. I felt that I needed a big hug of a shawl in this yarn; the yarn itself was delightfully fuzzy and rustic-ish, the color was just the perfect bright green (this color had a hold of my knitterly heart for quite a while, as evidenced by the many, MANY projects I churned out in it over the years). I had been playing around with this shape: wide wings with a center panel (shortly after publishing this, I published Striae, another shawl with a similar shape).

Sometimes designing is hard. For some pieces, you just knit and rip and knit and rip and knit and rip. It’s a struggle at times (as is any creative endeavor one does to make a living, I suppose, because so much rides on it). But sometimes, the designing is just plain easy, and that was the case with Leafy Greens. I knew I wanted something organic and fun, and found the perfect leafy motif to showcase in the center of this piece. Meshy wings just seemed to complement that motif so well, and it looked like curly kale, particularly before blocking. The entire time I was knitting this, I knew it was to be named Leafy Greens, because that’s what kept running through my mind.

It’s a shape that lends itself to big-time wrapping – one way to wear it, shown below, is almost as a top-kind-of-thing…

And it works super well as a scarfy-scrunchy-shawl, too. This pattern is one I keep mean to revisit, and I’d love to rework it in a yarn from my girl Knitted Wit at some point. What will you make yours in? Will you go for green, or go off the beaten path and do pink or orange or blue? If and when you make it, please share it with me. You know I looove seeing what you make with my patterns!

Dying to get your hands on the pattern *right*now* for $2 off? Click this link, and the shopping cart will get all populated and what-not!