Adventures In Superhero Couture
In May of 2017, the Wonder Woman movie came out to great acclaim. Even boys liked it! Well, some boys who were known for taste and discernment. At any rate, I loved it. I remember sitting in the theatre with a friend of mine; she and I were just rapt for the whole movie. Fantastic! Superhero mythology done right! Along with the movie came this new iteration of the famous linked W’s which comprised both her logo and part of her costume.
And in July of that same year, knitwear genius designer Carissa Brown came out with a free (Free!) pattern of a shawl that resembled the logo. Not only was it beautiful and supremely clever, but the enterprising Brown came out with a crochet version of the pattern a month later. I confess, I’d knit myself one of these within the first week it came out. Well, I meant it for myself but I ended up giving it to some other person who wanted it. I then knit a second version and gave that one away too. So it’s time to knit one for myself and KEEP IT.
The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, which is what I used for my first two projects. This time, I wanted something a little bigger that I could use as a proper shawl for really keeping the shoulders warm. So I decided to use KnitPicks’ Swish DK yarn (their Superwash yarn), and bought three skeins each of Garnet Heather and Honey. Side note: KnitPicks uses a lot of common colors across many of their different fibers and weights of yarn, Garnet Heather being one of them. I love it so much that I’ve used it (the color) in more projects than I can count. It’s rich, deep, beautiful, and looks good on everybody. Ahem. Onward.
The pattern is not difficult, which is a little surprising, given the truly spectacular result. It’s done all in garter stitch, which means all knit with no purls. Well, that’s not quite true. There is one section where you start working from the left side and have to purl all the rows to maintain the garter stitch pattern but it’s a relatively small section.
The pattern is clearly written and has some very helpful illustrations to show what section you’re working on at any given time and what you’re actually trying to accomplish. I personally found the illustrations quite helpful.
The deep V shapes are created with a clever combination of precisely placed increases (or decreases on the upper V) and short rows. This of course means wrap and turn. The pattern does direct the knitter to pick up the wraps, but I don’t do that in garter stitch, as it’s unnecessary. There is one exception to this rule…there are just a few places in the project where you have one color wrapping another and it’s quite visible. Those few wraps I did pick up.
Since I was using a different weight of yarn and larger needles than required by the pattern, I had to guess at how much yarn I needed. I cut it uncomfortably close…I only had about 10 yards of each color left over. I did my cast off with a crochet hook that was .5mm larger than the needle I’d used. This is fast and easy and gives you a very even edge. Here is a short video to show you what that looks like in action.
And finally, the washing and blocking. I did my usual soak in tepid water with a little wool wash thrown in (KnitPicks sells my favorite wool wash…it doesn’t need to be rinsed out!) After I’d wrapped it in a towel and gently squeezed out as much water as I could, I laid it out on a table in my back room. For reference, this table is 60” wide. And the shawl extends another 12” beyond that. I think it’s big enough to suit me. When I laid the damp shawl out, I centered the center line of increases over the center seam of the table and then tried to make everything straight off that center seam. It’s not perfectly straight but it’s close enough for me.
And it’s done! You can wear it any way you want. If you want to just wrap it around your neck a few times like a scarf, no one will be able to see the logo but YOU will still know it’s there. Your secret talisman. Or you could drape it across your shoulders so that the logo is visible on your back…or you could center the logo over your chest and then wrap the ends around. It’s plenty long enough. Any way you decide to wear it, this lovely layer of warm wool will definitely keep you toasty.
