A peek into the design process
how I borrowed from quilting to create the DNA Shawl
My mom just got herself a new sewing machine (before you ask, I think it’s a Janome). And on a recent visit, she showed me all the new bells and whistles it has, and I am drooling over the idea of bringing some fabric over there to hopefully put together a few simple summer skirts.
Wish me luck.
Why? Because sewing machines and I have never gotten along well. They require time and attention, I’m terribly impatient, and when it comes right down to it, what really jazzes me is creating the fabric itself.
But I looooove seeing all the cool things that people sew! Garments, project bags, and omgosh quilts!
Quilts are so darn inspiring to look at, and I’ve gotten a lot of cool ideas for my knit designs from them. Years ago, a friend showed me her quilt-in-progress, and I was astounded by how she must’ve cut and sewn all those teeny, tiny pieces together.
“Omg, no. I didn’t cut all those pieces one by one! Here’s how you do it.”
She then introduced me to her rotary cutter, and the idea of sewing strips of fabric together in long lines. Kind of like this:
Then, she’d take her rotary cutter to cut the sewn fabric strips in the opposite direction, only to skew them from each other, and sew them back together. Instant checkerboard!
I didn’t inherit that sewing gene from my mom, so for Photo 51: The DNA Shawl, I used a similar technique but without cutting any of the knitting (ack!). Instead, you knit each of those “strips,” some narrow, some wide, occasionally changing color, set the strips aside until you’re ready to sew them together (no machine required:)
Cool, huh? It’s not even bias knitting—each strip has just some increases at the very beginning, and decreases at the very end.
Add some stellar colors, and voila! Two twisting strands of “DNA” on a background color of your choice:
The pattern is out on Ravelry and Payhip and is on sale at 35% off along with ALL Lyrical Knits patterns through Thursday, June 12th with the code LyricalKAL2026 (and yes, the code works on both Ravelry and Payhip).
We’re knitting along all summer in the Miss Babs Ravelry group, so come join in if you like!
It’s warming up in the US, but I’m heading to Iceland, Scotland, and Norway (!!) soon where it’s sure to be a bit rainy with much cooler weather than the US east coast. Sweaters are definitely on my packing list.
And as I’ll be teaching some fun classes to a group of travel-savvy knitters, we’re sure to find lots of wool shops on the way. Just in case of a knitting emergency :)
Wherever your June Journey finds you, I hope you have a terrific month with time to knit and craft however you please.
Big love,
Mary (aka Lyrical Knits)
I love the simple ( but not plain) elegance of this design. Bold and classic.
Also - Can’t wait to see you on Friday in Reykjavik!