by Stephen West

This top-down shawl begins with self-striping yarn in a corrugated ridge stitch pattern for quick and easy knitting. A second color is introduced with slipped stitch color work, creating bold columns within the fabric. A garter stitch border finishes the edge. Have fun choosing color combinations! The colorful stitch pattern reminds me of all the houses in Reykjavik with corrugated metal siding.

Slipped stitches are one of my favorite techniques because they can give the illusion of stranding or intarsia but you only have to work with one strand of yarn in each row. The slipped stitch columns in Metalouse shift one stitch closer to the center every CC stripe, which gives a feathered textural look.

The streets of Rekjavik are lined with the most colorful houses and most of the finishes are rusted and chipped adding character and dimension to the corrugated metal sidings. I couldn't stop snapping photos of the Icelanders' homes.

I love making up words for pattern names. The shawl reminded me of a metal house so metal + house = metalouse! It also sounds like mouse, which always a good thing.

SIZE
One

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Length: 22 inches along center, after blocking
Width: 90 inches wingspan from tip to tip, after blocking

MATERIALS
Yarn
[MC] #Noro Shiraito [45% Cashmere, 45% Angora, 10% Wool; 197 yd/180m per 50g skein]; color 6; 2 skeins
[CC] Schoppel Wolle Cashmere Queen [35% Cashmere, 45% Merino Wool, 20% Silk; 153 yd/140m per 50g skein]; color: 7873; 2 skeins

Recommended needle size
[always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below -- every knitter's gauge is unique]
1 40-inch US #7 / 4.5mm circular

Notions
yarn needle
2 stitch markers

GAUGE

PATTERN NOTES
[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

M1R: Insert left needle, from back to front, under the horizontal strand which lies between the stitch just knit, and the following stitch; then knit into the front of this loop. 1 stitch increased.

M1L: Insert left needle, from front to back, under the horizontal strand which lies between the stitch just knit, and the following stitch; then knit into the back of this loop. 1 stitch increased.

Slipped stitches: Stitches are slipped wyib on the RS and wyif on the WS.

There is a photo tutorial on the garter tab CO here.

DIRECTIONS

Set Up Row [WS]: K3, yo, p1, pm, p1, pm, p1, yo, k3.

SECTION 1
Row 1 [RS]: K3, yo, p to m, M1R, slm, p1, slm, M1L, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Row 2 [WS]: K3, yo, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Row 3 [RS]: K3, yo, k to m, M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Row 4 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Repeat last 4 rows 16 more times. 215 sts. Repeat Rows 1 & 2 once more. 221 sts.

SECTION 2
Join CC.
Carry MC & CC along the right side edge while striping colors. Colors alternate every other row.

Row 1 [RS]: Using CC, k3, yo, k to m, M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Row 2 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Row 3 [RS]: Using MC, k3, yo, p2, (p6, sl3) to m, slm, p1, slm, (sl3, p6) to last 5 sts, p2, yo, k3.

Row 4 [WS]: K3, yo, k3, (k6, sl3) to m, slm, k1, slm, (sl3, k6) to last 6 sts, k3, yo, k3.

Row 5 [RS]: Using CC, k3, yo, k to m. M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 6 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 7 [RS]: Using MC, k3, yo, p4, sl3, (p6, sl3) to m, slm, p1, slm, (sl3, p6) to last 10 sts, sl3, p4, yo, k3.
Row 8 [WS]: K3, yo, k5, sl3, (k6, sl3) to m, slm, k1, slm, (sl3, k6) to last 11 sts, sl3, k5, yo, k3.
Row 9 [RS]: Using CC, k3, yo, k to m. M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 10 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 11 [RS]: Using MC, k3, yo, sl3, (p6, sl3) to m, slm, p1, slm, (sl3, p6) to last 6 sts, sl3, yo, k3.
Row 12 [WS]: K3, yo, k1, sl3, (k6, sl3) to m, slm, k1, slm, (sl3, k6) to last 7 sts, sl3, k1, yo, k3.
Row 13 [RS]: Using CC, k3, yo, k to m. M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 14 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 15 [RS]: Using MC, k3, yo, p5, sl3, (p6, sl3) to m, slm, p1, slm, (sl3, p6) to last 11 sts, sl3, p5, yo, k3.
Row 16 [WS]: K3, yo, (k6, sl3) to m, slm, k1, slm, (sl3, k6) to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 17 [RS]: Using CC, k3, yo, k to m. M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Row 18 [WS]: K3, yo, p to last 3 sts, yo, k3.

Using MC, repeat Rows 1-4 from SECTION 1 twice more.
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 from SECTION 1 once more. Break MC; final rows are worked with only CC.

Next Row [RS]: K3, yo, k to m, M1R, slm, k1, slm, M1L, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Next Row [WS]: K3, yo, k to last 3 sts, yo, k3.
Repeat last 2 rows twice more.

FINISHING
BO as follows: (k2tog tbl, slip st back to left needle) to end of row. Break yarn and pull strand through the last remaining stitch.

Weave in ends and block shawl to smooth the fabric.

Stephen West was born and raised in Tulsa, OK, and now resides in Amsterdam.

You can find his self-published patterns and pattern books at your local yarn shop and at westknits.com. Book 5: Midgard is coming out this winter as a collaboration with Cirilia Rose and you can look forward to more Westknits patterns and KALs soon!