Float Shawl in Uranocircite

Liz of @_busylizzie introduced me to this shawl pattern, and the concept of assigned pooling knitting, earlier in the year and I immediately became obsessed. 

This is Dawn Barker's Float shawl pattern, a right-triangle, asymmetrical shawl. It's quite simple to knit... stockinette with increases along one side. It's finished with a bit of 2x2 ribbing on the bind-off edge.

The Float pattern uses the assigned pooling technique, a technique designed for hand-dyed yarns where the color of the yarn dictates which stitch you do. 

For the Float pattern, you're mostly knitting in stockinette until you arrive at the pop of color, then you do the fancy stitch, which in this case, is a cluster/floret stitch.

I will admit to you that I have been calling this "the butthole shawl" the whole time I've been knitting it. I saw a version of the shawl on Ravelry that had light pink florets that looked like, well, buttholes. I couldn't get it out of my head! That, plus the yarn weight, and it was almost too much for me. I know, I'm a child.

The finished measurements for the Float are supposed to be 70” wide x 45” deep after blocking, although mine were more like 76" x 45" because I can't count and was a bit lax with my increases along the way. I think the pattern is pretty forgiving, though. 

The pattern is designed for hand-dyed yarns with a "pop" of color, meaning sections of a high contrast accent color that run about 1⁄4 of the total length of the hank. 

I knew this was an opportunity/excuse to purchase some gorgeous hand-dyed yarn that I'd been eyeing from a Vermont-based dyer, Round Mountain Fibers. I just love their "inspired by nature" colorways!  

I found yarns appropriate for the Float pattern listed in the dye method category of "pop of color" yarns. 

The colorway I chose is Uranocircite, which is apparently a mineral found in uranium deposits that can fluoresce in shades of green or yellow. It's a deep charcoal grey with pops of acid yellow and a blue-y green. There's a bit of white in there, too.

The yarn base I chose was Spruce Fingering, a 100% Superwash Merino, grown and spun in the U.S. It felt a little crispy when I was knitting with it, but softened up when I wet blocked it.

I used 3 skeins for this project. I did run out at the end and wasn't able to do as many rows of ribbing as I was supposed to, but I think this was user error. 

I just love the texture of the florets and the color contrast! It reminds me of this photo of lichen on a rock that I took a few years ago when Tim and I hiked to the top of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak:

I really enjoyed this knitting project. It's simple enough to knit, not a lot of counting or rows to keep track of, and yet it stays interesting because you're always waiting to see when the next floret will pop up! Sometimes they end up right next to one another, sometimes more spaced out. It's sort of relaxing to cede control and let the yarn dictate the design. 

That said, there were a couple times so many florets clustered together that it started to make me uncomfortable. I admit to cutting the yarn one time, and re-starting to get the florets to shift away from one another. Cheating? Maybe. I tried to keep it as organic as possible!

I love how this shawl turned out, too. Amazing organic texture and so much fun to wear! Pairs perfectly with my Harper tunic.