Maker's Note - Feliz Shawl by Amor Esperanza
Feliz (pronounced feh-leez): happy.
We are delighted to present Feliz, the newest pattern from Amor Esperanza, long-time friend of both Patti and Yarn Culture. Amor has woven her love and passion for the culture of the New Mexico in every stitch of Feliz.
“This design is born of the settings, colors, movements and sounds of fiestas (festive gatherings) in northern New Mexico, my current and ancestral home. For me, a sociable introvert, I am inspired by the spirit of smaller, more intimate fiestas. Such fiestas embody communal happiness and in my deepest memories they are warm environments surrounded by friends, family, song, dancing, shared memory, flavors as familiar as my own name, and the resounding contentment of being with loved ones. This shawl, within its fine details, carries echoes of those sounds, the vibrant atmosphere, and celebration of the living spirit of connection. This, indeed, makes me happy. “
Why I loved making it …
It’s no surprise that I couldn’t wait to get my needles into this new design. I was lucky enough to have an early peek at the finished shawl and noticed the textural details right away. The simple cable body, a striped section punctuated with new-to-me rolling welts, the ruffle bottom and finally applied i-cord edges – not a dull moment of knitting in the entire shawl! And the icing on the cake is a set of easy-to-follow directions including hints and tips for each pattern section or technique which might benefit from additional direction.
“Watch Outs”
I have yet to meet a knitter who doesn’t have a preference for either charted patterns or written patterns. The Feliz pattern does not include charts; there are only written directions. The watch out for me, a chart lover, was making sure I didn’t lose my way as I navigated the directions. The challenge was made significantly easier by the clever way in which Amor formats her patterns. She organizes the pattern into Modules which include check boxes for every row – including sets that repeat themselves. I didn’t need a single post-it note or row counter!
Can you knit this? Skills You'll Use and Helpful Hints
Like many of the designs we feature at Yarn Culture, I would consider this project appropriate for an advanced beginner/beginning-intermediate knitter. The techniques use in this pattern include a very simple single cable, directional increases (right leaning or left leaning) on both the knit and purl sides and purling multiple stitches together (p2tog, p3tog). The rolling welt is the result of several rows of directions that are easy to follow. It is not a technique, it is a result of the directions you follow.
There was one abbreviation that I completely misunderstood, though I’m not sure why. I mention it here in case someone else’s brain works like mine. The direction pfb7 does NOT mean to purl in the front and back of a single stitch 7 times. Instead, you should purl in the front and back of one stitch at a time (creating 2 stitches where there was only one) until you have completed that action across 7 stitches. The result will match the stitch count Amor provides, rather than the ridiculous number of stitches I ended up with first time around!