Sea Frond

This shallow crescent brioche shawl is worked top down, with brioche cables and bobbles. If you prefer, you can also block it upside down to make a shallow wide triangle! 

Inspiration for this design comes from under the sea; more specifically - kelp which is a form of marine algae. I saw a video one day of a lush undersea kelp forest and I knew I had to put those gracefully waving kelp fronds into brioche! Kelp develop air-filled cysts that help keep them afloat on the ocean so that they can access sunlight; I put bobbles into the design to represent these and to add some fun pops of texture. Hope you love the shawl as much as I do!

Shawl size is adjustable for Body and/or Border to accommodate your preferences or yarn availability.

The pattern comes with a Photo tutorial and Tip sheet PDF with links to video tutorials for the bobbles and special stitches used. The Tutorial walks you through the cables, bobbles and brp increases and decreases, as well as instructions for gauge and practice swatches and how to block. The bobbles are deceptively simple - you don’t need to turn your work at all!

The Body and the first part of the Border use two-color brioche (both LC and DC). The Body has patterning only on light side, light color rows, so it’s fairly relaxing to knit. The first part of the Border has patterning in LC on both light and dark sides. The second part of the Border is worked only in DC with patterning on both RS and WS.

Pattern is written and charted and has been tech edited.

Skill level: Intermediate to experienced. (Familiarity with brk increases and decreases, and all-over brioche fabric. Prior experience with cables is not needed).

Yarn: You may use aran, worsted or DK weight; gauge and shawl size will differ for each. For Worsted or DK weight information: see bottom of page.

The figures below refer to the cream and green aran weight shawl (in photos). 

Aran weight: Sunrayscreations Mohana, 60% merino, 40% silk; aran weight, 158yds/145m/100g; in Natural (LC) and Deep Forest (DC): two skeins each. Actual yardage used: LC 192g (303yds/278m); DC 191g (302yds/277m) 

This yarn is very soft and fluffy, and gives a subtle outline to the brioche stitch columns.

Needles & notions: 5.5mm (US 9) circular needles (32" or longer); 6.5mm (US 10½) needle or dpn (for bind off), cable needle, locking stitch marker (for garter tab), stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge: 10 sts/14 rows (28 passes) = 4" in Brioche rib with 5.5mm needles after gentle blocking (see Tutorial for instructions). Adjust needle size to obtain gauge. Gauge is not critical but will affect yardage and finished size.

Finished size: 80” (203cm) along top edge; 20” (51 cm) height at center; 95” (241cm) along bottom edge, after blocking

Needles & notions: 5.5mm (US 9) circular needles (32” or longer); 6.5mm (US 10½) needle or dpn (for bind off), cable needle, locking stitch marker (for garter tab), stitch markers, tapestry needle.

Worsted or DK weight yardage: 

Two skeins each of LC and DC to knit body and border as written. Because body and border sizes are customizable, your actual yardage requirement may be less than this. 

Tester projects used varying amounts of LC and DC for different sizes of shawls:

Worsted weight: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/KatFire/baroque-cables

DK weight:

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/sapryo36/sea-frond-sharon

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Poachtna/festival-of-colors-sea-frond 

Recommended needle size for worsted and DK: 4mm (US 6) to 4.5mm (US 7) circular needles (32" or longer); a needle two sizes larger (for bind off