BOMBSHELL by Maddie Harvey

“Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway? Isn’t it delicious?” The Girl, from The Seven Year Itch, played by Marilyn Monroe, 1954

It’s that time of year when it’s too warm: your skin is clammy, you can’t cool down, and walking just a few metres has you perspiring. Suddenly, a cool breeze catches your clothing, making it billow and swirl. At that moment, is there anything nicer?

You’re probably familiar with the iconic 1950s image of Marilyn Monroe in the film The Seven Year Itch, with her skirt blowing upwards, as she stands over a subway grate? That joyous feeling of flowing fabric against the skin is captured in the movement of the knitted stitches in the Bombshell Shawl. Relief from the heat?

The gorgeous drape of the Sweet Flax yarn, combined with the Marilyn Monroe-linked colourway name, led me to design a shawl with a bombshell aesthetic, inspired by swirling hem lines and polka dot prints.

Each shawl kit includes the following

2 skeins of Ginger's Hand Dyed Sweet Flax 4ply (just choose your shade)
Digital pattern for Bombshell by Maddie Harvey
Adorable Ginger Twist Studio Drawstring Bag

The pattern includes charts (and equivalent written instructions), photographs, a schematic and has been professionally tech edited. All of this will help you to create a shawl that you feel proud of and that is wonderful to wear, especially in a summer breeze!

CONSTRUCTION NOTES
Bombshell is a trapezium shaped shawl that’s worked from side-to side beginning with an increasing section. Slip stitch columns are worked on the left-hand side of the shawl, whilst fun cabled polka dots emerge on the right-hand side. The slip stitch pattern moves in a wave across the garter stitch background and is created by working yarnover increases and matching decreases. The trapezium shape is finished off by working a decreasing section.

YARN
Ginger Twist, Sweet Flax, (4ply; 400m / 437 yds per 100g skein; 50% alpaca, 25% linen & 25% silk)
2 skeins in The Seven-Year Itch

GAUGE
20 sts x 36 rows = 10 cm / 4” measured Garter St before blocking
18 sts x 28 rows = 10 cm / 4” measured over Garter St after blocking
Please take time to check your gauge, as this will affect how much yarn you use, and the finished size of your shawl. My sample used nearly all of the 800m.

NEEDLES & NOTIONS (not included)

4 mm / US 6 (shawl is worked flat, so use straight or circular needles, whichever you prefer)
Cable needle
Stitch markers of two different types: 7 markers of one type (I used small ring markers), including one that is distinctive from the others and 5 markers of a different type (I used coil-less safety pins)

Shawl photos copyright Maddie Harvey

GINGER'S HAND DYED

BOMBSHELL SHAWL KIT

GINGER'S HAND DYED

BOMBSHELL SHAWL KIT