I never know what I’ll feel like test knitting next, or where I will find a designer that needs a pattern tested. Usually I check out the Free Pattern Testers and the Testing Pool forums on Ravelry, but I’ve been fortunate to meet designers through other modes recently.

In this case, it was through Instagram. I’ve been trying to be more “social,” so I’ve been posting a lot of photos (well, trying to) on there. I don’t have too many followers yet, so when someone comments or likes (or is it “love” on Instagram?) my photos, it’s easy for me to check out their profile.

One of the users I discovered is based in Japan and is the same age as me – except, she is already an impressive designer and has only been knitting for over a year! (I feel so under-accomplished…I’ve been knitting for about 12 years now.) I quickly hit the “follow” button on her Instagram profile, and had the chance to test knit one of her patterns right away. Aroha Knits, as she refers to herself, has many lovely shawls and other accessory patterns. I volunteered to test her Ono Shawl, which is a garter stitch shawl / scarf knit with fingering or sport weight yarn.

I chose some Knit Picks Stroll fingering yarn that I had in my stash. (I’ve used this line of yarn before for a different scarf last summer.) I ordered the grey color from Knit Picks a while ago, and somehow my order was incorrect. I ordered two skeins, originally planned for a pair of socks, but somehow, three skeins came in the mail! I knew I couldn’t separate the skeins apart, so they waited patiently on my shelf to be used in a different project. 😉

I only had the grey color, so I had to buy two other colors for this project. I decided to search the “for sale” yarn in others’ stashes on Ravelry, and ended up finding some great pinks just in time for Valentine’s Day!

This shawl is very simple; the only challenge is the intarsia sections (and weaving in a ton of yarn ends).

Overall, this shawl took 23.5 hours, including weaving in the 80 yarn tails. It also used 5 skeins total of Knit Picks Stroll, which makes it a pretty affordable project!

As with my other scarf mentioned above, this shawl grew HUGE when I washed and blocked it. This yarn really likes to relax!

The larger size is actually quite nice, as it wraps a few times around my neck, or I can wear it as a smaller shawl.

As I said, the only tricky part was the intarsia. If you haven’t experimented with it before, I’d recommend checking out Natty Knitter’s simple how-to on garter stitch intarsia – plus, Aroha Knits herself has put up a tutorial about garter stitch intarsia.

Other than that, this was a relaxing, garter stitch knit that made a wonderfully soft shawl.

Check out my v a l e n t i n e Ono Shawl on Ravelry for more photos and notes!

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