Volt: A Superlative Zigzag Shawl

A few years ago, I discovered Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere, and went kind of nuts on the stuff.

The first thing I made was a modified version of the Wool Peddler Shawl, with a barely ruffling ruffle, that grew so large that I kept going back to Purl Soho to get another skein, and another skein, of the 2-ply cashmere and silk-cashmere blend. I took pictures of it in Central Park and sent it off to a friend in need of comfort, cashmere being the most potent form of comfort I could think of.

My next Jade Sapphire cashmere project was for me. I made Grace Anna Farrow’s Volt shawl, from her book The Fine Line. The pattern called for another (super nice) yarn, but I was on fire for the cashmere at that point, so I went all in. I’ve worn it a ton and it’s still one of my favorite garments. Not just one of my favorite handknits; Volt is at the top of the All Garments category, which includes my precious Alabama Chanin pieces and worn-to-transparency Big Linen Shirts.

Here’s one reason I love a rectangular wrap: the way it looks when you wrap it like this. It’s my lady armor, or my lady swaddle. The triumph of foxy over frumpy.

You also can’t go wrong scrunching up cashmere around your neck.

Volt was fun to knit. A tiny bit of a puzzler at the beginning, because the repeats are different numbers of stitches. (I started with the black. That was not a good idea. Better to start with the light.) The pleasure of knitting with hand-dyed cashmere cannot be overstated. It soothed my soul.

It was also fun to take it out and make Carrie model it in Central Park. I took about 50 semi-OK pictures before Carrie said, “How about that patch of ferns over there? Wouldn’t they be good with the green in the shawl?”

Um, OK, I guess so.