I love the look of the Aurora Cabin Shawl by Stephen West. It’s so unique with the traveling slip stitch section, and how the five colors work together. It took me a while to plan my colors, but I am so happy with how this shawl turned out. Keep reading for my Cosmic Violet Aurora Cabin Shawl Knitting Experience:
When I first saw this shawl last year, I cast on immediately and was really happy that I had some colors in stash that were similar to the sample. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the yarn quantities I needed for each color and I ended up having to make a few modifications to complete the shawl. I loved how my shawl turned out, but I knew that the next time I knit it, I would be more intentional with my yarn choices.
CHOOSING YARN
Selecting yarn for the Aurora Cabin Shawl was a little challenging for me. I always struggle a bit with picking colors, but I feel like the Aurora Cabin shawl is tricky because of how the traveling slip stitch pattern uses all five colors.
I spent a long time looking at different color palettes and yarns, trying to find a combination that would work as well as the colors in the two samples.
I saw a couple of people post a beautiful Punk Rock Unicorn kit in all purples that looked really pretty to me. The kit was no longer available, so I started to look for similar colors so I could recreate the kit.
It’s difficult to shop for yarn online, especially hand-dyed yarns since the color can vary dramatically. I thought these colors looked pretty close to the colors in the kit, so I ordered them!
YARN
I was excited to cast on my Aurora Cabin shawl, and very happy with my yarn once it arrived. The colors I chose are:
♥ Ghost – Hedgehog Fibres Sock
♥ Spell – Hedgehog Fibres Sock
♥ Highlighter Violet – Cascade Heritage
♥ Composition Book Grey – Madeline Tosh Sock
The Spell color is a lot more vibrant, royal purple than it looked like in the product photos online, but I actually think that makes the palette even better.
Using Ravelry to check colors
One thing I would recommend if you are buying yarn online, is to use Ravelry to see each colorway in other people’s projects. I didn’t do it with this purchase, but if I had, I would have seen that Spell consistently looks like the vibrant royal purple I received.
Ravelry is such a great resource. Here’s a quick look at how to search Ravelry for yarn colors:
1. Click the link for “Yarns” at the top of the page. Use the search bar to type in the brand of yarn you want to search colorways for.
2. Select the brand of yarn/base you are interested in. Then select the “Colorways” tab near the top of the page.
3. Search and select the colorway name you are looking for. Your result should give you the option to select “stashed” or “projects”. Stashed will show you pictures that Ravelry users have taken of skeins/left overs, and Projects will show you pictures of projects where people have used that specific yarn.
This is a great way to see how a specific colorway looks in different dye lots/projects to give you a better idea if the color will work for you.
AURORA CABIN SHAWL
Cast On
I cast on with my 37″ cable and 4″ US 4 interchangeable needles. I love my interchangeable set, but ever since I bought a separate pair of 5″ US 5 needles for a different shawl, the 4″ needles felt a little short. The 5″ needles feel a little bit more comfortable for me, especially when knitting something like a shawl, so I ordered a pair of 5″ US 4 needles.
The Chiaogoo interchangeable set is really great and I love how you can easily swap out needles or cables as you work a project. Plus, you don’t have to invest in a full set all at once — since all the needles and cables can be purchased individually, you can buy what you need and integrate them into the set if you decide to get it later.
The Aurora Cabin Shawl starts out with Color A with an I-cord tab cast on. I actually worked this cast on twice and watched the tutorial video linked in the pattern, but the cast on bump is still visible.
I tried picking up different stitches on the WS row to mask that bump, but it’s still pretty obvious to me. I used a darning needle to weave the tail through and pull that bump back to the WS which helped a lot. It’s still pretty obvious to me, but this was the best I could do to conceal the bump.
Color B is introduced and I loved how perfectly the slipped stitches grew and fanned out.
Multi-Color Traveling Slip Stitch
This traveling slip stitch pattern is the star of the show with this shawl. I love how all five of the colors are combined and seem to weave together.
The first time I knit this shawl, I struggled a bit with the cable row. I was using a cable needle, and because the cabling is over such few stitches, the cable needle would often slip out. It was a lot to manage for so many frequent, but small cables. Then I found a lot of videos popping up of other people knitting the row without a cable needle. This method is easy and infinitely faster than what I was doing before.
Here’s a good video to show the process I used this time:
I loved seeing all my colors together, but I started to wonder if I should have brought in a different color for more contrast or pop. I was still enjoying my shawl, but I think I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the purple.
Stripes
I was looking forward to taking a break from the traveling slip stitch and moving on to these stripes. This section uses Colors C and D which I thought gave a really nice contrast.
Before starting this shawl, I checked the pattern to see which colors would be combined before assigning my colors. I didn’t want to run out of yarn due to any last-minute color swaps like I did the last time.
Aurora Cabin Shawl Color Combinations:
Here’s a breakdown of the colors for each section in case you haven’t purchased the pattern yet and are trying to plan colors:
* Cast On + Columns: Colors A & B
* Multicolor: All Colors
* Garter Stripes: Colors C & D
* Multicolor: All Colors
* Slip Stitch: Colors E & A
* Multicolor: All Colors
* Chevron Border: Colors B & D
* I-cord: Color C
Multi-Color Traveling Slip Stitch Repeat
During the second traveling slip stitch section, I switched to a 50″ cable and my 5″ US 4 needles that I’d ordered. This was a lot more comfortable for me in maneuvering all the slip stitches. With longer needles, it’s easier to load up a bunch of stitches on the left needle so I can knit a little more before having to adjust stitches again. It feels faster and like I have more control.
I was really liking how the colors were coming together with both multi-color blocks framing the shawl at this point.
Carrying Yarn
Throughout the multi-color sections, I carried all five colors along the side with each RS row. Just like with my original Aurora Cabin, I wrapped the working yarn around the other colors on the third stitch. This kept all my yarns tidy through the entire section.
Slip Stitch Dotted Stripes
The Aurora Cabin multi-color traveling slip stitch motif is so easy to keep track of because of the pattern repeats. You would realize pretty quickly if your stitch count was off. So when the Slip Stitch Dotted Stripe section began with a large increase row, I tried to be really mindful of all my increases.
The Aurora Cabin shawl pattern is really well-written and includes stitch counts after the increase rows. To help me count through the hundreds of stitches, I placed in a stitch marker after every 50 stitches while I knit the next row. The stitch markers make it easier to count total stitches, and I like the little jewelry twinkle they bring to my WIP.
I was so happy with the dark grey in this section. It really grounded the shawl and balanced out all the purple.
Multi-Color Slip Stitch Repeat
I was excited for the final traveling slip stitch section. There was another increase row that I paid very close attention to. I love knitting shawls, but I usually have some small issue with stitch counts somewhere along the way. I just increase or decrease a stitch to correct my counts, but it’s a little sad when I have an issue.
But this time, my stitch counts were perfect the entire way through! I am super proud of myself. Like I said, the multi-color slip stitch pattern makes it really easy to identify if there is a stitch count issue, but I’m really happy that I didn’t make any errors in this shawl.
Chevrons + Icord Border
The chevron border rows were really long. Once the chevron pattern was established for a few rows, it was easy to read my knitting and continue the pattern. I was loving how the shawl was coming together. It was much less stressful to have the required yarn quantities this time.
Since it seemed that I would have enough yarn to complete the icord with no issues, I decided to swap to US5 needles. A little larger needle helps to keep the border from being too tight. I’ve knit a tight icord in the past on my Marled Magic Sweater, so I’ve been extra loose ever since.
I completed the shawl with 20 of color A, 22g of Color B, 6g of Color C, 10g of Color D, and 7g of Color E remaining.
BLOCKING + FINISHING
The slip stitches in the Aurora Cabin make the multi-color sections really dense. Blocking helps to open up the shawl and show all of the detail in the cable sections.
I soaked my shawl in cold water and a small amount of soap for ~5min just to get it wet. I suspected that such strong purples would have some color bleed. There was a strong pink color in the water, but luckily there was no color transfer. I gently squeezed out the water with my hands before rolling the shawl in a large towel.
I used both my blocking mat sets to lay out my Aurora Cabin Shawl. I used my multi-pronged rainbow pins to help create the straight edge on top of the shawl, and the t-pins to exaggerate the chevron points. Even with both blocking sets, some of the shawl was over the edge to dry. This shawl is large!
Once the shawl was dry, I trimmed the ends I had woven in while I knit, and used a darning needle on any ends I hadn’t.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I love my Cosmic Violet Aurora Cabin Shawl! This shawl was really fun to knit and the pattern is well-written. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about so much purple, but I think it looks really balanced and beautiful.
This shawl is definitely one of my favorites that I will continue to knit.
Check out my Ravelry to see more pictures of this Cosmic Violet Aurora Cabin Shawl or to take a look at the other projects I’m working on.
