Raindrop Shawlette
- nataliapleshko
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
Malabrigo Quickies May 2026 pattern
The Raindrop Shawlette is designed to use one full 100 gram skein of gorgeous hand dyed yarn in DK/sport weight (like Malabrigo Arroyo) for the body, plus a little bit of fluffy lace mohair (like Malabrigo Mohair) or a mini skein of sock yarn (like Malabrigo Ultimate Sock Mini) as an accent border color.
The open stitch pattern creates a delicate, lacy texture. This gives the fabric a breathable, slightly drapey quality. As a result, it gives you a refined yet cozy accessory that feels light on the skin but still provides warmth, ideal for transitional seasons or cool evenings.
Inspiration
Last year, the Malabrigo yarn company opened a submission call for this year's Malabrigo Quickies program with 3 different themes: Lace Lovers, Color Crush, and Maxi Mood. I love their yarn, and already have a few designs with Malabrigo, so I jumped on this submission call and presented a few ideas. To my surprise, two of them were accepted.
For the Lace Lovers theme, I have a Raindrop Shawlette idea.
Per Malabrigo's description, "Quickies" program is all about celebrating small, fun, and impactful projects. A "small" project isn't just about being fast and easy — it can also be a challenging or intricate design that utilizes a small amount of yarn.
In the spirit of this program, I wanted to create a design using one skein of Malabrigo Arroyo. After checking a few crochet lace stitch patterns, I found one that is lacy enough and is also great for incorporating increases or decreases. At this point, I decided to make a triangular shawlette with it.
To make this project more fun and to give some extra texture to the fabric, the idea of adding a mohair border was born. But I know that not everyone likes mohair, so I also give in the pattern an option to substitute it with other yarn.
Yarn
Let's talk about yarn! Huge thanks to Malabrigo for the yarn support. It's always a pleasure to open Malabrigo packages.
What we have here (yarn pictured above is for two samples):
- main color: Malabrigo Arroyo is DK/sport weight yarn with 335 yds (306 m)/3.5 oz (100 g), 100% Superwash Merino Wool.
The yarn is very soft and squishy, and the colors are gorgeous! Absolutely love to work with, slides on the hook like butter.
For sample 1, I used a variegated color 230 Sea Horse, and for sample 2, a more tonal colorway 150 Azul Profundo.
- contrast color: Malabrigo Mohair is a lace weight yarn with 229 yds (210 m)/0.88 oz (25 g), 72% Mohair, 28% Silk.
This is a very delicate, silky soft yarn. I worked with this mohair for the first time and enjoyed it.
For sample 1, I used a color 363 Pascal, and for sample 2, color 362 Under the Sea.
Here is the yarn for each of the samples:
Sample 1 - 230 Sea Horse + 363 Pascal
Sample 2 - 150 Azul Profundo + 362 Under the Sea
Yarn usage and border options
The Raindrop Shawlette is designed to use 1 skein of yarn for the body, which was the idea for Malabrigo Quickies. But the body of the shawl works in such a way that you can make the shawl in any size, depending on how much yarn you have.
Do you need a bigger shawl? Grab 2 or 3 skeins, and continue the stitch pattern repeats as the pattern describes. Maybe you have 1.25 skeins and would like to use them completely, who needs 0.25 skein in the stash, right? Use it all, until you almost run out of yarn before the last row. Make your unique project with as much yarn as you would like.
For the border, the idea was to add something different, not only in color but in texture too, which is why I'm using mohair for this design. Malabrigo Mohair is absolutely soft, and you won't regret it if you try it, but if mohair isn't an option for you, you can substitute it with fingering weight yarn like Malabrigo Sock or Malabrigo Ultimate Sock Minis. Mini skein is a great option here; you don't need much of a contrast color.
Color and yarn combinations
As I was preparing to run the test for this design, I decided to add some combinations for the yarn and color options for my testers. It was a secret test, and people didn't see pictures of the design up front to decide on how to choose yarn. It was a great help for testers, so I decided to add this to this blog post. Here are my ideas on how you can combine yarn and colors for your project.
The body works in a main color (MC), and it can be variegated (but avoid self-striping yarn), tonal, or solid color.
The border is in 2nd color (CC), which can be contrasting or similar in tone to the main color.
Option 1 - MC: variegated merino + CC: solid/tonal mohair, one of the tones from variegated. I used this combo for sample 1.
Option 2 - MC: solid/tonal merino + CC: mohair in solid/tonal similar to MC. I used this combo for sample 2.
Option 3 - MC: solid/tonal merino + CC: fingering or sport weight merino in contrasting color. I made sample 3 with this color combo, but it is in a different yarn, not merino, it's a cotton/rayon blend.
Option 4 - You can ignore CC and make everything in MC. Here, you need more than 1 skein of MC.
Can you think of another option? Let me know in the comments what you would choose.
Construction
The shawlette works from the bottom tip and gradually expands toward the neck edge. The border is made after the body is finished; it works on two diagonal sides of the body. The arrows on the schematic show the direction of work.
Stitch patterns
Two stitch patterns are involved in this design; both stitch patterns have written instructions and charts in the pattern:
Open Arches stitch pattern for the body. Here you'll be making shell-like stitches, some chain-3-arches, plus spike stitch. The pattern includes a video tutorial for slightly unusual stitches.
The border stitch has some modified shell stitches and plenty of chain-5-arches. I highly recommend blocking your finished project, so you can see the full glory of this lacy border.
Needed skills to make the shawl
You need to know basic crochet stitches (ch, sc, dc, tr), how to make a few stitches in the same space, like Shell stitch. The pattern also has a special Spike stitch, which works like sc but in a different spot from usual sc.
Instead of traditional turning ch 3 in rows with dc, the pattern uses alternative double crochet (alt dc), the video tutorial included, and is available on my YouTube Channel here.
Size: one size, but customizable
Finished measurements: Wing span 52” (130 cm), spine length 22” (55 cm).
What do you need to make the shawl
Yarn: MC: 330 yds (300 m) of sport or DK weight merino yarn
CC: 100 yds (90 m) of lace mohair (used double stranded) or 50 yds (45 m) of fingering weight merino yarn.
Hook: US H (5 mm)
Notions: tapestry needle, scissors, blocking mat & pins (or combs)
Where to find the pattern Raindrop Shawlette
The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and Payhip.
I hope you can enjoy making the shawlette using this pattern as much as I enjoyed designing it.
Happy crocheting!
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