All Shawls

 Hi there!  Hope you had a fab thanksgiving!  I'm back to chat about shawls I knit this year!

I used to be a knitter of great lace shawls, but recently I've been picking things with texture: brioche, cables, and mosaic details. There's nothing more cozy than a smooshy garter stitch based shawl, I tell you what.  And this shawl, the Spice Market Shawl, is one that is super fun because you can use any single skein of yarn with 6 colors contrasting yarn.  You can play with gradients, or put a pop of something in.

I also knit the Oracle half-pi shawl, which has a fun brioche detail inter-playing with lace.

Early on in lock down, I knit the Ishneich shawl, which has a really interesting cable set on a garter background.  The designer is known for reversible cable designs and some gorgeous celtic knot work.  I love cables that close in on themselves.

 

 

The last shawl I worked on this year is actually still a WIP.  The yarn is my own handspun, which was baby camel silk that I purchased for my birthday from Portfiber, up in Portland, Maine.  My friends and I took a field trip one cold and freezing rainy day in February, and I picked out the fiber and saved it.

 

I knew it wanted to be a two-ply lace, but I didn't know what I wanted to make with it.  I don't usually cast on with fresh handspun.  On the contrary, I have handspun still waiting on project ideas, and handspun that will likely never be knit.

But this one wanted to be a half-evenstar.  I 've knit the evenstar (which is a full-circle shawl) once as written, and once before as a half-pi.  But I still love it, and think the design is beautiful.

And, very unlike myself, I cast on the day the yarn was dry.

I'm currently halfway through the knit-on border.  It has some beautiful beads, which makes it slow-going, but no less fun.  I had to put it down so I could knit the kids some fresh socks for Christmas, do some spinning, and cross stitch and eh, it'll get done sometime.  Eventually.

 

Cheers!

Next time I'll talk about when knitting attacks!

 

Patterns:

On the Spice Market Shawl- Melanie Berg

Half-Moon Oracle Shawl- Kristin Lehrer 

Ishneich- Lucy Hague

Evenstar- Susan Pandorf