2015 - The Year of the Shawl

I finished my final shawl for the year about a week ago. I was so incredibly happy for it to be done since I had started it in August and interrupted it numerous times with other projects. I was determined I would get it finished and posted to the appropriate Ravelry thread before year’s end. This was my friend Joanna’s Oroya shawl from her Yarn Crush August box. I wrote about her subscription service sometime ago, putting in a plug for her beautiful presentations, materials, patterns and value. That first box contained a pattern for a shawl designed by Joanna, plus the yarn and beads needed to make it, and a few other goodies. I decided against using the beads supplied as I felt they didn’t contrast enough with the yarn and opted for some that my daughter had hanging around.

The yarn was Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Lace, an absolutely delightful blend of half-and-half in a slightly tonal variegation. There were three possible colourways I could have gotten, and it was the Berry Tart which ended up in my hands. This is interesting, because I have a couple of skeins of Sweet Georgia’s Tough Love sock yarn in the same colourway in my stash! Here is my finished shawl:

Here’s a closeup of the beads:

It has a lovely drape and the ladies at my knitting group all oohed and ahhed over it, as they should.

That, however, is my most recent shawl. In October, just before going to Rhinebeck, I bound off a test knit at my daughter’s place. It’s another of Heather Anderson’s turtle-inspired garments, which she calls Turtle Beach. The suggested yarn was DK; I ended up using a worsted and it came out very nice. I love the turtle. Seriously, could anything be so cute?

At Rhinebeck, I was working away on yet another test knit, this one for Mary-Anne Mace. She had designed a free shawl that would bring attention to the plight of the world’s oceans. She calls it Biophilia, and is meant to represent seaweed and water and I think she succeeded quite well. I made it in Punta 100% merino lace.

Immediately following this one, I embarked on another Mary-Anne Mace creation, Southern Blue. I used KnitPicks Diadem and threw in some beads, which weren’t called for in the original pattern. It came out incredibly soft and cuddly and beautiful and I promptly gave it to a friend who is undergoing treatments for cancer. I felt she needed it more than I.

But no, we weren’t yet done with Mary-Anne. As soon as I’d finished her Southern Blue, I cast on yet another test knit, this time for a commercial pattern called High Country Crescent, representing the braided rivers and vegetation of her beautiful New Zealand. Again I went with Punta lace, different colour, and added beads, even though they weren’t called for. They were my interpretation of starlight twinkling on those braided rivers at night.

See why I love her designs?

And that brings us to the end of the shawls for this year. There were 15 in total, which is hardly anything when I see the output of some of my Ravelry colleagues. But it’s still a lot, and I still need to find homes for some of them. My friend in England wept when she unwrapped the Mûrier Noir Shawl I sent her. If I can bring some joy to people through my knitting, then I have done my part to make the world a better place.

Wishing all my readers a merry solstice season and a happy new year. May your needles be busy and your stash overflowing.