Of Words and Wool: A Baker’s Dozen

I finished 13 shawls last year—not quite the 15 of the year before, but enough that I’ve decided this has to stop, or at least slow down. I have so many, I don’t know what to do with them. My friends suggest I should sell them, but that just seems so mercenary to me. Yet, that is something I might do.

Anyway, after my last post, which was so very long ago I am terribly ashamed, I test knit another beautiful shawl for Mary-Anne Mace, Spring Creek. I used yarn I had bought at Rhinebeck which was originally earmarked for another project, two skeins of Hero by Bittersweet Woolery in similar colourways: Midnight Heather and Sugared Lilacs, and sparkly silver-lined, transparent beads. The finished shawl was absolutely lovely and I named it Libellule for the dragonfly motifs around the edge. My only issue with it was that it itched when I put it over my bare shoulders. So I knew I would never wear this confection.

I started singing in a local United Church choir in the fall and decided to donate it to the Christmas bazaar silent auction table in the hopes that it would help raise some money. I shouldn’t have bothered. It ended up selling for $21 Canadian, about half what the yarn cost. I won’t be doing that again. Someone has a beautiful hand-made, designer lace shawl and has no idea what its value is.

My next FO, still on the purple theme, was Summer Sun Shawl by Heather Anderson from her Early in the Seasons eBook. I used Drops Brushed Alpaca Silk for it and beaded the slipped stitches that made up the “ribs”. While it came out looking very nice, I had forgotten that alpaca does not warm me the way wool does. It feels cool next to my skin, and it occurred to me that this shawl would not be something I would wear come winter. So I gave it to a friend who dropped by one afternoon, and she loves it.

Still sticking to purples, I test knit an asymmetrical shawl for Mary-Anne Mace, Half Empty, Half Full. I chose to use up some KnitPicks Diadem for the half-linen stitch section, and Madelintosh Tosh Merino Light for the lace. I am completely enchanted by the way it turned out, and called my version Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I even have enough of both yarns leftover to devise some sort of matching fingerless mitts. That’s for another project.

We still have two more shawls to go for 2016. The penultimate one was a test knit for Heather Anderson for The Friendly Giant Shawl from her new eBook, For the Love of Stories. It’s an interesting pattern that mimics the bubbles in BFG’s effervescent drink from the recent movie of that name. I made mine from Patons Classic as I wanted something warm for the winter. (That had been my intention with the other Anderson shawl I’d made, but you already know that story.) I made the smaller version, which contains one less repeat of the bubbles pattern. I don’t know where I went wrong, but I have one fewer cable patterns around the edge than the pattern called for. None of the other testers had this issue, so I must have missed something somewhere even though I counted and recounted and couldn’t find my error. Oh well. It’s still nice.

Finally, a last shawl for 2016, another test knit for Mary-Anne Mace, Tidal Zone, the name suggested by my description of a smooth beach leading to water-rippled sand. I didn’t call mine that, since I was inspired by the yarn I’d used to rename it Diamonds and Rust. My choices were Yummy Yarn Studio’s Merino/Nylon Superwash Sock 80/20 and some leftover KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer. They don’t show up well in the photo, but each picot on the edge has a red bead. I’m very pleased with the end result.

That was it for shawls. I did manage a few smaller projects, including a pair of fingerless mitts redesigned from lace cuffs in the Downton Abbey Unofficial Knits magazine. I had to figure out how to make a thumb opening and gusset from the top down, which was a challenge. I used the leftover Zed Luxe Sock by Yarn Indulgences from my Hellebore Clutch.