…to find a new project to start! I had been thinking about making a shawl, and seeing some on the knitting blogs only helped that desire along. I made a simple shawl a few years ago, and sold it at a craft fair, so it is one piece of knitting that I don’t have for myself.
I’m not sure I’m the shawl type, but I guess if I had the right one, I could be. So I looked through my pattern books, and decided to make the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Cheryl Oberle’s “Folk Shawls”. The yarn I chose from the stash is a beautiful medium denim blue color of Kimmet Croft Softee, which is a blend of 80% Rambouillet wool and 20% angora. This yarn is lovely and supersoft, and I forgot how much I adore it. I bought it directly from Jan Kimmet during one of Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camps, so it’s been hanging around for at least ten years.
I was trying to remember if I’d purchased it with any particular garment in mind, and I think it must have been for a shawl, even way back then. Knitting Camp was a wonderful experience, and I attending during the years when Marilyn Van Keppel was working on translating the patterns from the Faroese Shawl book into English. I think she wore a different shawl every day, and during her portion of “show and tell” they came out one after another, each one more spectacular than its predecessor. It’s a wonder I didn’t start one right then and there!
I wound the first hank into a ball on Sunday, and that could have gone better. I put the hank on the swift, and clipped the threads that tied it together, but I guess I didn’t pick the right loose end to start winding with. Sometimes it’s easy to figure out which one to start with, sometimes it’s deceptive. Well, the strand I picked was caught around some other strands part way around the hank, so I couldn’t use the ball winder. I had to wind the ball by hand, and every time I got to the twisted section, feed the ball through and untangle it. It took a little longer this way, but the yarn is a joy to handle, so that made up for it. I got started with the knitting, and have a nice little triangle made already.
I added a stitch to each edge so I could make a slip-stitch selvedge. I plan on working a single crochet or perhaps an I-cord border across this edge when the shawl is done. Since it is the upper edge of the shawl and will probably get the most stress, I want to be sure it’s sturdy. Pictures by the weekend, I hope!
I worked on a rotation of six projects on Sunday evening, doing a few rows on each in turn. As I said, I really like everything I’m working on right now, so it was a pleasant evening. My next goal though, since I finished some booties last night, is to pull an older project into the rotation. I can’t keep working on new stuff all the time!
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