Shawl-ottesville

posted by Diana

It's only natural that I'd become a shawl knitter.

After all, most shawl patterns only require one or two skeins of lightweight yarn, which makes impulse purchases dangerously easy. I can just pick out pretty colors and find the right pattern for the yarn later, no prior planning necessary.

Plus, they're pretty much tiny blankets you can wear. And you already know about my love affair with blankets. Swathing myself in lacy, drapey fabric sounds just dreamy. I'm obviously a grandma at heart. Look out world!

I took this picture gloveless because I'm daring and stupid.

This week I've got a couple of blanket-like shawls to show you. They're helping me stay warm in this winter that just won't quit.

Caron Simply Soft

For this wrap, I used the Clapotis pattern by Kate Gilbert. It seems like almost everyone who knits has made this drop-stitch scarf. Ravelry alone has over 21,000 documented. That's probably because it's an easy knit and not too technically difficult. The lacy bits are created with drop stitches, meaning you keep knitting and knitting until the pattern tells you to let a stitch fall off your needle. It's entirely satisfying to drop them down... normally a dropped stitch would be a pain to fix. To drop stitches on purpose? Feels like an act of rebellion.

I finished knitting my Clapotis a long time ago (2008!)... but only started wearing it consistently fairly recently. So far the cheap acrylic is holding up nicely, but I'd like to remake this in a higher quality, lighter weight yarn to use in place of cardigans this summer. 

Columbia Minerva Mohair Blend (discontinued)

Speaking of warmer weather, I knit up this mohair shawl while I was hoping and dreaming for a spring that feels like it'll never show up. 

Queen Mary lookin' fly

Embarrassingly, I was inspired by the CW's Reign to create this piece. The costumes on the show are awesome and not at all historically accurate... just like the story line! Even so, I can't stop watching. What a guilty pleasure... but, hey! Just check out Queen Mary's style on the left... even blurry, she looks good. Right?

I wanted my shawl to have the same wispy, ethereal quality as my inspiration piece. Luckily, I had four skeins of vintage mohair that had been knocking around my stash for years. Using mohair gave my shawl the look I wanted, but also means I can't wear it with dark colors. This white mohair sheds like crazy!

For my own version of Mary's shawl, I used Hanne Katajamäki's pattern, Tadaa! Most of her blog is in Finnish, but she has provided an English translation for this particular pattern. Just scroll to the bottom of the post if you're interested!


The pattern I followed suggests adding buttons, but I'm still debating. I do like its modular nature, but I'm afraid my mohair will snag or pull and get all wonky. Instead of buttons, I've been thinking about getting a shawl pin... basically an accessory for my accessory. Here are some from Etsy I've been drooling over.

from NovaSteel

from GypsyMoonArt

from ArtJewerly

What do you think? Is all of this shawl talk too "little-old-lady" for your tastes? Or did I manage to convince you otherwise?

Happy making!