KAL | Sewchet

When Claire from Mollie & Claire asked if anyone fancied doing a shawl KAL back in March, I jumped at the chance.

I had long admired each one of her ten versions of the Lace Leaf shawl pattern by Mary Henderson (£3-00 on Ravelry), so this was a great chance to bite the bullet and crack on with it. Does anyone else find that working this way helps you to get focused?

A group was set up on Ravelry so if you want to look at everyone’s progress so far, hop over here and be nosy!

I chose a luxury yarn of 70% mohair/30% silk (just because I could!) which, whilst expensive at around £18-00 per 50g, was affordable because it only needed a single skein to complete the entire shawl on 4.5mm circular needles.

Designed by the legendary Kaffe Fassett, Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe in the ‘Circus’ colourway promised to knit up like this on the website….

….but after I was some way in actually looked like this!

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement but, as progress continued, the glorious pink which lured me in the beginning began to creep in.

I frogged it back to the beginning twice before mastering the pattern – not an easy task with mohair as it welds itself strand to strand immediately.

The pattern is an eight row repeating one and I found it a real pleasure to knit, always impatient to see the next band of colour emerge.

I suppose I knitted for a couple of hours most nights over the course of two weeks, then I wove the ends in and blocked it, leaving it for twenty-four hours before it was bone dry and ready to wear.

And finally – TADAH!

I used a matching shade in plain pink for the scalloped border as I wanted pink to be the main colour.

You get more of a sense of the stripes in this photo of the shawl laid over the back of a sofa.

The stitch pattern is so pretty that I might make another one in a plain colour to show it off more.

Look how sheer and lacy it is – you can see right through it when held up against a window!

Although it is warm and cosy around the neck, it is the lightest thing I have ever worn and weighs in at a mere 50g!

It’s going to be perfect to throw around my shoulders on those balmy Summer evenings when we stay outside until after the sun goes down.

The colours remind me of rhubarb and custard….

Yep – it’s gonna be a favourite, that’s for sure!

It’s back to the needles of the non-machine kind for this post!

Claire of Mollie and Claire started a KAL yesterday and, as I’ve long admired her beautiful shawls, I signed up for this one immediately. It’s funny how it takes something like a KAL to spur you into action sometimes, isn’t it?

It also made me use Ravelry properly for the first time, by which I mean interact and upload photos of WIPs etc.rather than just browse and download patterns. Quite the revelation, so thanks Claire!

I chose an utterly divine yarn by Rowan – Kidsilk Haze Stripe (70% Super Kid Silk Mohair, 30% Silk) in a colourway entitled ‘Circus’, pictured thus on the website: –

However, it looks like this knitted up so far……!

I’m hoping the pink will come out soon as I hadn’t intended to make a yellow and green shawl!

I have to admit that I’m a bit disappointed at the moment at the colours, although the yarn itself is stunning – so soft and extremely light that I just know it’s going to be a delight to wear.

I’m knitting on 4.5mm circular needles to give an open, lacy texture.

I also have a wrap on the go at the moment, crocheted though, not knitted this time.

I’m using Katia Jaipur 100% Cotton (shade 213) which is another self striping laceweight yarn.

Having bought the yarn from Deramores, I was browsing their blog when I spotted a competition that they were running here.

I had already decided to make a rainbow coloured wrap and the self striping nature of the yarn would be perfect for one of the competition themes, so I may enter it for a bit of fun:)

This is progress so far: –

The design is called Alpine Frost by Amy O’Neill Houck and can be found on Ravelry.

It’s a very simple repeated shell stitch which is rather easier to do on auto-pilot than the lace leaf shawl above!

As I mentioned, we are due to become first time Grandparents in September, so I made a third laceweight shawl!

This one is Malabrigo 100% Baby Merino Wool (not Alpaca, as I initially thought) and is super soft in cream – perfect for a baby of either sex.

It was crocheted on a 3.75mm hook, the design being a giant granny square bordered with two rows of scallop pattern – simple, but effective with such fine yarn.

It would make a nice Christening shawl as well I think.