Blue & White Mohair Shawl - Design D198

A long time ago I bought a few skeins of Mohair yarn off Ebay.  Time to use them I think.  Due to the multi-coloured fluffiness of the yarn the design needs to be fairly simple so a nice little shawl with a few simple lines of eyelet lace would be ideal.

I found a sweet little design that can be used as a shawl or a scarf and is just right for the amount of yarn that I have.  This only took me a coupe of days to knit, finishing on 23rd May 2015, the yarn is 78% Mohair, 13% Wool and 9% Nylon.

Earthy coloured triangular shawl - Design A2

I decided to use up the leftover yarn from the last shawl to make a repeat of a shawl I made a couple of months ago.  Its the adjustable length Design A2 shawl that I previously made in bright blue mohair.  I cast on on 20th May and was finished the next day on 21st May 2015.

Once again I didn't take any work-in-progress photos at all and its such a simple knit that it doesn't need any explanation really other than that this one is slightly shorter than the blue version as the last section of eyelet lace has only 2 lines of lace as opposed to 8 in the blue one and this is because I had run out of yarn but that is the idea of this shawl, as long as you have enough yarn to make the main design the last bit is customizable depending on yarn left or how long you want it to be etc.

Earthy coloured scallop shawl - Design SB188

I got myself some more of the same yarn that I used for that huge blue-green pentagon shaped shawl that I made way back in 2010 only this time it was in a browny-peach colour combination.  Its a super bulky 100% Pima Cotton yarn.  The shawl I have chosen to make is very simplistic but works with this yarn perfectly.  I began crocheting it on 14th May and was finished by 15th May 2015.  I didn't take any work-in-progress photos so I don't have a lot to show you.

Anemone Merino Shawl - Design W187

Still staying with my own hand-spun yarn I enjoyed making the leaf edged shawl so much that I decided to make it again but this time with 100% Merino Wool that I hand-spun in 2012.  This time I adjusted the pattern slightly to use up all of this yarn so its slightly different in size to the Peacock one and I used 69 Size 6 Toho seed beads in shade 21 Silver lined crystal.  I started work on this on 11th May and finished it on 13th May 2015.

The beads don't show up all that much but do add a little something.  It was difficult deciding on what colour beads to use and I did consider getting some in a blackcurrant purple kind of colour but then figured that these wouldn't necessarily show up, given the amount of different shades of pinks and purples in the yarn.

Want to know how I made the yarn for this shawl?  Just click Anemone Merino

Hillcrescent Farm Jacob Fleece No.2, Part I

I am nearly there, only a couple more fleece to work through from Hillcrescent Farm.

Sheared on 26th May 2013, this is a big one weighed 1.6kg after I skirted it.  I think this comes from the sheep furthest to the right, the darkest one with the white patch just above its tail.

After it was washed and dried I was left with 800g of black fleece and 215g of the mixed colours.  It wasn't worth trying to get white from this mostly coloured fleece.

The mixed colours

I decided to dye this fleece this using Colour Craft All In One dye using two colours, 10g of Jade mixed with 10g of Turquoise.  I dyed this in March and finished making the yarn in May.

Combing made the colours combine, like when you add a blob of black paint into a blob of brightly coloured paint and mix it all together.  I got 91g of combed top from the original 215g.

The finished yarn is sport weight and is 90g/326m.  I've name this Celtic Green.

Just the black to do and that will be another fleece done.

Peacock Merino Shawl - Design W187

Keen to knit with more of my own hand-spun yarn again I couldn't resist the soft squishiness of some Peacock coloured Merino Silk wool that I spun up in May 2013.  Keeping to a simple pattern with a beaded lace edge was perfect for this yarn, which is a worsted weight yarn and is 80% Merino Wool and 20% Silk.   The beads are Size 6 Toho round seed beads in shade 507 Higher Metallic Iris Green.

I cast on for this shawl on 27th April and the shawl is knit sideways, starting with a few stitches, increasing for the back and then decreasing again at the other end.  The beads were added one at a time over the individual stitches and I used 75 beads in total.  The shawl is adjustable in size by increasing or decreasing the number of pattern repeats in the middle section and I used up as much yarn as I could from the skein that I had spun as I hate having lots of left-overs that can't be used in their entirety to make something else.

It was a little crumpled when it came off the needles on 30th April 2015 but I always soak and block my shawls anyway and this made a huge difference.

Very happy with the bead colour choice.  Not too obvious but adds just enough to make the pattern pop and just look at that leaf definition now.  Wonderful!

Want to know how I made the yarn for this shawl?  Just click Peacock Merino Silk

Scottish Bird of Paradise Shawl

I was looking for patterns to use up some multi-coloured Wensleydale Wool that I had in my stash.  I have 2 skeins, both the same colourway but they look completely different to each other so I really need to use each skein in a different project.  I didn't find anything suitable or that I liked that required just one skein so I looked at the possibility of using a second yarn with it and what I had in my yarn stash that would work well with the multitude of colours and was the same thickness.  I found a stunning pattern, not lace, but never mind I will make it anyway.

The yarns are some Shetland Wool by J C Rennie in bottle green and Wensleydale Wool by Elvincraft in shade Rose Garden.  I cast on on 11th March and was excited to get started on such a stunning design.

It is made using garter stitch throughout, except for the line that defines the centre of each feather, short row knitting and a gradual shift along by casting off stitches at the neck edge whilst adding them on at the feather edge.  Its quite a tiring, boring knit as you have to constantly count how many stitches you knit on every row.  I often felt myself drifting off to sleep as I knit.

I finally finished making this on 24th April 2015 and was so glad to cast off.  I know it is a visually stunning design but I really really could not face making one of these again.  Fellow craftsmen and craftswomen will understand what its like to make something when you are not enjoying making it.  Blocking the shawl made a big difference to how the shape of the shawl and it does kind of hook around the neck and stay in place.