wool – Page 7 – New England's Narrow Road

I have knit one shawl in my life and I finished it just about a week ago. Shawls are for old ladies, right? I never considered knitting one, until I saw how beautiful shawl patterns are. Just do a search for hand-knit shawls and you will see what I mean! They are colorful and fun and perfect for women (and men!) of any age.

Now all I regret is that I don’t live in a climate where shawls could be worn. Still, it will not stop me from mastering shawl-knitting.

My First Shawl Project

My one and only shawl project was the No Fuss Shade-loving Shawl which can be downloaded at Ravelry and is offered for free by Susan Ashcroft. Her directions were easy to follow and there was no weird garter tab cast on – which I have yet to figure out how to do. See my finished shawl below.
I had some trouble choosing a yarn, and ended up trying 3 different ones! It came out a little small also. I should have continued for a few more rows. But okay for a first try!

The Spindrift Shawl is Free and Comes With Encouragement

When I saw the lovely Spindrift Shawl offered for free on Ravelry, I thought I was too late to get in on the action. Then I went to Curious Handmade site and there it was.. the offer to get this free pattern … on the right sidebar. Go to either link to find the free pattern. You will have to sign up to receive e-mails, but this designer has a beautiful selection of patterns and I won’t mind getting mail from her.

Helen, who runs the site, will send me the downloadable pattern and a welcome video.

As she says in her video, when she began shawl knitting she wished she’d had this type of help. It’s perfect timing for me, and I am grateful for the help even if Helen is a stranger who lives in England! Thank you Helen.

knitting a shawl — Beginning the Spindrift Shawl

What a nice idea. Also, Helen has tons of gorgeous shawl patterns (and more) to purchase. I can’t wait for the time when I feel confident enough to buy a shawl pattern and create something intricate and beautiful myself.

Baby steps. For now I will try my hand at the Spindrift Shawl. I have downloaded the pattern. And I received the second e-mail, which was about choosing the yarn.

Here are the particulars:

Yarn: Need 437 yards of fingering or sock yarn.

The crescent shaped shawl begins on a size 5 circular needle and switches to a size 6 and is worked from the top down.

The cast on is done using the backward loop method…and I chose a yarn I had purchased from Miss Babs. It’s a “Wild Iris” which means “one of a kind” color. I love the lavender, off-white and brown accents.

As you can see in my photo, I have begun knitting the shawl.

Once we want to take up the knitting craft, there are basics to know about buying yarn by fiber type. It matters because if you want to knit a warm hat or pair of mittens, you will want to use a soft, yet cosy, yarn for the project. Also fibers have varying thickness, or weights.

Worsted wool is great for knitting hats, scarves and mittens. Worsted wool is what I began knitting with. Wool is of course good for keeping warm, but often it is scratchy. Merino wool is very popular, and so is alpaca. Or choose combinations of wool with other fibers like cashmere or silk for extra softness.

Most of the really nice wool is hand-wash only. But there is washable wool also, like Mrs. Crosby’s Steamer Trunk washable wool yarn, and the Hat Box yarn line (shown below) which is “machine wash cold”. Delicate knits should be washed carefully, even if the yarn says machine wash. Hand washing is my preference, but keep this in mind when knitting for someone who may not like that idea! Baby items should be easy to care for.

Mrs. Crosby hat box African gray yarn — Mrs. Crosby’s Hat Box yarn in color “African Grey” is part wool, silk and cashmere

There are too many yarn types to really mention, but basically there is synthetic (man-made) cheap types that can be purchased at Walmart, and the real deal which came from an animal. This is called natural fiber yarn and includes alpaca, sheep, cashmere (goats) and rabbits (angora yarn). There are also blended yarns which combine various types together. See this page at Knitting 101 for a more inclusive list of yarn fibers and their pros and cons. Also, where you can, read reviews left by knitters who have worked with the yarn. The Webs yarn site often has reviews listed at the bottom of the page.

Beginners may want to buy cheap synthetics to start with, but honestly I would use something better like cotton. Some great beginner projects are facecloths and dishcloths. They are small and will accommodate mistakes well. They are also perfect for trying out various stitches. My dishcloths don’t follow any pattern. They are made up of whatever stitches I feel like trying. Buy washable yarn such as Purl Soho’s Cotton Pure, which will provide enough yarn for a few projects, or Lily’s Sugar and Cream which is available in many colors, and can be purchased at Amazon.

knit dishcloths — Practice new stitches and patterns on little dishcloths

In closing, I would like to say that in my knitting experience I have found that if I plan to put a lot of work (and time) into a special project, I want to use a nice, natural fiber, hand-dyed yarn. I like to think I am supporting a farm somewhere in the process.