Friday, March 28, 2008

That Design Project I Needed to Finish Up: Coffee Morning Shawl

A month or two ago, Lorena at the Sheep told me about a very interesting new yarn she's carrying... Rosario's Sole Latte. It's made of milk fibre. (Seems to be entirely lactose free, for those that worry about that sort of thing... ;-))

I played with it for a while, swatched, blocked, tried it on different size needles, worked a few different stitch patterns, and I was very pleasantly surprised with the results.

It holds a block very well, and the variegation is enough to add visual interest to a lace pattern without overwhelming it.

The idea for the Coffee Morning Shawl was born. I chose a stitch pattern that reminded me of a coffee bean....


And I knew I wanted something not too overwhelming in size, something that wouldn't dangle in my coffee cup. I decided to think differently about the shape. I've remarked on this before, but I'm not very tall. I do like a good triangle shawl, but they're often big and unwieldy on me.

I noodled on a semi-circular concept, but then ended up with a square. An open square.


It wears like a "proper" triangle shawl at the back, coming to a nice point


but not so long that it overwhelms me.

And then because of the shape, you get good drape around the shoulders and the front, but it's not too long.


And it wraps nicely, too.

Pattern available on Patternfish and Ravelry.

1 comment:

northernknitter said...

I love the shawl pattern and stitch! I can imagine wearing it for morning coffee while getting in a few rows of knitting before starting the day. Hope the pattern will be available soon -