A Shropshire shawl

After last week's Glengyle view, here's Shropshire

I'm about three-quarters of the way through my current Close to You shawl, and hope to have a fair bit of knitting time over the next couple of weeks. So I'm already thinking about my next project.

Actually, I already have the yarn and pattern for it. Last winter I decided that I really wanted a large triangular shawl. My original plan was to use the Dandelion Air pattern, making it bigger and in thicker yarn. I bought two balls (1,000m) of Sirdar Jewelspun Aran in a sale at my local yarn shop, and cast on. I loved the colours (Northern Lights), but soon realised just what an undertaking knitting up this many metres was going to be. Then I decided that if I was going to expend that much time on a project, I wanted it to be something special. So I frogged what little I had done, wound the yarn back into the ball, and ultimately gave both balls away in a big stash clear-out I had over the summer.

(At this point I should add that this is on no way a criticism of the yarn, or people who choose to knit with it. Every knitter has their own reasons for making their choices, and all of them are equally valid. As I've become more confident in my knitting abilities the type of wool I want to use has changed, but that's my preference alone.) 

The shawl plan was shelved, mainly because life became more attuned to small, portable projects. Also I realised, even after the clear-out, just how many projects I have planned. But then 3 weeks ago, I went to Ewe and Ply's yarniversary celebrations.

Yes, I bought a goody bag

It contained lovely things, including this specially dyed wool

I'm very lucky to have such a brilliant yarn shop just an easy train journey away, in a town where I'm always happy to have a day out. In the last year of her life, Mum had several stays in Shrewsbury hospital, so for weeks at a time I was over there almost daily. Popping in for a chat with the lovely ladies in Ewe and Ply and Maggie Mae's Vintage (both in the Parade Shops) made a tough time easier.

Inside the shop

It's 10 years since Terri and Becca opened their unit in the market hall, and since then they've moved to larger premises twice, and also opened a shop in Oswestry. They sell a wide range of natural and ethically sourced wools, including their own - my Dandelion Air and second Close to You shawls are both made from their Corrie-Mo yarn. But this time my eye was drawn to the delicious colours of their Shropshire Ply 2020 4 ply - spun from the fleeces of their own flock and other local sheep and then dyed by them. I bought 4 skeins with no idea what to make with it.

So much for stash reduction

Browsing through my shawl and wrap favourites on Ravelry I came across Agnes by Kath Andrews, and realised that the pattern and this yarn would be perfect for resurrecting my Big Shawl idea. 200g wasn't enough for the larger version, so ordered some smaller skeins in the same and one extra colour. Rather than the contrast band at the outer edge, I'm going for an ombre effect through the colours. I recently came across the trick of de-saturating an image to identify colour contrasts, and discovered that there is almost none in the shades I've chosen, but I'm happy with that.

The full set of colours

The yarn is spun from fleeces of Shropshire, Dutch Spotted, Llanwenog, Lleyn, and Castlemilk Moorit sheep, along with coloured alpaca. Most of these I had never even heard of, let alone knitted with. The wool feels unlike anything I've used so far, and it will be interesting to see how it knits up. It's a new stage in my knitting adventure, and I'm excited to start. Once I've finished my current project, of course!