I want to knit ALL the shawls

I never thought I'd be a shawl person.
Then I knit a Hitchhiker and was hooked.
Shawls are a great way to showcase those beautiful hand dyed skeins that accidentally fall into your basket everytime you spend more than a few minutes browsing Etsy. Or is that just me?
Anyhow as I can rarely afford to buy sweater quantities of these yarns my single skeins stash is ever growing and, as I promised myself earlier this year that I would not buy any more random skeins until I'd used what I had, I have been drawn more and more to shawl patterns.

Last month I finally found a pattern worthy of my two special skeins of Blacker Yarns' Cornish Tin.

Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade released a lovely shawl pattern named after the Lake District home of Beatrix Potter -  the Hill Top Shawl is a cosy large crescent featuring wide bands of garter stitch alternating with bands of simple lace.  Helen's shawl was knitted in one colour but I knew there wouldn't be enough yarn in one skein so I decided to knit the garter in the Levant Grey and the lace panels in Dolceath Turquoise. If you want to knit a two colour one like mine i have listed exact quantities in my Ravelry project notes. The shawl knit up really quickly and with Helen's unique percentage method of pattern writing keeping track of progress, and yarn requirements, super easy.

wearing my Hill Top Shawl at Hill Top!

I love it so much and when Helen announced her new project I couldn't wait to jump in!
The Shawl Society is a series of six brand new shawl patterns released over six months. There are no previews - each pattern is a surprise - but a quick look through her back catalogue of patterns has convinced me that these will all be shawls I want to knit (her Pebble Beach has been in my Ravelry queue forever!) and I signed up there and then.  A Ravelry chat thread has been set up in the Curious Handmade group and there is a real buzz of excitement around the Shawl Society already with lots of speculation about pattern possiblities and yarn choices. I for one can't wait till the first pattern release and I am working hard to finish what I have on my needles so I can cast on straight away.

So maybe this year I will get to work through my single skein stash. Which means I don't need to feel too bad when another gorgeous hand dyed skein accidentally drops into my Etsy cart...

If you want to join the Curious Handmade Shawl Society there's a special earlybird price of £9.95 (+VAT) for all six patterns if you sign up before the first pattern release on 9th June 2016. You'll receive a few emails from Helen with hints about yarn choices and quantities but each pattern is top secret until it's release date.


I'd love it if you could join me in The Shawl Society. Do let me know if you decide to sign up and we can knit all the shawls together!