Autumn Woods Shawl

I'm so pleased to finally show you my Autumn Woods Shawl.  It was actually finished in May but with so much going on I just haven't found the right time to remember to photograph it.  I really wanted to do it justice and a woodland walk last week was the perfect opportunity.  The bracken has turned to it's beautiful autumn-winter russet colour, the lichen was a soft green, the shadows on the larch bark were deep grey and the skies were blue.  It was entirely down to luck that the colours worked so well but I was pretty pleased with myself anyhow.

 

I wanted to try knitting a shawl, one that would keep me cosy on winter afternoons - when I tend to sit and sew (if I am lucky, Katie sleeps and everything else is caught up on).  There's often an hour or so when the house grows colder but I don't feel I should have any heating on, so a shawl is the perfect answer.  I knew I wanted to use Quince and Co Finch in the following colours:: Kittywake, Pomegranate, Bird's Egg, and Split Pea (I added Clay later, once I realised I'd like to increase the size ).  The colours were inspired by this scarf.  Finch is a lovely yarn to knit with, it is soft but feels as if it will last forever and there's an ever-so-slight halo to it which really makes the pretty colours sing.

 

The pattern is the Serena Shadow Shawl.  After a lot of Ravelry searching I found what I wanted - to match the yarn and the way I wanted to work the stripes.  It suited me perfectly - I knit this through our period of renovations and then selling, packing and buying.  Long rows and colour changes to anticipate were exactly what I needed at the time.  I suspect I should have put more thought into where to make the colour splits so that I ended up with more even depths to the colour bands......I had hoped they'd gradually decrease towards the bottom of the shawl.  There's a few mistakes too, including one whole row knit in the wrong stitch, somehow I didn't spot that for several more rows.  Since it is a workhorse of a shawl, to be worn at home, I really don't mind - certainly not enough to frog back those long long rows.

 

Now I'm on the look out for my next shawl pattern.  Something a little more fancy I think, and maybe a little smaller to wear under a winter coat.  Any suggestions?  I'd also like to knit a wee shawl/scarf for each of the girls - again, I'd love some suggestions!

 

My Ravelry notes are here.