I’ve never really been the girly type, but I do make a rare concession now and again.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was working on a test knit for Wool & Pine Designs; the pattern came out yesterday, to much fanfare and celebration by all. It’s called Golden Fern and is one of the niftier shawl patterns I’ve come across. The shape is curvy and asymmetrical, which looks kind of weird lying flat but drapes beautifully on the shoulders. I love the brioche pattern, too—it’s a bit more soft and organic than most brioche stitches, which can get to looking a bit stiff and heavy at times.
Generally speaking, I avoid single ply yarns, since I get anxious about them pilling or breaking; but I definitely recommend singles for this pattern. It’s so large that the extra drape is really important, and the singles create a really airy fabric. A lightly spun 2ply could work as well.
I used two colors of Life in the Long Grass Singles as my two main colors, with a bit of leftover Madelinetosh Prairie as an accent at the lower edge. The Prairie is a slightly lighter weight than the Life in the Long Grass, which makes the edge of the shawl just a bit more delicate. Even though it wasn’t planned (I got the Life in the Long Grass on clearance, and the Madelinetosh was already in my stash), the colors ended up reinforcing the Golden Fern name quite nicely.
Yesterday evening, as I was sorting through photos, I realized that my colors (silver, gold, and a little pink) were giving off definite princess vibes. With the shape, the stitch pattern, and the light, meshy fabric, I’m dubbing this aesthetic Modern Elven Woodland Princess. Am I into princessy stuff? No. But I like the shawl. It’s definitely dramatic and will be a fun accent piece for plain outfits. And it turns out that princess colors are more neutral than one would suspect, so it’ll go with all kinds of things. It’s likely that my aversion to zany clothes will make me shy about wearing this in public, but we’ll see.
I’m not entirely convinced I’m the best of test knitters, since intuition tends to get in the way of my noticing errors. (I did catch some typos, so I’m not utterly useless on that front.) But I know how to take photos, so hopefully my ability to hype up a design is of use. And I must say, this shawl came out pretty crazy well. To anyone who’s interested in joining in on the Modern Elven Woodland Princessdom, the pattern is available on Ravelry and WoolandPine.com. Cheerio!
