More details to come about the shawl as I complete it, but it all started with a pile of BFL+Silk spinning fibre in all different colours. I spun each braid into a 3-ply worsted weight handspun yarn, first stripping the fibre lengthwise into thirds, spinning each third to a bobbin, and then plying the three bobbins together.
The shawl pattern is Nightshift, designed by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits. I had previously knit the Shift Cowl with my 2-ply fractal handspun yarn. I loved that experience and the finished cowl, so of course, I wanted to make a bigger project with that same stitch pattern.
Now, I’m in the midst of knitting the shawl, using the Trail Runner colour as colour A and Tanzanite as colour B. I kept with Tanzanite as the contrast colour for the first three sections and then switched to Salted Caramel as the contrast colour for section four. I’ll continue to mix and switch between these three colours as I knit the shawl.
Originally, I had spun six skeins of handspun worsted weight yarn, but I was overthinking the colours and how they mixed together. So I’m trying very hard to just let go of the outcomes and enjoy the unexpected colour combinations as they happen.
Now that I’ve established some sections of colour, I might consider spinning a few more braids of fibre, taking into consideration some of the techniques I’ve learned about fibre prep from Kim McKenna and her tutorial about dizzing fibre from a hand carder. This technique has helped prepare much smoother, loftier, and easier-to-spin fibre which hopefully translates into smoother and more consistent handspun yarns.
Of course, I’m excited to see how this project turns out in the end!
Handspun SweetGeorgia BFL+Silk Nightshift Shawl
Equipment
- 1 Knitting Needles (circular, 5.5 mm)
Materials
- 6 braids SweetGeorgia Yarns BFL+Silk spinning fibre Tanzanite, Trail Runner, Salted Caramel
Instructions
- Prepare the spinning fibre by splitting each braid lengthwise into thirds.
- Optional: use a hand carder and diz to pre-draft and prepare the divided fibre for spinning.
- Spin each strip of spinning fibre onto one bobbin, producing three bobbins of singles. The goal is to spin to a 3-ply worsted-weight yarn, so use an occasional ply-back test to check the size of your singles.
- Ply the three bobbins together to make a 3-ply yarn.
- Wet-finish each skein of yarn, dry, and wind each yarn into a ball or cone for knitting.
- Knit the Nightshift shawl as directed in the pattern.
Link to Pattern
Link to pattern
