Shawls By Sue

Green seems to have been the theme at least during 2017.

2017 and 2018 Sue has been very busy I think four shawls in all over 5 months. As well as dying, spinning etc.

After rummaging through the fibre stash, Sue came upon this somewhat coarse mohair fibre which was just enough to make this shawl which was knitted from end to end making the leaf and lace edging first. Later the body of the shawl is attached using short row shaping. The fibre was dyed and spun years ago with no particular project in mind but the uneven dying gives the shawl an interesting mottled look.

 A deceptively coloured package of alpaca bought from Bendigo Woollen Mills  on our last trip to Victoria. It was separated into variations of the main colours with this mostly green themed fibre here. Finely spun and using a pattern obtained from Damaris (one of the spinners), this shawl is warm and light weight with a semi-circular shape. As usual though, Sue can't knit things up without making some changes to suit her mood. In this case the stitch pattern was altered but the shaping remained the same.

 This lovely light wool shawl began its life sitting out in the Queensland sunshine for quite a number of weeks soaking up some dye. Its easy to utilize the summer temperatures for solar dyeing. A number of shades of green dye were used to obtain the marled effect then spun finely with the idea of making a fine lace shawl. This leaf design suited not only the colour but the weight of the spun wool. Some people liked the shawl enough to ask for a copy of the patter. To date there have been no copies made.

 

Below is the fibre throughout the process. Photo left is Black fibre Sue had mixed with some of the fibre from Bendigo to give the Opalised effect. The white is an Alpac carded and not used as yet. The Green is the dyed wool for the shawl above.

Right photo is the blended, spun and plyed yarn is yet to be used.

 Left photo are top left hanks x 3 for the semi-circular shawl. The 4 top right hanks are for the Leaf Shawl. The 2 bottom hanks for vest below.











The vest seamless all in one knitted from the bottom up incorporating seed beads and drop stitch pattern. The vest was knitted without a pattern just a few calculations on the go.

2018
One for a friend Sally who who got some lovely merino and silk sliver to do something special. Sally knew she wanted a shawl but her knitting skills weren't up to an advanced project so Sue volunteered. Sally spun and plyed the fibre and chose the pattern. To say that Sally was thrilled with the finished item would be a gross understatement! Sorry no decent photo of full shawl.