Can we talk about shawl storage?

Can we talk for a minute about shawl storage? As knitters and crocheters we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about shawls, planning shawls, working on shawls. But we spend very little time actually talking about what we do with them once we’ve made them. Specifically, how do you store shawls?

Assuming they aren’t given away or put into long term storage (moths are not our friend) we need to talk about how we actually store the shawls that we have in daily use.

As much as I love the idea of just displaying them on the wall as hanging art objects I fear that those I live with might not share my enthusiasm so I asked on Twitter recently what people use.

There were some brilliant and eminently practical suggestions which I’d like to pass on to you here. All of these are from commercial companies - and so - mindful of potential copyright restrictions I have just provided the link to the website rather than actual accompanying images.

Hanging storage seems like the perfect solution

mDesign Wardrobe Organiser for Scarves - for The Organised Storage of Scarves and Shawls in Your Wardrobe - Ideal as Scarf Holder and Shawl Organiser - 16 Loops - Clear : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

Holders designed for ties would also work well

Personalised Wooden Tie Scarf Belt Hanger & Rack Storage - Etsy UK

Scarf hanger from Etsy

Heart Scarf Hanger - Etsy UK

Or this nifty one that would hang over a cupboard door

Tie and Scarf 360 Degree Rotating Hanger - Etsy UK

I’ve also seen people repurposing hat stands or hallway coat hooks, which I’d love to do - sadly precluded by having the world’s tiniest hallway, but I love how they look in other people’s houses.

Blanket ladders are also a great idea and Etsy has a great selection:

Blanket Ladder - Etsy UK

This is the option that I have ended up going for and I am awaiting it’s delivery with keen interest. I like the fact that they take up very little space and will hopefully keep them free from feline interference.

For now, my shawls in use reside over the stair rail - definitely not ideal, not least because Blossom likes to use them to perch on, ready to pounce on her brother.

How about you? If you have a nifty shawl storage solution do please let me know.

Presenting the Colour Block Cowl

More autumn excitement from me today as I am thrilled to present my latest pattern release with you. Things feel especially autumnal today - as I write this midmorning it’s still incredibly dark outside (I even have the big light on) and the rain is lashing down against the windows. Just right for thinking about cosy autumn knits.

The Colour Block Cowl was knit using 50g of contrast yarn for the 'colour blocks' and a 5 x 20g set of ombre mini skeins for the main colour.

I chose to use a mini skein set from As Yet Yarns, colourway Volcanic Mist, a gorgeously subtle gradient from lightest cream to mid grey. 

For ease of knitting and so that nothing interrupted my 'flow' I wound the mini skeins into a cake before I started. I used the Magic Knit technique for this. If you'd like to try it there's a short tutorial up on my blog to show how I did it.

The cowl is a really straightforward knit with lots of stocking stitch - and it's ideal as a base to practice your colourwork on. You could knit the body of the cowl a little shorter if you prefer. As it is I had about 15g left over and I love that it is deep enough to wear folded over for extra warmth.

PIN FOR LATER

How to make a magic knot

There are many methods available to join two strands of working yarn in knitting. The magic knot method is just one of them. I used the magic knot technique to join 5 x 20g mini skeins together into a single ball. Here I’m using an ombre mini skein set from As Yet Yarns in colourway Volcanic Mist

You can of course just knit with each mini skein individually but winding it all into a single cake first makes for a very relaxing and soothing knit - also ideal if you are travelling or will be knitting on the move.

It looks like there are a lot of steps to the process but once you get the hang of it, it takes just seconds to do.

  1. You’ll need at least a 5” tail from both yarns

  2. Lay the top yarn over the bottom one

  3. Pull the top yarn under the bottom one

  4. Make a loop with the top yarn

  5. Pull the tail through that loop, coming up from below

  6. Pull knot tight, that’s the first side done

  7. Lay the bottom yarn over the top one

  8. Make a loop with the bottom yarn

  9. Pull the tail through the loop, again coming up from below

  10. Pull knot tight

  11. Pull firmly on the ends of both knots - these will move them towards each other

  12. Continue to pull until both knots are snug against each other. Pull tight and the snip the ends

PIN FOR LATER

MKALs - are surprises overrated?

It’s an interesting question isn’t it - and one which I’ve thought about a lot in my years as a knitter. It’s that time of year again when knitalongs abound and the FOMO (fear of missing out) is strong as I survey Instagram and see everyone’s amazing yarn choices and spoiler alerts.

It looks so tempting, and a very large part of me is desperate to throw my WIPs to the wind and dive into the glorious planning stage of a Shiny New Project.

Perusing websites, squishing yarns and generally having a lovely 'high-on-yarn-fumes’ time.

Because while you are in the planning stage, this project is perfect. It can literally do no wrong. It is going to be amazing, the best shawl ever.

But is it though? I think we all know the answer to this one and it starts with ‘Maybe…’.

With a mystery KAL especially there is always that tiny voice at the back of my mind that says ‘ah, but will you wear it though?’ Will it join the very large, 5-skein shawl at the back of the wardrobe that cost you an arm and leg, and yet to my shame I never wear.

Shame isn’t an emotion that I particularly want to have attached to my knitting, but nevertheless there it is. Looking at me every time I reach to the back of the wardrobe.

One argument for an MKAL is that you invariably learn something new along the way, and that’s undoubtably true but at the end of the day it’s all about balance. And I can learn new techniques once I’ve actually seen what I am supposed to be achieving.

I don’t deal well with uncertainty at the best of times and grappling with an unfamiliar technique when I’m totally in the dark about how it is ‘supposed’ to look can send my blood pressure sky high.

In addition, I have to be sensible (groans) and recognise that I have limited time available to knit the designs I have in my pipeline, never mind the socks and other items that my knit-worthy family ask for. When I do have a bit of knitting downtime, often I’m looking for something super simple rather than something that will challenge me. There’s a reason that I’ve knit over 10 Hitchhiker shawls.

And who would I be knitting it for? That’s a slightly more tricky question because then I would be forced to ask myself whether I’m knitting it for me, really for me, or so that I have something new and shiny to share on social media, so that I felt part of a club.

Obviously, this is entirely my own thought process here and I’m attaching no judgement of others to this at all - just sharing my own jumbled up thoughts. I have definitely taken part in KALs and MKALs before and had a whale of a time. I think it’s more a case of context - at a time when I have a lot going on, the added pressure of keeping up with a KAL can just feel like one more thing on my to-do list and no-one wants to feel like that about their hobby.

All this is a very long winded way of saying ‘it depends’ isn’t it?

I guess it just shows that we don’t knit in a vacuum and that our choices on what to knit are governed as much by timings and personal cicrcumstances as anything else.

How about you? How do you feel about MKALs - and are there are any particular designers who always have you rushing to take part? Or you happy to watch from a distance and maybe cast on later, once you have had a good look at it?

Something completely different

As a change from coffee and knitting, may I present tea and crochet.

This #GiantGrannySquare has been on go for ages (actually I checked back and I started it in 2020) and I was originally doing one colour for each round using scrap sock yarn leftover from other projects.

Then I stalled as each round started to take over 15g - meaning that a lot of my leftover yarn balls wouldn’t stretch to a full round. But there were still a heck of a lot of them to use up.

So last week I bit the bullet and made a magic ball with all my scraps (in colours that worked). I hand wound them into a mahoosive 240g ball and am now going to just whizz round and round trying very hard not to stress about colour placement. I figure that now it has reached a sufficient size (it was a 40” square last time I checked) it won’t be as obvious if there are colour changes mid-round.

This is quite a big deal for me as I normally fuss about how colours line up and embracing a devil may care attitude does not come naturally.

YARN JOINING: I used this tutorial for the magic knot technique but others methods are also available. An alternative would be to just tie a good sturdy knot leaving sufficient ends - and just work those in for a few stitches at the yarn join.

But in the spirit of #HaveAGoFriday (my recently made up thing - and something I talked about last week) I shall be adding to my blanket today and just going with the flow.

Oh - and the tea is a necessity as another handy menopause side effect has been a dramatic reduction in my caffeine tolerance (deep joy).

Who wears shawls anyway?

It’s a valid question to be fair. And one which, back in my non-knitting days I would have struggled to answer. It’s true that if you are thinking of shawls as something brown and rustic, worn over the shoulders, pointed end at the back and the fronts crossed over one’s bosoms (a la Clare Fraser in Outlander) then the answer is probably “very few”.

But as a knitter you’ll know that’s a very narrow definition of the word shawl and that there are far more imaginative shapes that can be conjured up with yarn and needles, to say nothing of the different ways to wear them.

In fact it’s a fair bet that at some point in the last week or two you have encountered someone in the street wearing a shawl - it just might not have looked like one.

My favourite way to wear a shawl is bandana style - holding the pointed end in front of me and wrapping the ends behind me - to hang down on either side of my neck. For this reason I tend to prefer elongated triangle shapes (where the ends or arms are longer). Asymmetric shawls are even better as they have far more wrappable potential. In the picture that accompanies this post I am wearing my kite-shaped shawl - The PPS - in just this way. This is the larger two-skein version, but in this link from Instagram I am demonstrating how I wrap the smaller version.

Worn like this, shawls are a brilliant addition to your autumn winter wardrobe. Neatly filling the gap at the top of your coat where untoward chills can creep in, they can add warmth without too much bulk. Not to mention the fact that they can add a welcome pop of colour to the dullest of ‘big coats’.

They also have the added advantage that you can keep them on inside, when you might feel obliged to shed your coat but want to stay with an additional layer of warmth in case of pesky air conditioned draughts. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been grateful for the warmth of a shawl while sitting through an interminable kids movie (although since Covid hit it’s been a very long time since I’ve done that).

In short, shawls are fun, colourful and an invaluable addition to your winter wardrobe. For the price of a single skein of sock yarn you can have the fun of knitting it, plus a whole season (and more) of draught-free warmth. Sounds like a win-win to me

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