Learning Curve - Two Shawls for the Adventurous Knitter

Are you ready for your next knitting adventure? Today we are featuring two elegant knitted shawls from among the fabulous selection on display in store. Both are suitable for the more adventurous knitters among you, and I think we'll dive right in with the more challenging of our pair...

The Cypri Shawl

This beauty is the work of Twist Collective designer Amanda Scheuzger, and comes from the needles of our own guru-of-shawls, Jacqui :)  Cypri is cast on at the bottom edge, and shaped with short rows to create a gently flowing crescent.  The travelling stitches are achieved with a slipped stitch technique, over a garter stitch background, with the instructions for these details given in charted form only. Jacqui really enjoyed working on this project but she did confess to having to rip back on a few occasions.  Her advice? "Switch off the television and focus 100% on the pattern. The instructions are very well written but some of the techniques may be unfamiliar, so keep an open mind.  The results are so worth the effort though!" This version was worked in Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn, in colours that mimic the original design, but of course there's lots colour combination inspiration to be had among the other finished projects on Ravelry. So what do you think? Are you ready for the challenge? Or perhaps our next shawl, Holyrood, is more your cup of tea?

Holyrood

Chevrons, eyelets, cables, stripes and ribs - Holyrood is a shawl that has it all.  In fact, this is a perfect learning project for someone looking to expand their stitching repertoire.  We're a big fan of Justyna's patterns here in the shop, and this design proved to be everything we've come to expect from her: clever, stylish and interesting to knit. The yarn combination this time is two shades of Fade Street 4ply from our own Townhouse Yarns line - Rippleberry and Mustard Seed. And again there are oodles of inspiring combinations to browse through in the gallery of finished projects. While some patterns would have you plough through miles of garter stitch or stockinette just to get to the fun parts, Holyrood's frequent change of stitch pattern can, almost counter-intuitively, lead to a faster end result.  It's similar to knitting with self-striping yarns: you keep going just to see what's coming next and then, all of a sudden, it's done! So there you have it, two elegant knitted shawls for the intermediate knitter, both tried and tested and guaranteed to give you warm fuzzy feelings of accomplishment when complete.  While each may pose their own learning curve, both will definitely provide hours of knitting fun. Have we tempted you to push your knitting boundaries? Or are you working on your own challenging knits right now? We'd love to hear about them in the comments. :)