Shawls and a challenge.

This is an old post from my other blog, which I closed as it no longer reflects me and who I am. The Holistic Home was about cherishing and nourishing our home, but as I've realised (finally) home is where the heart is and my heart is in the woods and along the shores.  My real, solid home will be changing in the months to come, so I feel more like a wandering gypsy until I once more put down solid roots.

Back to the old post. It's about wool :D

'So is there anyone left out there who hasn't been taken over by the Outlander obsession?  I was late coming to the series as I hadn't enjoyed the books as much as many of Diana Gabaldon's fans, but one evening, I was browsing my 'Prime' options and decided to give it a go.

The acting is good, the scenery stunning, but the costumes are the show stealers, especially the knitwear!  I'm not a great knitter, I've admitted before, but suddenly I had the drive to sit down and get out the needles.

I couldn't find a suitable pattern for Claire's wrist warmers, so I made one up, why not???  I've already finished one and the next is halfway, so I'll post pictures and the very simple pattern soon.

Meanwhile, my attempts at Fractal Spinning have produced this!  I would have liked more orange and brown combinations, but it's fairly pleasing and may end up as another pair of simple wrist warmers!  The wool was dyed with food colouring, so I'm testing it to see how colour fast it is.  Apparently the shades fade over time and some of the blends have already lost their brightness.

Now I have two large fleeces to finish processing, as moths got into my stash and I've had to be brutal and throw a lot of it away.  I have my lovely Manx Loughton and Romney fleeces left and that's all!!!  However, I have heard whisper of a black Shetland fleece going for free, so that could be mine soon. '

Now for the challenge:  Lets make a Claire Fraser shawl.

I found this pattern for it as a free Ravelry download and thought it might be fun to have a knit-along and share our pictures. Feel free to share this post and invite as many blog friends as you can. Maybe some bloggers have already made the shawl above. It would be great to see those too as it might keep me going when my needles start to slow down!

So here's what I suggest. If you want to join in, add your name in the comments and then each week post photos of your progress, then we can all visit each other and be inspired.

  My latest shawl is really a very wide scarf and as you can see, I've had to fill in with a different wool as it turned out I only had one ball and not the three that I thought I had! I think the wool faeries have pinched it!

I have some links to other patterns that I'll be trying, but for now, I think I ought to go to school as the children may notice I'm not there :D