I know it’s only been two days since I publicly swore off shawl knitting, but there is one looming temptation. Remember a few months ago when I kicked off that #vitalknits hashtag? The lovely Julia Billings, aka @woollenflower (who you should totally follow if you don’t already), posted the shot above of her incredible Faroese-style shawl and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. (Here it is on Ravelry.) This is my idea of The Perfect Shawl: massive and enveloping, yet light; garter stitch interrupted by a spare, geometric lace design; and the perfect amount and length of fringe. Turns out it’s from a pattern quite straightforwardly called Faroese Lace Pattern Shawl, found in an out-of-print book. Jules tells me it was one of the first books she read when she was a new knitter and that the traditionally written pattern was beyond her skills at the time. She set it aside until she was ready, a few years ago now, and she wears this shawl more than anything else she’s made. Understandably. It may be out of print, but the good news is Jules is writing her own Faroese-style pattern inspired by this beauty — so watch for more news of that soon.
By the way, this reminds me quite a bit of Handepande’s incredible shawl that I blogged about forever ago and have longed for every day since. Apparently when it comes to shawls, I have a type.
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