The holidays were busy here at Yarn Towers.
I managed to eat three Christmas dinners within the space of 24 hours – not unusual since I cook two of them, and refuse to miss my mother’s cooking on top of all that – but any snatches of time I had to spare were spent remaking my Bríd shawl.
I know I said I was gonna take a break from it to work on Ard Rí, but honestly, the chugging along on Bríd was remarkably soothing, and the regular repeats were something I could do a little of even after the longest day.
So, all through Solstice, and Christmas, and New Years I chipped away at it.
Sometimes, I did three in one evening, sometimes I did one, but slowly and surely, she grew until I had a mass of fabric gathering on my lap, each new panel added more twisting and righting to each turn of my work.
It seemed that the second half took less time than the first, though that might have been because much of it was done in that wobbly, weird mush of time between Christmas and New Years that no-one seems to be able to keep track of.
Four Ceremony, one Selkie
(In fact, maybe that’s the key to solving second sock syndrome and sleeve island. Leave those projects until the last week of December and do them then?)
And now, as of yesterday, I have 32 panels complete.
My original was a broad, sweeping half circle, but I found that blocking it – and keeping the end panel’s shapes consistent with the rest – was a challenge.
So, this time, with a slightly altered pattern in hand (and a colour swap that I am thrilled I went for), I opted to make a full circle, and seam it prior to blocking. That way I ensured all the panels came out the same.
In the end, a full circle required 32 panels, so that’s what I did.
All told, I used 170 m of the lush, blue Selkie colourway, and 520 m of the glowing goldenrod that is Ceremony.
In real terms, that means you’d need one skein of Selkie and three of Ceremony if you wanted to do the same, and you’d have enough of both left over afterwards to make a hat or something, too.
Next step for me is to wait patiently for it to dry in the middle of my studio floor, then decide if I like it as a circle (doubled over to make a neck warmer), or if I’ll tink the seam and make it a long, curving scarf like its predecessor that I can fasten with a shawl pin (read: crochet hook).
Which do you think would work best?
Personally I wouldn’t join it as a circle and use it as a wrap, giving it a bit for versatility to suit different outfits/ weather.
Either way it’s beautiful and eye catching!
Thanks for the feedback, Staci!
It’ll be coming off the blocking mats this evening, so I’ll see then how it all comes together.
I’m thinking – if it works as a circle at all – I’ll take some photos of it that way, then unzip my seam (it’s just UK dc sts, so no biggie) and do more shots of it as a wrap. That way I can offer both options to people going in.