Tupelo Shawl

Photo from Classic Elite Yarns

Classic Elite Yarns' Spring 2012 Collection has arrived at local yarn stores. There are 15 booklets for Spring. My Tupelo Shawl is published in the booklet, #9174 Peabody Path.

It's my first design for a yarn company and I am thrilled that I got to work with Classic Elite Yarns. Last June, I attended TNNA and their booth caught my eye immediately. I really love their style and aesthetic. So you can imagine my excitement when I got an email a few months later that they liked the design I submitted to their Spring Collection.

Sketch

The shawl is knit from one side to the other. What I didn't anticipate was that I was going to have trouble with the second half of the shawl. I spent 3 days knitting and ripping out, trying to find a perfect way to decrease and mirror the stitch pattern. Have you heard of the KISS Principle (Keep it simple, stupid!)? It's actually easier said than done. I will be the first to admit that I am very picky and extremely detail oriented. I am sure the other 1,000 methods I tried would have sufficed, but I wanted a easy and elegant solution that looked perfect. But after racking my brain for 3 days, I ended up trying a simple method and it totally worked! I learn something new every time I design. :-)

Scan of Swatch, backwards.

I think this scanned picture of my swatch is actually the back (wrong side). But I can't find my swatch to scan it again. Still, you can see that in the overall design, the right side and wrong side is not vastly different. I am not a warm/hot weather knitter, so I had to dig deep in my stash for a cotton yarn to swatch with for my submission.

I knitted this in July and it was one of the hottest months we had last Summer. This shawl even came along with me to the Jersey Shore for my Summer vacation. The yarn, Firefly, is a linen blend and it was never sticky to knit with even with the crazy humidity we had. I pretty much became enamored with this yarn while I was knitting this shawl. The knitted fabric had wonderful drape and was cool to the touch.

How much do I love this yarn? After I shipped my sample to Classic Elite Yarns, I immediately ordered the same yarn, in a different color (Hyacinth), so I can make my own Tupelo Shawl. The shawl needs 3 skeins of Firefly to knit it.

I have been getting questions via Ravelry about where to buy the pattern. You can buy the pattern booklet directly from Classic Elite Yarns or from Webs. They will also be available at your local yarns stores and other online yarn stores, but those are the 2 online places that I know of right now. In March, Classic Elite Yarns will make the patterns available as a PDF download for those of you that prefer digital copies of the patterns instead of a printed booklet.

If you like my latest shawl pattern, please fave it or add it your queue on Ravelry. It will be a wonderful accessory for your Spring and Summer wardrobe.