There's always another shaped canvas to choose from...

 

There's always another shaped canvas to choose from...

 

I started designing with one shawl in mind. It was my 'Fairfield Harvest Shawl' and it was worked mainly in garter stitch to keep it simple, but it included some slipped stitch patterning, because as you may be able to tell from a few of my designs, I love working slipped stitch patterning. But most importantly it was a triangular shaped shawl which tends to be my most worn shawls, and probably one of my favourite way of creating triangular shawls, it was a long/shallow triangle worked side to side. I like this method of constructing a triangle shaped shawl as I feel it really allows for control over the dimensions, allowing you to modify this a bit, such as in the amount of depth to be allowed for the frontal point. Strangely, I haven't made one since, and maybe that's because it sometimes doesn't seem as simple and I am always thinking how to keep things as simple fo the lovely knitters that choose to make my designs as possible. But maybe it's high time I made another side to side triangle, we'll see...
Since that first shawl and the next two which I published all together, untested at that point, which was very scary as I was having to build a testing pool, correct patterns, send updates and all while my patterns were live and out there for the public to download, I have diversified a little.
I have since made hats and cowls along with shawls, (still too put off by sweater designing as size grading still terrifies me 😓) but I find quite a few of the projects on my designing agenda for the year seem mostly to be shawls so it seems my designing hankerings are turning more in the direction of shawls again, once the next three releases scheduled go live which are 2 hats and a cowl that is. I love that shawls are such a big wide canvas where you can really paint the picture in your mind upon beautiful fibres  as your canvas. I actually don't regard myself as very artistic, perhaps I am often creative in a practical needs must kind of way, but shawl design does feel artistic to me.
Apart from triangular shawls, I would say the tiebreaker for the shawl shape I reach for the most for wearability is just a large rectangular or tapered ended wrap, which I wear the same way, just wrapped double around the neck. It's often the shape that is the harder part for me to decide on when it comes to shawl designs rather than the actual design - the yarn tends to decide a big part of that for me actually - and in fact it's been on my mind a bit for the very next shawl I will be casting on after I finish the current shawl I am working on below ...

Design in Progress...

It's growing!...

So still plugging away on my Worsted weight woolly triangular 'Sanctuary Space Shawl' ... I have now made it through the 2nd colour which is a warm heathered taupe colour and really makes me feel happy to work with - yes I do love a good beige!
Using Garter stitch border lines and a merging slip stitch line between colour changes to divide these patterns feels like crossing a border into another land where I get to vist a whole new stitch journey ... Here I entered into a panel of embossed leaves on a purl stitch background, which I thoroughly enjoyed, creating all that dimensional texture and now I have made steps towards the 3rd colour which will lend even more texture and then I will finish perhaps with a partially cabled border ... The journey unfolds ...

Tests in Progress...

Some current works in progress and finished objects that are being born from my wonderful test knitters needles...

Braided Lace Hat test -

Squish Factor Cowl -

Until next time! …