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Sunday 8 September 2013

Wedding ring shawl

In Wednesday's post I mentioned the item I was most proud to have made was a wedding ring shawl.

Back in the middle 80's Woman's Weekly magazine did an article about the Shetland Islands and how the elderly ladies were teaching the young to carry on their knitting traditions.

The magazine offered readers a free wedding ring shawl knitting pattern, so I sent off my required stamped address envelope and a week later the pattern arrived. It was eight pages of solid text !!!!!

It looked way beyond my knitting ability so I just forgot about it. A couple of years later my parents and I were in a craft shop in Whitby and I noticed they sold one ply Shetland wool (the wool needed for the shawl). I was bored doing cross stitch so decided to have a go at making it. I had no idea how many skeins I'd need so just guessed the amount. As we didn't live locally the shop owner kindly suggested if I needed any more or had bought too much I could give her a ring and she's either send me more or buy back the spare skeins.

The scalloped edging was knitted first. There was only 10 stitches and 12 rows to the pattern, however I had to knit over 500 of them !!!!!!  

Using a very long circular needle I had to pick up about 1000 stitches from the first row of the scallops to form the body of the shawl. 

It seemed like every waking moment was spent working on the shawl. I remember it once took me all evening just to knit one row of the shawl..... Eventually after eight long weeks it was finished.

Now came the true test. Could it, as the name suggested, fit through a wedding ring? I borrowed my mams ring, and very carefully so not to break the yarn, fed the shawl through the ring. It worked !!!!

I'm proud of the shawl as it was the first time I'd ever used a circular knitting needle. I'd never knitted with anything as fine as one ply before and it's the most complex pattern I've ever come across.

Note: Apologies for the lack of shawl photos only it was put in the loft a few years ago and we now can't find it !!!!!!!

Update: We've finally found it so here are a couple of photos.
Wedding ring shawl





Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

30 comments:

  1. Oh, I do hope it turns up. It would be great to see your shawl.

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    1. I'm sure it will. We suspect it's got buried deep in a box. Time for a loft clear out me thinks..... xx

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  2. Sounds like hard but rewarding work!

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  3. Oh I was so looking forward to seeing a picture of it at the end of that post! It sounds amazing work - you must have a lot of patience!

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    1. Sorry to disappoint. Hopefully I'll be able to put a photo up shortly xx

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  4. Oh no. What a real shame....After all that work you must be gutted? I wasn't at all sure what you meant by a wedding ring shawl - until you explained it. Did you have enough yarn or need to buy more?

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    1. I've been trying to think where it could be. I'm now on a mission to find it !!! Thankfully I had plenty of yarn to finish it which was good news xx

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  5. It sounds so lovely and I really would have loved to see a picture of it. A lot of hard work - well done. Hope you have a good week.

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    1. I promise I'll put a couple of photos up when I eventually find it xx

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  6. Hi Gertie, the shawl sounds lovely. You must be so patient to knit with such thin yarn and tiny needles! I hope you are doing well and I look forward to seeing a picture of the shawl when you find it!

    take care
    Pat

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    1. Once it was underway I was determined to complete it, though it was like knitting with sewing thread at times !!! xx

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  7. aww what a lovely story, it must have been such a fantastic sense of accomplishment to complete the shawl! I'm sure its not lost but just hiding away waiting for the perfect moment to reappear :) x

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    1. It was. Everyone at work was really eager to see it as I used to knit it during my lunch break. I'm sure the next time Mr Gertie goes into the loft it'll turn up xx

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  8. It was lovely to read your post. You must have the patience of a saint. I don't think I would have persevered. I was sad to read you could no longer find the shawl. Have a lovely week. I hope your recovery is going well.
    Ali x

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    1. I think it was more determination than patience - I wasn't going to be beaten by a ball of wool....

      Recovery is really well. I'm counting the days until I see the Prof again xx

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  9. Sounds wonderful, looking forward to that photo when its found :)

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  10. You must really have a lot of patience to attempt something so complex. I'm sure it looks beautiful.

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  11. Bloomin eck...what patience you have and what a shame you can't find it. I would get OH to not come down till he has! I bet it's absolutely stunning.

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    1. I had thought about that but as I'm banned from the kitchen who'd make the meals. I could always order a takeaway!!!!! xx

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  12. I cant wait to see it! It sounds lovely..

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  13. awww it was lovely to read about it. i miss a photo a lot to be honest, was intrigued how it looked :P

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    1. I promise I'll put one up as soon as I find it xx

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  14. I am very easily distracted so couldn't be patient enough to do that! In a Pickle

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  15. I hope it's found safe and sound. Would love to see it :-)

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  16. A friend of mine is looking for the pattern of a wedding ring shawl...may I ask where you found the pattern?

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    1. Hi Laura,

      The pattern I used for the shawl sadly got lost a couple of years ago.

      However I do have a copy of a similar shawl that appeared in Woman Weekly magazine if you would like a copy.

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