Fo: Aestlight Shawls

Shetland Trader’s Aestlight shawl appealed to me as soon as I saw it. “Stash buster!” thought I.

It’s an easy garter stitch triangle, with an interesting construction. There’s a simple, repetitive lace border, and a knitted-on edging. Quite a quick knit, at fingering weight, and only one skein needed.

I made one in The Yarn Yard’s Hug merino sock yarn – that’s quite a heavy yarn, so I used both the skeins in my possession (repossessed from some Teosinte socks that did not work out.)

Light and Crusty (#1)
  • Cast on Date: Aug 8, ’09 / Aug 12, ’09 / Aug 21, ’09
  • Pattern: Aestlight by Gudrun Johnston
  • Pattern Price: $5
  • Yarn: Hug by The Yarn Yard /Kingcraig / Colourmart Baby Merino plus Regia Cotton Galaxy
    • Quality: Merino fingering sock yarn / Merino-Silk / Merino plus sock yarn
    • Weight: 4ply / 4ply / 3-15NM Fingering plus cotton mix sock yarn
    • Length: c 650 yds / ? / ?
    • Amount: 180g / ? / ?
    • Cost: ? /? / ?
    • Colour: Crusty Bread / Grey and Turquoise / 1639 Rustic and 4880
  • Needles: 4mm
  • Pattern Repeats: as written
  • Size: n/a
  • Blocked: Yes
  • Finished Size: 26” deep by 62” wide / 21” deep  by 54” wide /  27” deep by 56” wide
  • Cast Off: n/a
  • Cast Off Date: Aug 11, ’09 / Aug 15, ’09 / 28 Sep, ’09
  • Ravelry Project: Light and Crusty / The Grey Light of Dawn / Aestlight 4

The Light and Crusty shawl was huge fun to knit, and was done very quickly. I had seen some bi-coloured examples on Ravelry and was inspired to cast on immediately for a second Aestlight. I used stashed yarn again, this time from Kingcraig coned lambswool and silk 4ply yarn. I had two colours in my stash, which went together most pleasingly. Aestlight #2 was born

A fine gift for a landmark birthday

I loved this combination. It took great strength of character to give this shawl away to a member of my spinning group for her birthday – well, it was a very special birthday. I may have to recreate this project for myself at a later date.

The success of my bicoloured shawl inspired me to try another, and a third Aestlight hit the needles without delay!

Another birthday gift

The design of the shawl is such that the border is naturally at a different tension to the body. This in turn means that it is easy to combine different yarns – so Aestlight #3 used the baby merino lingering in my stash from the completed Girasole and I added a Regia sock yarn for contrast. It worked extremely well – there is a shade of brown in the sock yarn that tones more or less exactly with the merino and all the other shades  form a lovely complement.

SpinningGill, seen here modelling for me, was the lucky recipient of this shawl, which I gave to her for her recent birthday. It was another one of those anguished partings – I really like this shawl.

That was not the end… there is another Aestlight on the needles, a handspun version. The body is complete but awaits the spinning of a contrast yarn for the lace border section.

There will be other versions of this shawl, I think. I plan to make some variations, using different lace patterns in the border and alternate lace edgings.

Project Gallery

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