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Project Notebook: Maedwe Shawl

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my maedwe shawlRight before Christmas I participated in a really fun, spontaneous act of giving. Using the hashtag #getyouryarnwishesgranted, knitters requested yarns they’d like to play with and went about fulfilling other people’s wishes, too.

One of the yarns I wished for was something from Lorna’s Laces, because I feel like it’s shameful that I’ve never really knit with their yarn before.

I was gifted two skeins of Shepherd Sport Multi, and they arrived just before the holiday. On Christmas I set out to find something to knit with them. I knew I wanted to knit a shawl, but beyond that I wasn’t sure.

I finally settled on making a version of Maedwe, a short-row garter stitch shawl by AnneLena Mattison found in the book Free-Spirit Shawls. It’s actually a pretty easy pattern once you get the rhythm of it, and I finished up mine in five days.

I really like the look of it, even though the original was knit in a much more subdued yarn. I’ve already worn it quite a lot and intend to throughout the season. maedwe and instahat

This is me wearing it on New Year’s Eve along with a quick as lightning hat I’ll tell you about next week.

What’s on (or recently off) your needles? I’d love to hear about it!

 

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Comments

  1. Beautiful shawl. I’m so sorry that I missed #getyouryarnwishgranted. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it next year as I’d love to participate.
    I’m currently working on an infinity scarf for my daughters best friends 30th birthday gift.
    I’m using the bulky Brown sheep co. Lambs pride.
    I purchased this yarn at the New York sheep an wool festival this past October.
    Knitting with this yarn reminds me of the great day that I had with my daughter.
    The Eucalyptus leaf color will look lovely on her.

Have you read?

Book Review: Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond

When I discovered Kate Atherley’s book Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond, I wasn’t sure there was enough to say about circular knitting to fill a book. It’s a pretty short book (144 pages) and includes 10 patterns to practice working in the round on small projects, and it provides a decent introduction to the various ways of working in the round. 

The book covers using double pointed knitting needles, flexible double points and circular knitting needles with cables. It talks about working using the full circumference of a circular needle and various ways to work smaller circumference projects, such as using DPNs, magic loop and knitting with two circular knitting needles. 

In addition there’s a discussion of preventing problems like twists and ladders, swatching in the round without actually swatching in the round, grafting, blocking and weaving in ends. 

More specialized techniques likes knitting from the center out, stranded colorwork, helical knitting and jogless stripes are also explored, as well as working pieces like socks or mitts two at a time. 

There’s also some information about seamless sweaters, including the different sweater designs that can be worked seamlessly (and why you might want seams in your sweaters) and how they are worked from the top down or the bottom up. 

There are 10 patterns in the book, including a basic stockinette stitch cowl and one with a deliberate twist, wrist warmers, mitts and a pair of colorwork mittens, a hat worked in a solid color or in helical stripes, toe up and top down socks and a beret. It would have been nice to have a basic sweater pattern, too, since the book does talk about working larger garments with circular needles, but it’s still a nice collection of basic patterns worked in the round. 

If you’re already comfortable working in the round in different ways, I’m not sure there’s much for you to learn in this book, but it is a good reference for people learning circular knitting or who maybe haven’t tried all the techniques yet or need skill building projects to try. 

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 10 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.