Summer is still here (well, at least in this hemisphere…), but isn’t this a good time to start adding to your wardrobe for fall? Get the knitting needles out and go to the beach with your future favourite shawl and mitts set in tow!

I have been working with the wonderful hand dyed yarns from Hearthside Fibers, which I have been trying out for a new design and am proud to present you the

Fall in Love shawl with matching fingerless mitts

This is my mother’s favourite pattern and she got me hooked as well, so she had me write it up for her. I especially love the edging, which is super easy to knit and very beautiful, once you blocked the hell out of the shawl 🙂 (I know, I don’t like blocking either, but it shows off the shawls sooo much better!)

I used one whole skein to the last inch of beautiful Extravagance Spice for this orange shawl. I just love the subtle patterning of this yarn! It’s an amazingly soft blend of Polwarth wool and silk which is wonderful to work with and has a great feel. The shawl knit up in no time! But it was close. Do you know this feeling of panic creeping up on you when you knit a shawl and the yarn is about to run out? I would recommend getting two skeins of yarn for this pattern. That’s what I did for the blue shawl. For this one I used a combination of Extravagance in the colourways Anishinaabe and Delphinarium, both exactly my kind of colours. I really love the denim look it created!

I wanted to create a set, as I liked the idea of having matching shawl and mitts like for the In Bloom shawl and In Bloom mitts. As I had several yarns to try out, i decided to knit up the Fall in Love mitts in Hearthside Fibers Baaboo Poinsetta and Crystal Salsa. Both yarns are exquisite to knit with and I especially fell in love with the feel of BaaBoo. It’s a bit thicker than the Crystal and feels just incredibly cozy. So did my lovely model Vivika 🙂 BaaBoo is a blend of 60% Merino, 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon which can take machine washing pretty well without pilling. I just love the colourway, too! Even though I’m usually not a huge fan of pink. But this one really pops. Here is a pic for you. Isn’t it lovely? I used only 40 stitches for it, where I needed 50 with the Crystal base.

Crystal is a 50/50 blend of superwash merino and tencel which caresses your skin very nicely. Did you know that Tencel or lyocell is a sustainable fabric, regenerated from wood cellulose? It is similar in hand to rayon and bamboo,  but, Tencel is one of the most environmentally friendly regenerated fabrics. I can imagine a shawl in this yarn to be exquisite, too! But here they are, the 50 stitches of super loveliness:

Join the KAL in my group on Ravelry.

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Here is what happens during this Knit-a-long (KAL) besides having fun knitting up a lovely set in your favourite colours:

• EVERYONE who finishes a set and posts a picture in the KAL thread of the finished SET by the 30. of September 2016 will win another of my patterns — In Bloom fingerless mitts — and
• TWO LUCKY POSTERS will win the In Bloom Shawl and mitts set! Don’t forget to post progress shots and tell us what yarn you’ll be using, too.
• Hearthside Fibers will offer a 16% discount on everything in their ETSY store for people using the coupon code “mumpitz” starting August 10th and running through August 31st 2016 with a minimum $49.00 purchase.
• One lucky knitter will receive one skein of the lovely BaaBoo, (shipping worldwide) at the end of the KAL.

Here is a bit more info about the patterns:

Shawl and mittens  show off your kettle dyed yarns and yarns with long colour changes perfectly. The lacy edging is a  great finish for these falling leaves. You can knit the shawl in any size and any yarn quality. Sizes vary also depending on which yarn quality you use. I recommend knitting more pattern repeats when using fingering yarns to achieve a better width. My shawls are made from Hearthside Fibers Yarn Extravagance, DK, Spice (orange), Anishinaabe (dark blue) und Delphinarium (bright blue) needles 4mm and have a wing span of 200cm/79in (orange) and 240/95in (blue).

The mittens will need fingering weight yarns. I used approx. 30g Baaboo (401m/438 yards per 115g) and 25g Crystal (377m/412 yards per 113g) from Hearthside Fibers i (My mittens are made from Baaboo Poinsetta (rose) and Crystal Salsa (orange).

Techniques used for both patterns are:

• Knits and purls,
• yarn overs and
• simple decreases.
• nothing more 🙂

What you need:

For the shawl

Yarn:

•  2 skeins Extravagance from Hearthside
  Fibers, 280 yards (256 meters)/100g OR
• 1 skein Crystal by Hearthside Fibers, 412
  yards (377 meters) /100g
• A cable needle (at least 80cm/30in) in an
  appropriate size (I used 3mm for fingering,
  4mm for DK)
• Tapestry needle to weave in ends

Needles:

5 double pointed needles 2.5 or 3mm (alternatively a cable needle in the same size)

• 2 stitch markers
• Tapestry needle for sewing in ends

For the mitts:

•  approx. 30g Baaboo (401m/438 yards per 115g) or 25g Crystal (377m/412 yards per 113g) from Hearthside Fibers in your favourite colours (My mittens are made from Baaboo Poinsetta (rose) and Crystal Salsa (orange)

Needles:
– 5 double pointed needles 2.5 or 3mm (alternatively a cable needle in the same size)

• 2 stitch markers
• Tapestry needle for sewing in ends

A BIG BIG thank you goes to my wonderful test knitters Binle, mausebinchen, lightlime, darkmoon, eKirsten, Sinessi and loonywooly and to my lovely model Vivika! And of course to my mother Anke for putting me up to this! Mom, I love you for all this crafty nonsense you taught me 🙂 I don’t knit a single stitch without thinking of you!

Here is her prototype that got me hooked!

And here are my test knitters wonderful shawls, they are all incredible, aren’t they???