This is a photo of My Ancestress which was the everyday Shetland Hap shawl worn by the women who needed a shawl for warmth and wear and didn't particularly care if it fit through a wedding ring (which was the standard for the fancy and expensive Shetland lace shawls that were produced and sold to the richer folks). You can find the pattern for it if you wish to make your own on my pattern page and also a bit of a write up on why and how I made this shawl in the first place. There is a tragic end to this story and the villain of the tale is the MOTH. Late last spring I noticed suspicious flying creatures around my basket of shawls that I keep out for the winter. Upon examination I realized that there had been moth spread from some unwashed fiber in my stash into the shawl basket and that two of the shawls (this one and the red EZimmerman Pi are Squared shawl) were among the victims. Unfortunately I was completely unable to cope with the situation as it required at that time due to a long drawn out flare of my Crohn's Disease which I have had for the last 50 years or so, since I was a child in elementary school, which will periodically interfere with my ability to cope with the demands of daily life. So I just tossed the suspected victims into a garbage bag and placed them in isolation, and expelled the unwashed fiber to the land fill. Two months or so later I was able to go through my fiber more thoroughly, mend some of the less egregious moth damage on a couple of the shawls, but had to admit that my two absolute favorites had suffered irreversible damage and had to be tossed out as well. I was too sad to even discuss it for a while.
Finally this fall I told Joe, my husband, about the losses and because he is awesome and the best husband on the planet he began to do research into how to ward off moth menaces in the future. For Christmas he ordered a hand made cedar chest which is very fragrant and now sitting in the studio with 2.7 pounds of grey Icelandic hoggit (lamb fleece). There will be more pictures of the chest, the fleece, stories about the source of the fleece, who did the prep, etc., where I will go on and on about my long term project which is....
I am going to make another one, not exactly the same of course, but similiar and in the Hap Shawl tradition. I will be spinning the wool, making the shawl but a bit bigger this time I think for drama. This particular project will go on for months so you will be getting updates interspersed with other, less ambitious projects that I am working on. I have resolved to make myself whole and rise from the ashes. I'll have to think of another name for this one -- may be the Phoenix Hap Shawl? Feel free to leave suggestions.
Finally this fall I told Joe, my husband, about the losses and because he is awesome and the best husband on the planet he began to do research into how to ward off moth menaces in the future. For Christmas he ordered a hand made cedar chest which is very fragrant and now sitting in the studio with 2.7 pounds of grey Icelandic hoggit (lamb fleece). There will be more pictures of the chest, the fleece, stories about the source of the fleece, who did the prep, etc., where I will go on and on about my long term project which is....
I am going to make another one, not exactly the same of course, but similiar and in the Hap Shawl tradition. I will be spinning the wool, making the shawl but a bit bigger this time I think for drama. This particular project will go on for months so you will be getting updates interspersed with other, less ambitious projects that I am working on. I have resolved to make myself whole and rise from the ashes. I'll have to think of another name for this one -- may be the Phoenix Hap Shawl? Feel free to leave suggestions.
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