Joji Locatelli Jujuy shawl in Eden Cottage Yarns

As many of  you will have noticed I have recently expanded my making and crafting addiction to include knitting. I have tried out a kitting kit from We Are Knitters as well as a Craftsy class on how to knit socks. Over the summer I decided to try my hand at a pattern all on my own. I chose a shawl because I figured that if it didn't fit or my gauge was off it wouldn't be the end of the world! Obviously I'm really proud of my first shawl...but boy did it take time! If you are also taking up knitting and thinking of your next project, have a read on to see how it was for me. If you are experienced, you can read this and probably chuckle at my rookie errors....

Yarn

I wanted to try an independent yarn company, basically having spent an inordinate amount of time watching podcasts on YouTube populated by knitters who love a bit of hand dyed yarn. At the time I was looking Eden Cottage Yarns were just about to release an update and I had a good look around their site. Being new to knitting I decided to try a different yarn base for each of the three colours that you need for the shawl. I was aiming for a warm toned cream to peach for the first two colours with a contrasting chocolate brown for the border. When the colours arrived the peach was a little more pink than I was expecting (I am colourblind so this sometimes happens when I order online). Luckily it still worked, just not my original idea.

The three yarns I used were:

• Bowland 4ply (100% Blue Faced Leicester wool) in the Linen colourway (£20)
• Brimham 4ply (85% superwash merino/15% nylon) in the Apricot Peach colourway (£18)
• Titus 4 ply (75% merino/25% silk) in the Compost colourway (£20)

I used pretty much all of the Bowland and Brimham, and have about 40g of Compost leftover (in case you are considering using any yarn from your stash). They were all 100g skeins to start with, and were delivered pretty quickly too.

In terms of the feel of each of the three yarns, they are clearly different when you are knitting with them. However, the Titus is the only one that really feels different in the finished shawl - unsurprisingly, it's much silkier! The Merino/Nylon mix (which is able to be used for socks) is softer than the BFL. I'm glad I have all three a try because now I know that I am not as likely to use BFL in future projects....it's ok, but not my favourite out of the three. Blocking the shawl also helped the three yarns settle down and the final shawl was a lot softer than I thought it would be.

Joji Locatelli's official Jujuy images

Pattern and Instructions

I bought the pattern through Joji Locatelli's store area in Ravelry for $5.50, which means that you can instantly download the instructions, save them to your library and start knitting straight away. The pdf download has fabric requirements, suggested needles and the gauge required. As it is a shawl it isn't imperative to match the gauge exactly, but I still knitted a test swatch because I'm still learning about my individual knitting style.

The techniques involved are fairly simple (clearly...I'm a real beginner!). Starting the shawl requires a garter tab which took a few tries and some You Tube tutorials to master. Most of the stitches are easy to pick up and don't require a lot of concentration as you make your way through the rows. The changing of colour mixed with alternating of two garter and lace is what adds interest to this shawl. Due to the colour changes occurring at the beginning of rows, that is also easy to get the hang of (again, thank you You Tube).

The only time I encountered a problem was with understanding how to form the short rows in the pattern - it is the first time I have come across it in any form and it didn't make sense at all. I did post a question on Ravelry that was replied to pretty quickly, which basically said to keep going and trust the pattern. There was a tutorial linked in the pattern which I used and eventually it worked out. I like how it leads to the differently sized wedges of lace and garter stitch across the shawl.

I also was knitting far too tightly at the start and ends of rows, which led to the puckering effect you can see in the middle of the shawl as pictured above. When it's on it isn't noticeable, but it's certainly something I'm going to try to avoid next time. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it being worn because I've gifted it already.

I really enjoyed knitting this as my first shawl. I felt that there was enough to keep me interested without being too challenging. It was relaxing to knit over the summer and was one that I could have out whilst in company because it didn't require lots of concentration. I would definitely recommend this to a beginner looking to take on a bigger project and a more experienced knitter would probably fly through this! Next up, I'm looking at either the Slow Curves shawl by Joji Locatelli or the Boho Blush shawl by Andrea Mowry. One thing I can tell you is it'll be a long time before I can show it here!