Vendanges

For the fresh Fall shawls, I took my inspiration from 2 things: my need of a practical shawl to cover my shoulders and my desire to use some really beautiful yarn I had in my stash for a while.

Now, Fall in Quebec can be quite cold, especially during the evenings on the countryside where my family have their vineyard. I always need an extra layer over my shoulders after we finish the harvesting and finally take some time to relax and eat outside near the vines. So I decided I needed to create a simple and efficient shawl for this special occasion, something feminine and rustic I would wrap myself in as the sun goes down. I wanted a warm body, so squishy garter stitch was the obvious choice. I also wanted feminine and original, so I found this pretty pleated edging, adapted it a bit, added a slip stitch detail and voilà! The idea behind Vendanges was born.

I do love heavier weight yarn for cold weather shawls and I had just the perfect 2 skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh DK in my stash, leftovers from a nice pullover made some length of time ago. I went ahead and worked a classic triangular shawl using the pleated border over a garter stitch body. The triangular version of Vendanges was born, using all but 6gr of the 2 skeins I had, and I had warm and very large shawl perfect for a chilly evening.

During the creation of the triangular version, as I was totally falling in love with the pleated border, I thought that I may enjoy a lighter version of the same shawl. Something less deep and in a lighter yarn, to use up as either a wrap or a scarf over my Fall coat. This is when I had the idea of making a crescent version of the same shawl, and luckily for me, I had a single skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina in 'Amber Trinklet'. So I got ahead and created the crescent shape version of Vendanges from this single skein, and I am quite happy I did.

This pattern is released on Craftsy and Ravelry, and you can buy it now!