Hello again, fiber friends! This has been a project years in the making, but it’s finally complete – the fully realized version of my Treegarth Shawl is now available for download. We’d really love to see you give it a heart on Ravelry, but even more we’d love to see you knit it. If you decide to embark on this lace adventure, please share your progress shots & finished shawls! You can do this either by linking the project on Ravelry or by using #treegarthshawl and #cozyhearthyarnworks. You are also welcome to tag our accounts directly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.
This shawl has been a labor of love for years. If you’re a long-time fan of our work, you may remember the Open-Ended Treegarth. For our newer friends, a custom commission in 2017 originally inspired this design. I’ve been chipping away at this design throughout the intervening time. This shawl has now been knit three times, in three different yarns. If you want to learn more about the meaning behind the design and my personal experience knitting it, read more below!
WHY TREEGARTH?
The initial themes for this shawl, back in the very beginning, were leaves and safety. I chose a selection of traditional lace motifs, carefully picked to complement each other while providing variation. I tried to arrange them in ways that bear significance to me – a star of hope in the center, surrounded by gentle waves, and by leaves that first shelter inward and then bloom outward, all interspersed with enclosing rings of concentric garter stitch. The word ‘treegarth’ uses the archaic –garth ending to refer to an enclosed green space or a garden. I first stumbled across it in my early childhood love of Tolkien. It felt perfect to describe the sense of enclosure and peace and growth I intended this shawl to provide.
We’re often inspired in our fiber arts by our fictional loves <3
VARIATIONS & SIZING
For the original custom shawl, I ended the shawl after only six repeats of the blooming lace motif. Rather than a knitted-on edging, I finished around the entire shawl with a stretchy, loose bind off. This created a slightly more loose, organic edging, and suited her under-5′ frame perfectly. Both my personal sample and my test knitter finished out the pattern as written, complete with edging leaf lace. These shawls on the models you see in our pattern photography are around 5’7″ and tend to wear sweaters knit to fit a 48″ chest, for a size comparison.
Two Treegarth shawl samples, styled similarly. The shawl on the left is styled higher on the shoulders, and was blocked slightly less aggressively.
Your own finished shawl can vary greatly in size depending on how firmly you block it, and your own finishing choices, but it’s designed to be a “full body” shawl. If you need to increase the size, rather than adding more repeats, I’d recommend sizing up the needles. The recommended gauge gives a rather close fabric; especially if you choose a heartier sock yarn, you could easily go up one or two needle sizes.
Before and after blocking – you have a LOT of control over your finished shawl size!
YARN CHOICES
The original three Treegarth shawls (the custom commission, my personal proof-of-design, and the test knit) were all made with different yarn! The custom shawl was knit in Mountain Colors Twizzlefoot. The customer chose the yarn by feel in our (sadly now closed) LYS. She loved the colorways Turtle Lake, Bluebird, and Blueberry, so I faded them into one another. I did not take as thorough of notes as I could have regarding yardage, but I did complete the (custom-sized) shawl with less than three skeins of this yarn. I found it very pleasant to work with, and it wears well!
The original custom Treegarth shawl
For my own shawl, however, I wanted to try a yarn with a more “crisp” body and a gently heathered colorway, to see how that increased the lace visibility. I used Knit Picks Palette in Shire Heather, and I am deeply happy with the result. While not as magically soft, it creates a lace with a lot of body and presence. This yarn also weighs practically nothing compared to a weightier sock yarn! I used 1340 yards, just under six 50g balls. This was an incredibly affordable option, which was important for me personally. I like knowing my designs can look good at a range of budget options!
My Treegarth shawl, spread out on an early autumn lawn.
Finally, our test knitter made her shawl using our very own Heritage Sock, dyed here at Cozy Hearth Yarn Works in the colorway Gorm. She was the first knitter other than us knit sisters to embark on a large project with our products. Thankfully, she approved! Her shawl took 1346 yards, just under four skeins of yarn. I’d love to also knit up a Treegarth in our colorway Uaine someday, but at this point we felt like we’d tested enough. It was time to get the pattern to you.
My tester’s Treegarth shawl, wrapped around her shoulders. Thank you so much, Dixie – it turned out gorgeous!
Speaking of you getting this pattern, though…
FREE?? REALLY???
Yes really! We have several reasons for this decision. First, we have a firm commitment to financial accessibility, in every part of our business, so we will always offer several free patterns among our paid options. Second, this is my first design this big! I’ve done my best, but I know despite testing & editing, we simply didn’t have the energy or the resources to do as professional of a job as I would have liked. I didn’t want to keep waiting for the perfect someday, though, so I’m releasing this pattern, imperfections and all, without asking you to pay for any potential headaches or mistakes.
Third, I wanted to do something to thank all of you. This year has been monstrously hard for everyone, in many ways but especially financially… yet you all came through, took a gamble on our new yarn line, and made enough purchases to cover our overhead when we were extremely nervous about how our business would look as the year came closer to an end. I really can’t thank you all enough.
If you try out this pattern and really, really love it, or if you want a tangible way to show your support, you can:
- tell your friends about us!
- follow us on social media and interact with our posts
- purchase our yarns to knit your own Treegarth shawl
- give us a donation of any amount in support of our work
We love you all so much, from the bottom of our wooly little hearts. I hope you enjoy this pattern! Stay cozy, friends <3
-Kit
