Today instead of something new, I’m re-releasing an older pattern from my archives, the Loyne Shawl. I originally released this pattern back in 2012 and while it hardly took the internet knitting world by storm, it has a loyal following of people who have made several, and people, including in my own household, who reach for theirs year after year. If that doesn’t constitute reason to give the pattern a little attention, a re-format and a re-knit in contemporary yarns, then I’m not sure what does.

Loyne works with three colours in a simple, but oh so effective, slip stitch pattern that creates a fleur de lys like pattern.

It’s such a simple, rhythmic knit and I think herein lies some of the charm for the knitter. That this stitch pattern, which is after all a fancy garter stitch, creates such a lovely bouncy fabric accounts, I think, for how loved it is by recipients and wearers.

For the thrifty knitter, the combination of relatively small amounts of 3 different colours means that it’s perfect for leftovers. My original samples used a combination of different yarns of the same weight and they looked fabulous together. This time I’ve used 3 colours of the same yarn.

That said the smaller bandana size shawl was knit up in Susan Crawford’s Wold Sportweight yarn which I had left over from a Miller hat kit. I had 30g left of three of the colours in the kit and this was perfect for the smaller size. Who doesn’t have 30g of this and that left over from previous projects that would look just wonderful together?

The larger size was knit with 3 x 50g skeins of a beautiful extra fine merino naturally died by the equally beautiful Raffaella of La Piantalana. I was so pleased to have found just the pattern for these gorgeous autumnal colours.

The shawl itself is not just a mix of yarns but a bit of a hybrid style too. Its’s knit from the bottom up getting progressively wider as you go to create a wide shallow triangle that can be styled and worn like a shawl, like a scarf and the smaller size like a bandana as well.

All the technical details and for purchase options can be found here

I hope you take the opportunity to have a bit of fun with this pattern perhaps using precious leftovers, or smaller skeins, or getting really creative with a more random approach for smaller leftovers. To encourage you to do so, the pattern has a re-introductory discount of 1€ on both Ravelry and Payhip with the code ‘LuckToLoyne’ so it will just cost €5, valid until the end of the month .

‘Luck to Loyne’ is the motto on the Lancaster city coat of arms, hence using this as the discount code, and the coat of arms features a fleur de lys, both of which influenced the original design.

When I named the shawl ‘Loyne’ all those years ago, after the old name for the local river now know as the ‘Lune’, I never imagined that this many years on I’d be re-releasing it from our now only newish home in Italy. At that time the river Lune not only shaped the contours of the countryside around us as its broad bends meandered their way to to the tidal estuary and out to sea, but so much more.

As a student I had rowed on the river, in more recent years worked off the stress of a busy work life by swimming in it. We had walked generations of dogs along its banks, got practically knee deep in mud at various times and picked wild garlic, blackberries, wild raspberries and hazelnuts depending on the season. We had cycled alongside it, and over it, and crossed the causeway to Sunderland point, a small spit that separates the mouth of the Lune from Morecambe Bay to walk around the point.

My memories are so visual, etched in my mind and instantly there as I recall any of these activities the way only the everyday can. At the time, when it is your everyday, it is easy to take it for granted and to stop looking, to stop acknowledging how the landscape shapes us. While I feel somewhat nostalgic for this oh so familiar river that has shaped so much of my life, it is a reminder to tune into my new surroundings that are oh so very different.

While I miss the water, I can no longer see either the river or sea daily for the first time in over 35 years, I am instead observing the sky with its rich colours, how the sun illuminates the stone and rock around us, how the hillside changes colours with the seasons from vibrant grey to baked ochre, how the sun dances across it, how the sun sets with a golden glow, and how the moon rises illuminating the sky in the company of the stars that shine so much brighter here in the absence of artificial light, and shoot across the sky to my absolute delight every time.

So, it seems I’m looking back and forward in both my life and knitting, the new year may not have brought so many resolutions but it has brought opportunity for reflection. I hope you’ve been able to have a moment or two to yourself our the holiday season and despite everything, that you’re looking forward with positivity.

Happy Knitting, Tess