Mystical lanterns shawl by Jane Crow >>>

After having so much fun with the Mexican blanket I decided to take another shot at a Jane Crowfoot-design. This time the Mystical Lantern shawl she designed for her label Janie Crow, available in the tantalizing colors of Jamiesons Spindrift wool. Jamieson's is a small company based on the Shetland Isles, where their yarns are sourced, spun and dyed. Jane made the shawl available in 4 color schemes: Storm (blue-grey), Aurora (turquois end purples), Monsoon (vibrant Indian colours) and Mistral (a variety of old colours). I was so happy when the box with woolies arrives, what great colours! I choose the Storm color-variation. Jamieson gave theirs wools inspiring names like Stonehenge, Highland Mist, Slate and Steel, and Rosemary. It made me long for an autumn in Scotland (where I also went in october!). The patterns of the shawl is based on a granny hexagon, but Jane made changes to come up with the curved tessellates designs.

Picture from Janie Crows' Storm shawl
(janie.crow.co.uk)

The name of a repeated tessellating design like this is called an 'Ogee' pattern in Arabesque design. It took Jane a few weeks to get the design of these blocks right; initially she came up with loads of really complicated ways to create this motif, but in the end it was so simple - funny how sometimes a design process can take so long and then the outcome can be so easy to make.


The fun part of the pattern is that you choose your colors intiutive. You put all the balls in a closed bag, crab one, do your crochet, put the used ball in a new bag, and crab another one from the first bag, do your crochet and so on. So fate will determine the outcome of your shawl! If you can't let loose that way, you can always cheat by taking 4 balls from the bag and select your favorite ones for the biggest crochet-part. I didn't want  my shawl to be too dark so I cheated now and again a bit.....
After you made lots of these fun ogees you arrange them in long stripes which you crochet together in a big triangle.The triangle gets a border on the long side and ready you are. I washed my shawl carefully in Eucalan and blocked it on de Tempex plate covered with towels. The Jamison Spindrift is not a very soft wool - it looks and feels like a rural product, which is its charm also! - but after soaking it in Eucalan it is a nice, soft wool that doesn't itch.