The Pressed Violets Shawl in Poema Mohair

Today I present you the Pressed Violets Shawl, a delicate and airy lace shawl. Made with the long gradient yarn Poema Mohair, this shawl pairs lightweight elegance with eye-catching color transition.

The Yarn

When I first saw the Laines du Nord Poema Mohair yarn at the the h+h Fair in Cologne last March, I knew it would be an awesome yarn to work with.

Made with high-quality mohair from South Africa, this silk-mohair yarn is made without the addition of silicone during the production process, allowing the mohair to really bloom. This gives each skein a beautifully soft, “hairy” halo.

What also sets Poema Mohair apart is its stunning colorwork. Laines du Nord is well-known for producing beautiful long gradients, which they can reproduce with exceptional accuracy – there are few if no differences between dye lots.

As any professional dyers will tell you, reproducing colorways with high accuracy, especially gradients, is a significant technical challenge!

The Design

Then, as soon as Poema Mohair arrived at Swiss Crochet, I started looking for pattern ideas: what to make with it?

For this task, of course, I went to Ravelry, searching through my queue and favorite patterns. It didn’t take long to find a pattern that I wanted to make for a long time, the Pressed Violets Shawl by Lena Fedotova.

The Pressed Violets Shawl features a simple geometric pattern made with double crochet and chain stitches – a small-repeat filet pattern. The border pattern features some more stitches and it might look complex, but it is rather simple and straightforward.

The pattern features both written and charted instructions, includes measurements and a schematic and it is easy to follow.

I made the triangular version, but instructions for a rectangular version are also included.

This small-repeat geometric pattern works perfectly with the slow changing colors of the gradient; no element overwhelms the eye, either the color changes or the lacy texture.

I have been a fan of Lena’s work for a long time, and working from her patterns is always a pleasure. She creates unique stitch patterns that look gorgeous, but are also fun to work on! The Pressed Violets Shawl is a great example of this.

The Project

For this project, I wanted the shawl to be extra-large, so I used two skeins of Poema Mohair in the color 07. I started working with the pale blue end of each skein.

To integrate the gradient of both skeins seamlessly, I used a simple technique: I worked 2 rows with one skein and 2 rows with the other skein, alternating between the two. In other words: I made 2-row stripes alternating between each ball of yarn.

My goal was to use up both skeins completely, so I worked as many main pattern rows as I could, before switching to the border pattern. Unfortunately, I kind of lost at “yarn chicken”, and was unable to complete the last border row that features the picot detail. This means that the border on my shawl looks a lot rounder than the original design. I quite like it!

As soon I finished the shawl, I washed it with Eucalan – allowing the yarn to bloom and giving it a gorgeous Jasmine fragrance. With the used stitch gauge and fiber composition, I did not have to block the shawl, just letting it dry flat was enough. If I had made it looser or denser, blocking might have been necessary.

I had lot’s of fun working on this shawl and now I enjoy the beautiful result; the weather might be getting warmer, but the softness and the vibrant colors of this shawl are irresistible! 🙂