November Coulee Dreams

My Coulee Shawl (v. 2.1) is off the needles!

(For most of the rest of the world reading this, who’s not from ‘around here’:  Coulees (as used in this area of Southwestern Wisconsin) are the valleys between river bluffs, derived from the French word ‘couler’, to flow.  When I first designed this shawl, based on the Seafoam Stitch from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury, I needed to name it something.  Seafoam Shawl, of course, was hopelessly unoriginal.  And you must understand that names derived from or paying homage to Seafoam, like the Morning Surf scarf, just don’t resonate so much with landlocked me.  I live about as far from any salt water as it is possible to be in North America.

But the undulations reminded me of the curves of the coulees, in a way.  So, Coulee Shawl it was.  And the colors of this gorgeous Briar Rose yarn really remind me of fall and November, so it is so very appropriate that I started this at Rhinebeck and finished it mid-November.

However, I’ve redesigned this shawl from my original.  I redid the top, which didn’t really fit the main part of the shawl.  Plus, this time I used a modification of the Seafoam stitch.  I’ll tell you all about it when I get the pattern all written up, before the end of the month.

I could have finished this last week, at my meeting, but couldn’t find the last of the three yarn cakes I’d divided the yarn into when winding.  Fortunately, I found the yarn cake Sunday night (in my Rhinebeck tote bag, hanging on my chair in the dining room — of course!), cast off the shawl yesterday morning, and blocked it today.

Here it is just off the needles.  With a little kitten help.

Unblocked, 41 inches by 21 inches.  Blocked and pinned, 63 by 33 inches.

It’s critical to block this pattern stitch with a firm hand, to help it open up.

It’s still drying as I write.  Modeling shots will have to await drying and daylight — perhaps this weekend?  My model is gone then, but I’ll see what I can do.