Stats:
Pattern: Ronaes by Karina Westermann, part of her Doggerland Collection.
Yarn: 2-ply handspun shetland laceweight, bought from MC Calcott’s garden shed in Shieldaig, Strathcarron.
Needles: 5mm Spectra acrylic circulars.
Ronaes is the first design from Karie’s Doggerland collection.
It is inspired by archaeology, the landscape, psychogeography.
Immersing yourself in one of Karie’s patterns is an invitation to connect with the land.
At once warm and light, this shawl catches the breeze. It blocked out to over 2 metres long and perhaps 30cm deep at its widest point. But it feels weightless, ethereal.
At the same time, the wool has a sculptural strength. It holds its shape. It holds its own.
While knitting, I was constantly assaulted by the reek of sheep.
It came wafting up at me in damp, lanolin-rich waves.
Sometimes comforting and homely; sometimes overwhelming, too much to bear.
Rather like coming back to the farm after a long absence.
“You hated the land and the coarse speak of the folk and learning was brave and fine one day;
and the next you’d waken with the peewits crying across the hills, deep and deep, crying in the heart of you”
Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song
