The Shawl Society 5

One of my favorite knit-wear designers is Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade.  She designs fabulous socks and shawls.  I loved participating in her MKAL last year – my first ever mystery knit-a-long!  So much fun!  Every year, Helen puts out a Sock Society where she releases, usually, 6 sock patterns throughout the year.  And she does the same thing for her Shawl Societies.  

I’m so excited for this year’s Shawl Society!

What It Is

To join in the fun of this Shawl Society, you can buy the patterns before ever seeing them, in a pre-sale, for a very low price.  Then, you get alerts every time Helen Stewart releases a pattern – and your Ravelry library is updated with the new pattern.  For extra fun, Helen gives you hints about what yarn a pattern will use before the pattern is released.

You can also buy the collection after the initial pre-sale, for a higher price.  Or, later in the year, Helen releases the patterns for individual sale.  I’ve always bought the pre-sale to a) support this fabulous designer and b) to get the lowest price.

This Year

Shawl Society sign-ups begin May 7th this year, so mark your calendars!  This is when the price will be the lowest.  The first pattern will be revealed on May 20th – and Helen has already let us know what yarn to buy for the first shawl!

Yarns

You never know what weight of yarn or how many skeins you’ll need until Helen releases clues before a shawl’s release.  It’s great fun seeing what yarn dyer she spotlights for her designs.   

For the first shawl, Helen uses Skein Yarn’s Merino Silk Sport in a lightly speckled colorway.  Skein Yarn has pre-orders up on their website – and the yarn is beautiful!

Conclusion

I can’t wait to see Helen’s designs for this year’s Shawl Society.  There are still patterns from her previous Societies that I want to knit!  I even have the yarn for one of them!  There is never enough time to knit all the patterns!  

But if you need some good shawl patterns, I can’t recommend Helen Stewart’s enough!