There’s a particular quality to London that rewards slowness. The faster you move through it, the less you see. But when you pause, when you take the long way round, when you sit in a quiet square or wander down a side street with no particular destination, the city’s personality starts to reveal itself.
The hidden garden squares. Cobblestones worn smooth by centuries of feet. Ivy climbing old brick walls. Plane trees lining every Georgian street. Blossom breaking through, improbably, in every crack in the concrete.
That’s the London I’ve been carrying around in my heart and my design notebook. And today, I’m so pleased to finally share what it became.
The Shawl Society 6: Field Notes from London is open.
Six secret shawl patterns, released one per month over six months. Each one drawn from a different corner of a city that keeps surprising me, no matter how well I think I know it. You won’t know what’s coming until each reveal, and that, as anyone who has knitted a mystery collection with me before will know, is what makes it so much fun.
“It is the glory of London that it is always ending and beginning anew, and that a visitor, with a good eye and indefatigable feet, will find in her travels all the Londons she has ever met in the pages of books, one atop the other, like the strata of the Earth.”
— Anna Quindlen, Imagined London
What is the Shawl Society?
If you haven’t joined us before, here’s how it works.
Once a month, for six months, a new shawl pattern arrives in your Ravelry library. The design is kept completely secret until the moment of release — the shape, the construction, the stitch pattern, all of it hidden until the reveal. What you do know is that something is coming. And that’s a particular kind of pleasure in itself.
Knitters who might never have reached for a crescent shawl find themselves casting one on and falling in love with the construction. Techniques that looked intimidating on their own turn out to be deeply approachable in the right context. Experienced knitters get to set aside their preferences and be genuinely surprised. Newer knitters get to challenge themselves in a way that feels like an adventure rather than a test.
The finished collection is the same six patterns for everyone: and completely different every time, in every yarn, every colourway, every pair of hands. This is our sixth season, which means there are five completed collections already out in the world.
The details
The Shawl Society 6 is available now at the early bird price of £10.95, available until the first shawl is revealed on Thursday 23rd April. After that date, the collection price rises to £18.
No code needed — the discount is applied automatically at checkout. Prices exclude locally applicable taxes, calculated at checkout.
Join the Shawl Society 6 on Ravelry
Join the Shawl Society 6 on Gumroad
If you’re purchasing on Ravelry, please make sure you’re logged in so that your patterns download to your library automatically.
Pattern release dates
Shawl 1 — Thursday 23rd April
Shawl 2 — Thursday 21st May
Shawl 3 — Thursday 25th June
Shawl 4 — Thursday 23rd July
Shawl 5 — Thursday 20th August
Shawl 6 — Thursday 17th September
Yarn hints
Before each pattern release I’ll be sharing a yarn hints post here on the blog, with everything you need to shop or stash dive ahead of each reveal. Watch this space.
The best way to make sure you don’t miss them is to sign up for the Curious Handmade newsletter, where all the hints, updates, and behind the scenes notes land first.
Sign up for the Curious Handmade newsletter
Join the conversation
Share your yarn choices, works in progress, and finished shawls on Instagram using the hashtag #TSS6 — I’d love to see what you’re making. You’re also welcome to join the conversation in the Curious Handmade Ravelry Group.
I hope you’ll come along to London with me for this season of The Shawl Society. It’s where I returned to knitting as an adult, and where I found so many knitting BFFs along the way. London is such a special place, even for a virtual visit…and it’s even better with good company.
Happy knitting, Helen x
The post The Shawl Society 6: Field Notes from London is here appeared first on Curious Handmade Knitting Patterns and Knitting Podcast.
