This week the Celtic Knits Club 2022 second instalment packages have been arriving around the world. There have been lots of exciting exclamations coming from our Knithub, and many of you have been counting down the days for the pattern release.

If you aren’t currently a Celtic Knits Club member, you can still join us with the Celtic Knits Digital Bundle.

So, let’s dive into the Turas Shawl:

The Turas Shawl

Turas, pronounced ’tur-as’ or ‘truss’ depending on dialect, means ‘journey’. The shawl is designed by Irish designer Eimear Earley whom you may remember from our 2021 club and the popular Taisce cowl.

The concept of the Turas shawl came from the question ‘What does Celtic Mean?’ 

The answer is… complicated. And includes different groups of people throughout Europe over a long period, evolving cultures and languages – some of which are still used today.

Turas is inspired by the notion of different elements of Celtic culture coming together, moving apart, and changing over time. The cable motif expresses this idea through a combination of simple rope cables, travelling stitches and braids.

Eimear designed a shawl featuring this stunning cable motif (seen above and below) that uses quite a few different elements to represent the notion of many things grouping together.  Simple 2/2 rope cables transition into a four-stranded braid, which then becomes a six-stranded loop with rope cable. The braid and loops are repeated before transitioning back to the simple rope braid. 

Overall the shawl is shaped from side to side, initially with increases and then with decreases on the second side. To round out the ‘v’ shape of the shawl at the centre, Eimear has used short rows to finish the shaping. All along the bottom edge, there is an integrated I-Cord edge that is worked at the same time as the shawl.

You can see at the bottom of the shawl centre how Eimear has modified the chart to incorporate the short rows. Simplifying the cable to allow for the shorter rows. The cables are all shown as both charts and in written form, so you can pick your favourite method of working.

The videos are a huge help if you’re new to cable or if you want a little extra help picturing the construction of the shawl.

Pattern Details

SIZES
Small (Large)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Finished Span: 68 (72)” / 173 (183) cm
Depth: 23 (24.5)” / 58.5 (62) cm

YARN
Stolen Stitches ‘Blasta’ (60% Irish wool, 40% New Zealand wool, 232 yds / 212
m per 100g); colour: Coillte, 3 (4) skeins
NOTE: Club yarn is sufficient for the second size.
Approx. Yarn Used: 644 (752) yds / 590 (687) m

NEEDLES & NOTIONS
US size 6 / 4 mm circular needle, 24″/ 60 cm long
Always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed, as every knitter’s gauge is
unique.
Removable markers, tapestry needle, cable needle.

GAUGE
19 sts and 32 rows = 4″/ 10 cm in Garter Stitch blocked
Cable panel measures 4” / 10 cm across at full width (27 sts), including I-cord
borders.

The Club Extras

This instalment of the Celtic Knits Club has these beautiful beeswax candles by beeswaxcandles.ie  in Co. Leitrim. We fell in love with the textured honeycomb finish, which begs you to run your hands over the candle. These are naturally scented by beeswax, so the fragrance is delicate and light in contrast to the Turas shawl.   

The stunning oat and honey soap bar is our second treat and hails from Bread and Weather. These soaps are plastic and chemical-free and are handmade by Ella right here in Co. Wicklow. These soaps are made in the traditional cold process method using organic, bee-friendly Irish rapeseed oil grown in Co Kilkenny. Great for your skin and great for the bees!

The final extra is these fabulous Celtic knot stitch markers are by Python Charms, and this image was taken by the CKC participant Sammi S. which we had to share. These markers feature the crocodile clip to allow for ease of movement as your shawl progresses. Frankie puts the fun in ‘functional’, and we love how the makers can be used for both knitting and crochet. No limits here!

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Don’t forget you can still join us with the digital bundle here; we still have one more club pattern release to go! And if I have to give you a hint, it’s a bit of a cracker 😉 You can keep up to date with the community and all the Celtic Knits Club news over in our Knithub and, of course, share all your images and tag us on social media. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.

Happy Knitting!

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Eimear Earley lives in Dublin, Ireland, with two small humans and a supportive spouse. Eimear originally learned to knit as a schoolchild, dabbling with leftovers of yarn and absolutely no concept of gauge or ease during her teenage years. After spending her student years playing with molten glass, she now gets her creative kicks from knitting and spinning wool – much more practical pursuits. Eimear loves to reinterpret old Irish things into modern knitwear, from ancient gold artefacts to less ancient cable knitting.

She also likes to drink an awful lot of tea.

Eimear can be found on Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry, and her website.