When people ask what my favorite yarn is, I have a very, VERY hard time narrowing it down.  I am a wooly girl for sure, but surprisingly, over the last few years, among the raves about Shelter and Puffin and Noro, a little linen birdie has flown into the mix.  Sparrow, the fingering weight linen from Quince, is a seriously wonderful yarn.  Which is why, when I talked to Pam at Quince about designing some shawls for the spring, it was at the very top of my list.
One of those shawls came out a few weeks ago--meet Rue!



I started working on this shawl design right as winter was turning into spring here in Portland.  In my walks around my neighborhood, the sidewalks were starting to show through the dirt and sand of the winter and the new grasses were starting to come up through the old, frost-bleached ones.  Later, as time went on and I was knitting the sample, the tiniest of the early spring flowers started appearing.



The shawl was designed to mimic those seasonal changes--the transition from cold to warm, season to season, linear to organic.



And let me gush about this yarn a bit further: holy GOODNESS does it hold a block beautifully.  The crispness and the drape of the lace pattern wouldn't be possible without the wonderful staying power of the linen.  I can't wait to work with it further!



Rue is knit in a traditional top-down triangular shape, and calls for 5 skeins of Sparrow in sans.  You can find it at Quince here, and on Ravelry here!