My Northmavine Hap

For my birthday this year I received Kate Davies’ Colours of Shetland book. It contains patterns for some beautiful knitwear but with Summer on the way I decided to make the Northmavine Hap as it’s something I could use before the Winter.

The Northmavine hap is a beautiful knitted shawl inspired by the landscape of Northmavine:

“A warm hap, with dramatic waves of colour inspired by the bright greens and blues of the rocks and water which shape the rugged landscape of Northmavine.”

And according to her book, to be ‘weel happit’ is to be well wrapped up against the cold.

Wool

Choosing wool for this project took me a while.The pattern specified a jumper weight 2 ply Jamieson & Smith wool but I had a Deramores gift voucher so I wanted to buy the materials from there this time. After much deliberating I finally decided on Rowan Pure Wool 4ply. I wanted to use pure wool rather than a blend and the selection of blues available was lovely. If you don’t want to read about the process of making this, skip down to the bottom of the post for pictures of the finished hap.

(mis)Counting stitches

This pattern is quite easy – you only need a few different stitches to create the pattern and the whole shawl is made from a few foundation rows and a 24 row repeat. However, I’m not very good at keeping track of my stitches and in this project it’s really important in order for the pattern to be successful. Because of this I found it challenging and at the beginning of the project I had to unpick my beginning rows six times (argh!). In the end I made sure I counted all stitches at the end of every row to make sure I had the correct number. It took me longer to finish the project but it was worth it. But don’t let my poor stitch counting ability put you off making this, it’s really fun.

Blocking

When I got to the end my hap was a scrunched up ball of ripples. I soaked it in water and wool wash – I chose Ecover because it’s kind to the planet.

Then I stretched the hap and pinned it onto a towel. You’re suppose to use blocking wires but I didn’t have any so I used pins, trying to avoid any puckering around the edges or splitting the fibres.

The finished hap

This hap is really versatile, it can be worn like a shawl…

Wrapped and tied around your body…

Worn as a scarf.

If I was to do anything differently next time, I’d consider adding an extra 24 row repeat (to make it extra snuggly for the Winter) and I would use the Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight wool – it looks divine! I’m really chuffed with the end result and I every time I look at it I can’t believe I made it.

Notes

• Pattern: Northmavine Hap by Kate Davies
• Wool: Rowan Pure Wool 4 ply
• Wool colour: Porcelaine / cream (451), Blue Iris / mid blue (455), Indigo / dark blue (410), Eau de Nil / duck egg blue (450), Shale / grey (402)
• Balls: 5 – with some of each colour leftover
• Knitting needles: 1x 4mm circular needle (100cm)
• You can substitute 2ply jumper weight wool with 4ply wool