Jul 5, 20192 min read

Bronze Age

In addition to being a scifi nerd I'm also a bit of a history buff. When I was a kid I wanted to be an archeologist or a paleontologist. This was very much influenced by the fact that, when I was a kid, both Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade came out. Thirty years later I'm not an archeologist but The Last Crusade is still one of my favorite movies.

Close up of the lace pattern on Bronze Age

The Bronze Age shawl was born out of the concept of riches buried under the layers of time and dirt. Knitting this shawl is what I imagine an archeologist goes through: unearthing artifacts of long-forgotten periods, little by little revealing a deep history of those who became before us.

The shawl starts with stockinette and then gradually transforms into double eyelets, followed by increasingly elaborate lace patterns. All three lace patterns have some common elements but they get richer and more nuanced as the pattern progresses. But fear not, none of the lace patterns are difficult! In fact, Bronze Age makes for an excellent TV or social knitting project. It's interesting enough and keeps you engaged but the lace patterns are quickly memorized so you don't have to keep staring at the instructions. All lace patterns come with both written and charted instructions.

The pattern is written for fingering-weight yarn and comes in two sizes. The smaller size, Shawlette, is a quick one-skein project... perfect for those single skeins in your stash you don't know what to make with. The accessory-sized Shawlette takes approx. 400 m or 440 yd of yarn. For the larger sized Shawl you need approx. 615 m or 675 yd of yarn — that's about 1½ to 2 skeins of sock yarn or merino singles. The difference between the two sizes is in how many times the lace patterns are repeated.

Kässäkerho Pom Pom Suoma Single in the colorway Kupari

For my Bronze Age sample I used Kässäkerho Pom Pom Suoma Single, (100% wool, 205 m/50 g) a deliciously soft, hand dyed, non-superwash 100% Finnsheep singles yarn in the colorway Kupari (Copper). This yarn comes in 50 g skeins so you need two for the smaller size, three for the larger shawl. The lace patterns in Bronze Age are so simple it works well in solid, semi-solid, ombre, gradient, or even variegated yarns.

Bronze Age is now available for download on both Ravelry and LoveCrafts. Use the hashtags #bronzeageshawl and #talviknits on Instagram so I can admire your beautiful shawl!