I was asked by Anne Stevens Frost of I Thought I Knew How podcast to create a design for a Shetland Hogmanay inspired advent calendar which was released in December 2022. Each of the Shetland based designers were paired with a Shetland based wool producer and I was paired with Cecil Tait of West Lynne Croft in Shetland and I was challenged to come up with a cabled design using only 50g of his double knit yarn.
My design was inspired by the Shieldmaidens or female warriors which are often featured in Scandinavian tales of folklore and mythology. There is some debate about whether or not Shield- maidens really existed but I like to think of fierce Viking warrior women fighting and winning battles alongside their male counterparts!
The headband is created in Shetland DK weight wool from West Lynne Croft in Shetland. The Tait family who own and run this croft have worked the land there for six generations. They have recently branched out into producing their own yarn from the croft and I was delighted to be asked to work on a design using this wonderful yarn.
The headband starts with a provisional cast on then charted cables are worked back and forth. The band is then joined by a 3-needle bind off before stitches are picked up around each edge and an applied I-cord edging is worked.

https://www.paparwark.co.uk/west-lynne-wool/

Yarn
• 50g West Lynne DK wool. 100% Shetland wool, 100m per 50g.
• Samples pictured were knitted in “Natural White” and “Ocean Blue”

Size
Completed headband measures 56cm/22” circumference and 12cm/4.75” deep at widest part if gauge is met.

Notions
3.75mm straight needles plus a 3rd 3.75mm needle for 3-needle bind-off
Cable needle
3.75mm 60cm circular needle (or preferred method for working in the round)
Tapestry needle
Crochet hook and waste smooth yarn for provisional
cast on

Tension
30stitches and 14 rows to 10cm/4” over Shieldmaiden cable pattern
Check your gauge carefully and adjust needle size up or down accordingly if required
I reused the yarn in my swatch to work the i-cord edging to ensure that there was ample yarn

It has come to my attention that a line was missed off the pattern from my initial draft.
The pattern is currently with my tech editor and will be updated shortly however in the meantime it should read as follows

Commence chart B
Starting at stitch 1, row 1, work through rows 1-30 of chart B slipping the first stitch of every row.
Repeat chart B a further 2 times then repeat rows 1-15 once.

I am so sorry this has happened and please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any further issues.