Casting on: Woodland Shawl

I still have some catching up to do on the blog.  I wasn't sure which project to write about next, but I saw that a couple of you asked specifically what I started to knit with my hand-dyed yarn.   I appreciate every comment and question!  So, I will answer your questions first.  Here again is the photo that both Zonda from ZKnits and Sews, and Amber from Nature-Drunk asked about:

It's the Woodland Shawl by Nikol Lohr.  I'm loving this pattern.  It is lace that is easy enough to be TV or car knitting, with an addictive 16 row repeat.  It's also one of those patterns that is highly adaptable.  As you can see on Ravelry it can be knit as a scarf or a shawl and, as a bonus, it is free over at The Thrifty Knitter. 

I am knitting it with my Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply that I got for free with a Rowan subscription last year. (I let my subscription lapse as I have yet to actually knit anything from the magazine, but I'm enjoying the yarn!)  At the time, I swapped my original free gift of green yarn for a light gray in a swap happening on the Rowan Love group forum.  I finally got around to dyeing it last week when the black walnuts were falling off the tree.  I'll share the dyeing process in a separate post.  Meanwhile...free yarn + free pattern + free black walnut dyebath = Knitting Happiness!