As you may remember during British Wool Week I started knitting a shawl in British Suffolk wool. By the end of the week I had only completed a bit of it, but because the wool was chunky and the needles large it was soon finished. It is great for wearing around the house, especially when sitting still… as I am now, writing this post. However, I realised that I needed a pin to hold it in place… something that I didn’t have.

As you know, I like to support small producers, so I hunted around the internet, but just couldn’t find anything that appealed. Eventually, however, a friend recommended a company in Portugal who sell via etsy and who will make items to order, so I contacted Pedro and Cris at Artis Ignis. What a lovely experience – they told me that they had been thinking of making shawl pins for a while, so my request had given them a nudge. Then, they sent me some sketches, asked me which I liked and offered to make up a couple of pins, photograph them and I could choose – with no obligation to buy if I didn’t like them.

Artis Ignis shawl pin – designed for me

When I received the photographs, I was delighted… I had asked for a pin with leaves and was given the choice of a vine theme or ivy leaves. For me it had to be the latter to fit in with my British wool – ivy is characteristic of British winters (think of the Christmas carol ‘The Holly and The Ivy’) so seemed the perfect companion to my cosy shawl. In total from first request to the pin arriving it took just over three weeks, including me spending a few days making a decision about designs!

I have been waiting until I had a pin to photograph the shawl , but here it is:

British Suffolk Wool Shawl and Portuguese Alder Wood Pin