The School Gate Shawlette was inspired by the ironwork openings and lattice textures of my son’s school gate. This pattern is a dedicated fundraiser for Every Child Is Your Child Ireland. Every cent from this sale of this pattern goes to ECIYC. There are two ways to get this pattern…
DONATE DIRECTLY: If you donate any amount over €7 to ECIYC via their PayPal, simply send me a pic of your confirmation and I’ll gift you the pattern as a thank you.
BUY THE PATTERN: If you purchase the pattern from my on LoveCrafts or Ravelry, I donate the pattern amount to ECIYC via PayPal. For tax reasons, I prefer you donate directly and I gift the pattern, but it’s all about raising funds for ECIYC so I’m happy however it happens.
Every Child Is Your Child
Every Child is Your Child is a Limerick-based community group in its fourth year running (as of 2020). Their goal is to assist parents of school-going age children living in Direct Provision with back-to-school-related costs. Currently, there are over 2,000 children living in the Direct Provision system in Ireland. Direct Provision is intended to provide for the welfare of asylum seekers and their families as they await decisions on their international protection applications in Ireland. Around 40% have been waiting for more than five years.
This campaign is ECIYC’s only hope to provide 2,000 children living in Direct Provision with essential back-to-school supplies. Asylum seekers live on an allowance of €38.80 per week and €29.80 per child per week without any additional support from social welfare. This equates to an annual allowance of €2,017.60 per adult and €1,549.60 per child. There is a once-a-year back-to-school allowance, but it is not sufficient. It is a huge burden and challenge for parents and for school-age children generally, so this is a small way to help.
Every Child Is Your Child is not just the name of their group, but also what they represent. Let us show the children living in Direct Provision they are not forgotten, but instead that they are valued and deserving of the essential tools to pursue their education and to be children.
You can donate to Every Child Is Your Child Ireland at any time via their PayPal.
The Design
The School Gate Shawlette is a bottom-up crescent-shaped shawlette with two lace patterns. The body of shawl is comprised of columns of eyelets reaching up to the top edge which is a texture-rich lattice design. Increases are made along the edge.
The entire shawl is knit with one six-skein mini fade set, which has a total of 552yds/504m, 120g. You can create your own custom fade or mini skein sequence for your School Gate Shawlette. This would also be a beautiful shawl to knit the body with a single 100g skein, then knit the top edge with a contrasting 20g mini skein. The yardage was exactly perfect for this design.
It is just the right size to fit under layers without adding bulk. The top edge bears a lattice-like stitch design.
The yarn fade also happens to match the colors in my central heterochromia eyes.
The Hand-dyed Yarn
The design came together last summer when I saw a stunning mini skein fade set dyed by Les Belles Lainages. Her luminous 4ply Merino Singles mini skeins were the perfect inspiration for this design. Each of the six 20g (92yds/84m, 100% Merino Wool) mini skein shifted slightly from speckled off-white to a rich rust and patina hues.
