Anatomy of my first shawl design

It started with my yarn dyeing experiments, one that produced a skein that went from a grey purple to yellow and then to a pinkish purple. For some reason this colorway spoke to me.

 Immediately I thought of going from dawn to daylight to dusk.

 For the dawn section I wanted it to be earthy, not lacy so I used only a few yarn overs. I also wanted it to be chunkier than the sum section so I used bigger knit & purl patterns in grey/purple sections that symbolized the dawn.

As dawn moved into the mid-day sun section I wanted to add more air and therefore added more yarn overs and made the break from dawn to day a strip of yarn overs. In the daylight section I also wanted to convey a sense of sun rays so I made a series diagonal decreases paired with yarn overs and I also had them move in two directions.

Finally the dusk section I wanted to go back to earth, so no yarn overs were used. A flowing pattern of knits and purls was used to symbolize how everything cycles in a day. 

And because this was not a lacy shawl I finished it off with a few rows of garter stitch. 

I am extremely pleased with the way it turned out and I am going to see if I can market the pattern. 

I have written up the instructions and through a free testing group in Ravelry I am asked for at least 3 people to test my pattern. If all goes well I can publish the pattern in early March. So excited. I have to say I really enjoyed designing this shawl, it knit up quick because it was coming from my brain and I didn't have to stop to check the pattern. I think I can safely say the designing bug has hit, I can't wait to get some other designs put together. A number of concepts are rolling around in my head. While I wait for this pattern to be tested I am testing two patterns for other designers. I feel it only fair if I ask for someone's help that I also help someone. 

off to knit ...

Here are some better pictures taken using the snow as a backdrop