I would say this shawl has been in the works since last summer, but truthfully, I've been batting the idea around since late 2012, when I bought two skeins of a beautiful DK-weight silk/merino blend from a friend of mine (Carolyn of Tale & Tendril). The yellow one is called "Lady of the Golden Wood", and the blue one is "Galadriel's Mirror". I knew when I saw them both in her shop that they belonged together permanently, I just had no idea what project they wanted to become.
My only criterion in sketching up design ideas for these skeins was that the pattern had to be inspired by Lord of the Rings, or, more specifically, the Lady Galadriel. So after a lot of sketching, exploring, writing, and rewriting, I finally admitted to myself that what the yarn wanted to become wasn't exactly the shimmery, flowy sort of thing that Galadriel herself might wear on an everyday basis. Instead, it was becoming something a little sturdier, a little warmer... Something that you might wear on a long journey...
At that point, I knew that the pattern had declared itself to be an elven travelling shawl, done up in a golden-sand-and-crystal-blue-seas sort of colorway. The final product is warm and squishy, but also elegant and drapey.
This is the first clue. The knit-a-long group has already made it to the second (again, apologies for my negligence in posting!), so if you want to join in the fun, see the pattern page on Ravelry, here: Shores of Valinor. The full details of the shawl and the knit-a-long are located there. Happy knitting!