Knitworthy///Shawl for my Mom

Earlier this year, when I was really starting to enjoy knitting and wanting to plan ahead for a few projects, I had the idea to make my mom something for her 70th birthday. Now, I get asked a lot, “Oh could you make me…” or “Could you teach me to make…” and the answer is usually “no.”

Not because I’m a selfish, crotchety person, or not mainly because of that, but because very few are actually worthy of receiving handmade gifts. Making hand made clothes takes so much time and energy and then it needs to be taken care of once you give it away. So please know, the few that get handmade gifts from me are absolutely what I would call knitworthy and no one more so than my own mom.

My mom doesn’t knit but she does needlepoint and she’s been around me knitting enough to appreciate the time that goes into doing a craft beautifully. I wasn’t quite ready to knit a sweater for another human being yet, it feels like there’s a lot that could go wrong there?, but I thought a shawl might be the way to go.

Now, maybe you hear shawl and picture a little white haired lady with lace moon shaped garment draped over her shoulders. No shade to that lady, but shawls can be a whole lot more than that. I decided to go with the Find Your Fade Shawl by Andrea Mowry. I loved how this pattern plays with color and how it’s almost the size of a blanket. You can wear it draped over your shoulders, wrapped around like a scarf, or cozy up with it on a couch. I could just picture my mom bringing this along with her to the opera in Santa Fe and went in search of yarn.

I am still a little intimidated buying yarn, especially online, and was nervous about getting the color choices right. I searched kits for this shawl and found some gorgeous options over at Miss Bab’s. I settled on a blue, periwinkle set and absolutely love how this turned out. I loved working with the kit because you know the colors play nicely together but you can still experiment with placement and the fade itself.

As for knitting, this shawl was not difficult but the size did get a little intimidating. I was working on a deadline with my mom’s birthday coming up and I did get a little stressed that I wouldn’t make it! I love that there are plain garter sections to just mindlessly get lost in and then a fun lace section that was easy to memorize by about the third go around. It’s got me thinking having a shawl or a blanket to slowly work on all the time might be a nice idea in the future.

In the end, actually giving it to my mom was the best part. She immediately understood the love and care that went into every stitch and it looks fantastic on her! I hope she wraps herself up in it for years and celebrations to come!