Shawl Two: Holden by Mindy Wilkes
Back in 2013, I was a very inexperienced knitter. I'd learned to knit as a child. My grandma taught me how to knit and purl, while I stayed with her for two hours every morning during the Summer holidays while my mum was at work. But it was in 2013, while quitting smoking and looking for something to do with my hands that I really got back into the hobby. And then, as it does, the hobby became a lifestyle. I became not just a knitter, but a Knitter.
I'd stuck mostly to Hobbycraft's meagre selection of acrylic mix and luxury Rowan when I could afford it, but I'd been hearing whisperings of beautiful yarn dyed by people. Not companies, but people. In their kitchens, sheds or home workrooms. Soft, delicate and hand-painted yarn, yarn full of love. I headed to Etsy to browse around and soon found RosiesMoments. I browsed her webstore with wide eyes and an itchy trigger finger, desperate to get my hands on some of the most beautiful yarn I had ever seen.
I fell hard for the soft, pastel, sweetshop colours of Sugar Candy and sent it packing on its way home to me. When the yarn arrived, I fondled the skein for weeks, desperate to find a pattern that truly deserved to be knitted with a thing of such beauty.
I had a few stumbles with lacy shawls, that were far too advanced for a beginner like me, before finding Mindy Wilkes' lovely Holden. The whole shawl took me just four days to complete, it was both my first indie skein of yarn and my first shawl. If only I'd known then what I know now, that it would open a new world to me. A world where I ended up dyeing my own yarn, and being the owner of more beautiful shawls than I knew what to do with (hence this project!).
I'd stuck mostly to Hobbycraft's meagre selection of acrylic mix and luxury Rowan when I could afford it, but I'd been hearing whisperings of beautiful yarn dyed by people. Not companies, but people. In their kitchens, sheds or home workrooms. Soft, delicate and hand-painted yarn, yarn full of love. I headed to Etsy to browse around and soon found RosiesMoments. I browsed her webstore with wide eyes and an itchy trigger finger, desperate to get my hands on some of the most beautiful yarn I had ever seen.
I fell hard for the soft, pastel, sweetshop colours of Sugar Candy and sent it packing on its way home to me. When the yarn arrived, I fondled the skein for weeks, desperate to find a pattern that truly deserved to be knitted with a thing of such beauty.
I had a few stumbles with lacy shawls, that were far too advanced for a beginner like me, before finding Mindy Wilkes' lovely Holden. The whole shawl took me just four days to complete, it was both my first indie skein of yarn and my first shawl. If only I'd known then what I know now, that it would open a new world to me. A world where I ended up dyeing my own yarn, and being the owner of more beautiful shawls than I knew what to do with (hence this project!).
When I look at my Sugar Candy shawl now, I see multiple flaws. The picot edging is a mess. I dropped and picked up stitches most inexpertly all over the place and my tension is wonky - to say the least.
But I know I will never have the heart to gift or frog this shawl. It will stay with me as a reminded of what it started for me. Because this shawl was a key to a brand new world for me. And that's why I will keep it, and I will wear it. Wonky edging and all.
What is the Thoughtful Shawl Project?
I saw a post by Jennie of tinypaperfoxes about her 39 shawls project, it sparked something inside of me.
Like Jennie, I have an absolute wealth of shawls, but wear the same ones regularly which means that I own unloved, neglected shawls, just like Jennie.
The Thoughtful Shawl Project is my journey to reassess and explore my shawl collection and decide whether to frog, donate or keep.
You can read the whole post about the project here: The Thoughtful Shawl Project or you can browse the other blog posts about shawls here: Previous Thoughtful Shawl Project Posts.
There’s always something special about your first, isn’t there! I was thinking about my first last night while casting in my ‘Morning Pages’ if only I’d known about the addiction to shawls that I was going to develop! Also, love the name of this one, for obvious reasons. x
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