The Purrfect Yarn

Shawl Four: Sister Joan by Sivia Harding

When I first began my Thoughtful Shawl Project, I immediately earmarked my Sister Joan as belonging to the 'to keep' pile. I expected to give it another blocking to make the edges nice and crisp, but other than that, this shawl was good to go. However, things change.

I remember knitting this shawl, endless nights in front of the TV watching Rob playing video games, this shawl has seen monsters, zombies and explosions. How many pieces of knitting can say that?

I remember the slow, meditative process of beading this shawl. The clear beads shining like raindrops against the gently tonal greens of Malabrigo Sock.

And most of all, I remember how much I loved making this shawl. From reading the sweet story about it's naming and conception, to picking the yarn out at my LYS. From sliding endless clear beads through my fingers to knitting every single stitch.

I knew this shawl was special.

So, when I began giving away shawls and seeing the joy in their faces as I gifted them something handmade and loved. I knew, that although I still loved this shawl, there was someone who would love it more. Someone who would wear it more. And mostly, someone who deserved it more.

Karen has been my friend for a long time now, she's supported me through a lot. The usual grown up worries, relationships, money, job, illness. She's one of the strongest women I know, and a constant inspiration to me. Plus, she appreciates the finer things in life like custard and RuPaul's Drag Race.

So, it took very little convincing for me to realise that Sister Joan was destined for her. Just like its namesake, Karen is kind, generous and considerate, and most definitely knitworthy!

So, I parcelled up Sister Joan and set it off on a new adventure to live with Karen. I knew from the absolute gleeful response I got to the gift that I'd done the right thing. No matter how much I loved the shawl, the yarn, the beads - Sister Joan never really belonged to me. I was just looking after it until the right person came along!

....and then cast on another one ;)

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.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Look until the leaves turn red, sew the worlds up with thread. If your journey's left undone, fear the rising of the sun.”

Honestly, this is a difficult book for me to review. I've seen this popping up here and there on Goodreads and I added it to my mental to read queue almost immediately. So, I feel like perhaps I went into this with too high expectations, and that ended as it usually does, with disappointment.

My main issue with this book was the lead character Alice. She was so spiky, rude and self-centered that is made her difficult to emphasise with, or even to become fully absorbed into her story. I'm not always immediately against a difficult character, I think when they are skillfully written you can still form an emotional connection to them. In some ways, flaws can make a character more rounded and easier to relate to. I didn't find this with Alice, because her mean spirit would just peak at random moments with little provocation. This just led me unable to connect with her, and confused at her reactions often.

I particularly found her treatment of Finch uncomfortable, the constant reminders of how ugly and annoying she found him was jarring to me, particularly as he was so instrumental in helping Alice to reach her goal. I found her lack of gratitude, or even ability to treat him as an equal human being was difficult to swallow.

That being said, there were moments of this book I really enjoyed. The snippets of Tales From the Hinterlands were beautifully written, as every bit as magical and dark as the original Grimm fairytales. I also loved the descriptive prose Melissa Albert used to paint scenery, she made it incredibly easy for me to imagine her magical forests and the weird and often vicious characters that inhabit them.

In reflection I feel the book would have scored much higher for me, possibly even 5 stars , had Alice not read so self-absorbed, rude and unlikeable.

It actually makes me sad to only give this book 3 stars, as I feel Melissa Albert's beautiful writing style deserves more than that, but the unevenness of Alice means I can't score it any higher sadly.

View all my reviews