Imposter Shawl for Clementine

I knitted myself two shawls last year (uhhhh not yet blogged, tho see IG here and here for pics), and Clementine, not wanting to be left out of the Shawl Madness, asked me to make her this red shawl that I had started a few summers ago as a practice project. I am a rather recent “shawl convert,” and will even admit to have previously thought them to be somewhat dowdy and weird. Perhaps I am softening with age, perhaps I just came to my senses; nevertheless, after taking the Imposter Shawl class taught by the Fancy Tigresses on Creativebug and finally making one of my own, I think I can now speak to the appeal of the shawl to the knitting crowd. Sizing them correctly (and therefore swatching) is less important as you can simply just knit more if they turn out too small, they make the perfect neck warmer in cold months, it’s a great way to learn new knitting skills and stitches, and they don’t use as much yarn as a sweater.

I enjoy the basket-weave-style pattern in this shawl, and appreciated learning some basic lace and twist knitting skills. After this one (my second), I can now pretty much knit one without looking at the chart. Clementine was pretty happy when I finished it in December, though I can’t say I’ve seen her wearing it much. My kids do seem to appreciate the sentiment of me making (knitting, sewing) things for them, however, they don’t always show it by actually wearing said things.

She’s modeling it here with the Piper Top I made for myself a few years ago that she shamelessly stole from my closet and since made her own.

I think I can safely say that Clementine is currently my silliest child, though she has plenty of competition. This gives me great joy, having grown up in a pack of sisters so silly we would shake the church pew every Sunday morning at church from excessive full-body-giggling.