(Warning this post contains yarn and me going on about designey things. You should click through the images. Just saying)

This project was a tricky.

Firstly making things for Alex is hard. Not only is she one of my dearest friends but shes obscenely talented and so anytime I sit down to make something for her I’m always struck by this huge slap of inadequacy. Shawls are even trickier because while Alex is kind of ethereal (in that ghost of a Norwegian fisherman way) shes also homey and rustic and likely to own a wolf one day that she says is a dog (its not).

So for this project I decided to knit her the shawl that was originally given to the Queen of Sweden by the Estonian people. The yarn is a raw silk that is peppered with these little cotton burs that give the whole thing an amazing texture that looks delicate but not fussed over. This project had all types of issues one being that you cant actually hold the yarn (because youd pull the cotton burs off), the stitchwork is crazy pants, and as you can see in the last picture the yarn is the width of your hair. Despite the fact that this took almost 2 years (this was the second thing I cast on when I moved to NY) I think it turned out wonderfully.

There is a character in 100 Years of Solitude who is told that the last thing she must finish is a beautiful shawl. She tries to put it off and then tries to rush through it but no matter what its finished exactly when it should be. In the end finishing felt like coming home. I couldn’t think of a more fitting piece.