Mommy, I Want My Own Shawl

My eldest has been begging for a shawl of her own for a very long time. I understand...I really do! After all, by the time I was 10 I was obsessed with them myself - and I didn't have a mother who knitted mountains of the frothy things. You could say my obsession was part of what drove me to my job at the historic site, where I got to wear shawls to my heart's content.

And so, when I cleaned out my shawl drawer, I set this red and purple creation aside to give to the Princess. It's one of my less-successful attempts, and in all honesty I think I wore it only once. In theory, it was a lovely idea - triangular in back with extra shaping to provide square front pieces for a better fit. The yarn was a gorgeous hand-dyed mohair that I fell head over heels for...until I began working with it and discovered what an expensive nightmare it was. It went into the bottom of the drawer, coming out periodically only to find that my feelings toward it were not changing.

My Princess, of course, doesn't have a negative history with this shawl. When I gave it to her, her eyes grew big and she squealed in delight. She almost couldn't believe that this was going to be her very own shawl, and she fell in love right away.

And she's been wearing it every since.

I see a lifetime of shawl knitting in her future as well.