My mom has always been very crafty.
She claims to have inherited it from my grandfather. He was one of those guys who had Depression-era ingenuity. Got a broken grass catcher on a lawnmower ? Fix it with suspenders, of course (OF COURSE!)
When I was a little kid my mom made almost all of the clothes my 2 brothers and I wore. She made matching outfits for my middle brother and I to visit her in the hospital after the birth of my baby brother. They were smocked. To this day, I still have no idea how she pulled that off. Moms are superheroes, y’all.
So I come by the crafting bug very honestly, and somewhat stereotypically….
It was back in 2006 (maybe?) and I had just gone through a pretty traumatic breakup. I’ll spare you the details, but I was in my early 20s at the time so it felt quite traumatic. My mom was trying to suggest all kinds of things to distract me and the one that clicked was knitting.
It was quiet, slow-paced and I could do it while I watched TV. (This was before the advent of Netflix binges, so I think I mostly watched stuff I TiVo’d) I fell in love immediately even though I was HORRIBLE! Oh, the number of uneven scarves I made! I think it took me ages to realize that the reason my scarves were curling inwards was because I was only knitting in stockinette. I look back on my early projects and the perfectionist in me sighs and shakes her head. I was learning to knit during the boom of knitting blogs – so there were lots of great resources.
So in a short amount of time, knitting became my thing. I amassed a huge yarn stash. I went to fiber festivals. I made so many wonderful internet knitting friends. I joined ravelry. I got into photography (though I’m still terrible at it). I got better with each project.
It’s taken me 10+ years though to figure out what I really like to knit. I’ve found through the years that I crave a good project with texture. Lace isn’t really my thing (though I love a good scrunchy, worsted-weight lace-work shawl). I love the idea of sweaters but I’m too impatient generally to execute them. I really love a cozy, textured shawl. I feel like I’m taking a cue from those women who can instantly transform an outfit from simple to classic just by throwing on a shawl.
I was on a quest for something like this recently and I stumbled upon Onward by Shannon Cook.
I’ve been an admirer of Shannon’s work for a while, but somehow had never taken on one of her patterns. I love her aesthetic – it’s clean, cozy and classic. Her designs feel to me like ones that future generations of EmOs could wear with ease.
Onward is a lovely triangle-shaped shawl, worked from the top, outwards. It’s not quite Netflix binge-watching knitting, because I find I need to pay attention to my counting, but I like how each block builds on the previous block. The instructions are not charted and I know some people have strong feelings about this. I quite like it, because I feel like those who might not be accustomed to reading charts would have no problem picking up this knit.
The yarn is Quince & Co Lark. And, wow, I had forgotten how delicious this yarn is! It’s springy and soft while being 100% wool. The colorway I chose is this palest of spring sunset pinks, called petal. I chose it because it felt like a great neutral pink. I could also see this as a perfect color for a sweet baby blanket.
As you can see, I get great pop and stitch definition with Lark.
I can’t wait to see this knitted up. Luckily, since it is worsted weight, I shouldn’t have to wait too long!
Sandpiper 
Published by