A Wedding Shawl, or How Much I Love My Sister

I'm going to take a little step away from my usual topics today to talk about something I did that I am very proud of. My beautiful sister Michelle got married last month in England. My wedding gift to her, other than flying over to be a bridesmaid, was a Wedding Shawl that I made for her. In some traditions, women make a shawl for their wedding day, and then that is what they wrap their first baby in when it is born. The Shawl should be light enough to pass through a wedding ring. These are usually intricate lace shawls, and this was the first one I have ever made. It took five months to make, mostly because I worked on it in bursts. 

I'm really happy that I managed to create this and I hope my sister keeps and loves it. 

This is the finished shawl before it was blocked.

And here it is after it has been blocked. The pattern is called Kiri, and it ended up being nearly six feet wide and about three or four feet deep.




Knitting is a huge source of release and relaxation for me. I love making things for other people, especially my family. I feel like being able to create things and put time into things that are different and unusual gives me an artistic outlet that I wouldn't otherwise get.
I may also have purchased the yarn to make one of these for me, though I believe I may have to wait a month or so before I've gotten over the last one.

From a monetary perspective, knitting lace as a gift is a very inexpensive way to give people a very beautiful gift. The yarn for this shawl cost me about $10. True I put in about 50 or 60 hours of my time, but this is my hobby and I enjoyed the time that I spend doing it. Besides, imagine how much people spend on golf.