Titania’s Shawl for Mom’s Birthday

Flipping through the Summer 2017 edition of Interweave Knits magazine, I spotted the lacy Titania’s Shawl by Susanna Ic. I had not knit anything from Interweave in quite some time, and I was intrigued by this shawl, envisioning it would make an elegant new piece for my mom’s ever growing knit wardrobe.

The pattern calls for Hand Maiden Fine Yarn Lace Silk, and yes, it is 100% silk. Only one skein is needed, and in fact I had a quarter-skein or so left over. Given the pattern name, Ic was clearly inspired by the Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night’s Dream when creating Titania’s Shawl. For those unfamiliar with the play, the character Titania is queen of the fairies, and undoubtedly her regal refinement heavily influenced the shawl’s design. (We’ll not focus on the fact that Titania is humiliatingly made to fall in love with a donkey…) Ic could have named her shawl after any Shakespearean work, but it just so happens that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of my all-time favorite plays, so I quickly showed the shawl to my mom to see what she thought. As expected, she loved it!

After winding the skein of silk for what felt like an eternity, I set to work on the shawl. The pattern also calls for beads, so after discussing with my mom we chose pearl Rocailles seed beads by Miyuki of Japan, which I purchased from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads. The pearl beads complement the shawl’s elegance while also weighing down the bottom section. In my humble opinion all lace shawls should be weighed down with beads, and Ic clearly knows her stuff. This method of beading uses a teeny crochet hook to insert the beads into the work as you knit along. Below is a video I made for Instagram demonstrating this process. (I apologize for the graininess.)

Working on this project gave me the perfect opportunity to break in my new Blue Moon trundle bag from Madder Root. The quality of this bag cannot be beat.

After much tedious yet satisfying lace and bead work, she’s done! For knitting, blocking isn’t always a must, but with lace it is an absolute necessity. Blocking spreads and sets the lace, which would otherwise appear as above–a jumbled mess.

Look! My bashful mom modeled her birthday shawl for me and even let me take a picture. If there’s anyone who can pull off an elegant silk shawl with distressed jeans, it’s my mom. She couldn’t do ugly if she tried.

Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you!!!

ABOUT AUTHOR Jamie Hoffman

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