One Year Anniversary Shawl

Last year at Stitches West, I met a woman named V. while I was bent over a discount bin looking for a good deal. There was good stuff in that bin: Manos del Uruguay, Classic Elite Yarns, Juniper Moon Farms, Louisa Harding, etc. I fished out a ball of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Laceweight yarn in color 2458. Exactly my colors - rich purple, deep cabernet and blue tinted lavender. She immediately commented on how those were her colors and that she knit the Aeolian Shawl out of just one skein. I remembered seeing that shawl pattern on Knitty.com but I wasn't sure it was something I would want to knit it at that point. I was looking for yarn to knit the Wispy Cardigan or the Featherweight Cardigan, both designs by Hannah Fettig. We bonded over purple and I decided to pursue the connection by asking her name.

"V----" she replied.

I tried to imitate the very foreign-sounding name and followed it up with, "Where does that name come from?"

"Oh, it's Estonian," she said it as if she'd said those words a thousand times.

"ESTONIAN? You're ESTONIAN?" I nearly shouted.

Now, you know I love Nancy Bush. And you know I love Estonian knitting don't you? And you know Nancy Bush loves Estonian knitting and Estonia altogether, right? (Watch this video if you want to hear Nancy talk about her love of Estonia.) What are the odds I would meet a real Estonian person in my lifetime? Well, she had no accent but she was still very much Estonian. Now, I was really interested in her

"Where do you live?" I asked. I confess I was hoping she would live somewhere on the Peninsula so that we might get together for knit nights now and then. But that was asking too much.

"Pacifica, how about you?"

I've been to Stitches 3 times already but this is the only time I ever met anyone who lived right in my town! She was excited when I told her where in Pacifica I lived. We talked about the knitting groups that already met in our tiny town and agreed they didn't quite fit our style for one reason or another. When I brought up knitting together just the two of us, she was game.

So we met. First at a cafe in town, then at the wine bar, then at her house, then mine. Finally, we settled on Tuesday's at her house since her husband goes golfing and doesn't get home until very  late. We eat dinner, drink wine, savor fancy chocolates, chat and commiserate a whole lot about our knitting. We are two peas in a pod. Truly.

This brings me to the whole reason I am writing this post.

This year is our one year anniversary of having met. We have been knitting every Tuesday night ever since Stitches West 2013. When we got to Alana Dakos' booth (NeverNotKnitting) at Stitches West this year, we decided to both purchase the Cedar Leaf Shawlette pattern and knit it up in the same yarn to commemorate our anniversary. We both tried it on and it looked equally gorgeous on the both of us. We are so lucky to have found a gorgeous yarn to show off the pattern - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK in the colorway Romi's Garden. The picture in that link does NOT do the color justice. It is equally stunning indoors as well as out. We have yet to find a time when we can take a walk by the ocean to show off our matching shawlettes. As soon as we do, I'll post a picture.

Here's a link to my project page.