A Shawl Of A New Shape

Since going home to NYC for Vogue Knitting Live in January and then again in April to visit friends and celebrate my birthday, well, I have had my inspiration by architecture reignited. Walking around the city streets I often found myself looking up in wonder and awe of structure and design elements. It got me thinking about my crochet design work and it inspired me to present a collection called The Shapes of Things and it will feature Shawls Of A New Shape for 2018. I was so inspired, I have been working on this since those trips!

Inspired by that Urban Landscape and NYC heart, this collection takes a path way beyond the traditional triangle shawl. I have taken twists and turns in construction and shape as well as materials, color work and texture and am so excited to bring these to you. I hope you enjoy this preview of the collection which will be released in full for FW18/19.

Each Shawl has a story. A color story. A shape story. A stitch story. Each Shawl is designed to tell your story as much as the inspiration for the Shawl itself. You can personalize by color and styling making every piece your very own and none the same.

The Flatiron Shawl is inspired by the famous Flatiron Building. When I was in NYC in January, some fellow bloggers and I hosted a fiber gathering at the Flatiron Hall and that night, walking back to the airbnb from the event, a few of us found ourselves standing on the street looking at the Flatiron Building in awe and gratitude for that moment. For me, I felt so inspired by the company, by the city and by the building. It was what ignited me to do a collection of shawl shapes so I am thrilled to share this one with you first.

It is designed to tell both a color and texture story. I love the way the windows sort of pop from the Flatiron Building if you stand at just the right spot. I designed the shawl to have 2 sections of texture representing that window pop. The color story is the story of the building. Rich in history and ever changing while still remaining the same. Ah the Flatiron Shawl. Already a fave.

The Serenity Shawl is one of the most incredible things I have ever made. It is named for that sweet serene feeling being in NYC gives me. It is made in shades of purple to honor my grandmother who loved purple and loved NYC as much as me. She was a real dame. I selected Manos Del Uruguay Milo fiber for this design also in her honor because their fiber is as magical as she was. It is a luxurious beautiful merino & linen blend rich in color.

The design itself was inspired by the Chrysler Building. I recall walking by it and looking up when I was a kid and thinking it was like a castle. I wondered who lived there and if they knew how beautiful it was. As I got older I realized the design itself was the masterpiece and no one lived there but I grew more in awe of the structure and design. The shape of the Serenity Shawl pays tribute to that perfect peak and the color story tells the architectural story of the building. Such Serenity.

The West Fourth Scarf is named for the amazing West 4th Street, NYC. Yup! Listen, it is a magical street. It somehow intersects with West 10th, 11th AND 12th Streets. It is because Grenwhich Village was exempt from adopting the strict grid structure of the rest of the city and so it remains a wacky awesome place of alleys and cobblestone streets and narrow roads. Look at a map of Greenwhich Village, NYC and see how amazing it is. That map and those streets inspired this scarf!

The West Fourth Scarf stitch pattern is designed to take you on an unexpected journey, much like the streets of Greenwhich Village and it's shape is as unexpected as those streets allowing it to be both a shawl and a scarf! I chose the new ZZ Twist yarn from Lion Brand for this piece because much like the streets of Greenwhich Village, the fiber is spun different than most giving it a unique style of its own. It is surprising and deceptive to touch because of the way it is spun it feels like it could be silk blend but really it is 100% acrylic. It was the most perfect fiber to tell the story of the West Fourth Scarf and I love how it worked up.

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The Amsterdam Crochet Your Fade Shawl is really such a special part of this collection, and a fun coincidence (or serendipitous happenstance) in its name. The shape of this shawl comes from the design of crochet on the bias and it is inspired by Tenth Avenue, NYC which is ALSO Amsterdam Avenue. Yup. Though the street does not break and runs continuous, it randomly and seamlessly changes names from Tenth Avenue to Amsterdam Avenue right around Columbus Circle. I am sure there is some city planning purpose for this, but as a design element it sparked me thinking about a crochet fade shawl on the bias. Subtle changes in shape you will miss until it just happens.

In an almost serendipitous occasion, the color story for this shawl is in the hand dyed yarn. Dyed by a woman in Amsterdam (see the serendipity?) I purchased it from Stephen & Penelope at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC in January and KNEW it would become the focal point of this collection when I bought it. The drape of this shawl makes me think of cool NYC evenings where things and leaves just all fall into place. Such perfection. And as original as any New Yorker, none of these shawls will be the same ever because of the nature of both the pattern and the materials. It truly is something one of a kind and so very special.

I hope that you have enjoyed this preview and are as excited for the new collection as me. I am enjoying every stitch and every step of the process to bring this together. It will be so special.

I will come back and update this page when they are launched and add links to each as well as the rest of the collection. These will all be truly one of a kind wearable works of art that tell a story. Make them your own to tell your story too!