We have all grown up hearing fairy tales of different varieties – some from our parents and grandparents, some in school, some in books and some that have been turned into films. Fairy tales come in many forms, but the one thing they have in common is that they capture our imagination and try to teach us something about life.
I have always been fond of fairy tales, and my favourite versions have never been the happy, bubbly Disney stories, but the darker, older fairy tales where the wicked get their comeuppance. These fairy tales are best told in the evenings in front of a warm fire, while the icy winds howl outside. And couldn’t you just imagine yourself in front of that fire, listening to the fairy tales while knitting?
With that in mind, I decided to design a series of three lace shawls on the theme of Fairy Tales that will be released during the winter months as a KAL (knitalong). I choose three fairy tales from different parts of the world. In the first month, I thought we should visit Russia. The first story is about Marushka (the entire fairy tale can be read here).
Inspired by Marushka’s story, I designed a triangular lace shawl in a pale green colour called Silver Pine that reminds me of frozen pine trees in the deep of winter. The central motif on the shawl shows Marushka’s wispy tracks through the snow, as she’s trudging back and forth between her evil stepsister and the twelve kings. The edging around the shawl alternates between the spring flowers/violets that Marushka was asked to bring, and clusters of wild strawberries. The strawberries are also clustered in such a way that from a distance the clusters look like ripe apples.
The shawl is triangular and knit from side to side. The size is adjustable in the pattern, and the shawl could be knit in either lace weight or fingering weight yarn.
The pattern is available as part of the Winter portion of Seasons of Lace – the Fairy Tale KAL.
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