Warmth

I'm not really a shawl- or wrap-wearing person, but I've lately found myself drawn to knitting them. My Ravelry queue has been full of them lately, and over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I started knitting Seraphine, which is a beautiful thick cabled wrap. (Indeed, I've always kind of been a sucker for cables - the charts just seem to fly by. I'm also a sucker for anything related to Brooklyn Tweed.)

Why make them if I don't necessarily plan to use them? I don't know. Sometimes I think to myself, "Well, I just don't HAVE one. If I had a shawl, I'd wear it." But I do have a couple now that I've knit, and I don't use them. In fact, I've given some away.

In fact, I've made a lot of things that I've ended up giving away. I think I mostly made them just because I COULD.

But there's something irresistible about something you can drape around your shoulders to keep yourself warm. Not a sweater, which is so dependent on size and fit and what's in fashion, but a timeless, classic piece whose sole purpose is to make you feel comforted and warm.

Yes. Shawls.