Spiral Shawl

I started this shawl in June, 2003, shortly before AIDS Lifecycle 2.

I had just finished my travel shawl, a blue silk shawl handspun on a drop spindle as I roamed around Southeast Asia on a quasi-pilgrimage, letting go of my past life and considering what came next. I knitted the travel shawl in a counterclockwise spiral as I wandered–which, in Wicca, means letting go, undoing.

On my return, I needed a new project, so I decided to make a companion piece–a clockwise spiral that would help build my new life, the things I most valued.

So, I began the spiral shawl.

Pattern Credits:

Earth: “Drooping Elm Leaf”, from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Air: “Quatrefoil Eyelets”, ibid
Fire: “Chinese Lace”, from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Water: Adapted from Suzanne Lewis’s Knitting Lace
Light: plain stockinette stitch
Darkness: “Starlight Lace”, from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns

“Right Action” and “Compassion” are original to the author, as is the overall shawl design.
Shawl design, images, and text all © Tien Chiu, 2004.