Shawl week interview #4: Dawn Catanzaro

Our own Dawn Catanzaro takes us into the idea behind her new shawl, Pagoda:

Tern is one of my very favorite yarns. I love the versatility of fingering weight wool, and with added silk, this yarn is soft and strong, light and lustrous. It has drape, and that's what I wanted in Pagoda. Tern plays equally well in cables and lace, but here I chose to go simple, with my favorite basic stitch pattern—garter stitch.

Garter stitch can tend to spring back up on itself, making a nice, cushy fabric, but here I wanted mine loose and relaxed, to see every stitch between the garter ridges. I went all the way up to a size US 8 needle for this one, and Tern did not let me down. The eyelets travel away from the center for a time, bending the line of the garter stitch, then snapping back in line to begin traveling all over again. This creates a feeling of movement that feels like air currents to me, or little crests on a choppy sea.

I wanted Pagoda to be light and easy to wear. I love the simplicity of the basic triangular shawl, but I don't like how they fit. Too much fabric in the back, tricky to keep on the shoulders, that pesky tail pointing right to the tush. I wanted my shawl to have long wings that would keep in place, no matter how delicately placed on the shoulders. I wanted a shallower (and not pointy!) back with some striking detail. I wanted Pagoda to be as easy a hug, and that's what I got.

Tomorrow, Veera Valimaki lets us in on her process in designing her Crescent Cables shawl.