My little girls are little princesses. When sent upstairs to get dressed in the morning, they choose to don themselves in the most beautiful dresses they can find. They raid the dress up box for scarves and necklaces and anything pink, lacy, and frilly. When the dress up box doesn’t contain just the right accessory, they invade my closet, searching through my silk scarves and handknit shawls. This gave me a great idea for stocking stuffers last Christmas.

One of the girls favorite shawls is this one –

This is the Impasto Shawlette that I made three years ago (Ravelry Project Page here). It is knit in cotton (Unique Sheep Pima Petite) and can be thrown into the wash. It is also long enough for the girls to use it as a wrap to tie their babies on as they run outside to play house in the garden. It was an easy knit and gets more use than any of my fancy, lace shawls that are too delicate for hard use.

I started making mini versions of this shawl just as the morning sickness started to set in. Knitting made my stomach churn, but I kept imagining my girls on Christmas morning with their very own shawls and I kept going. Somedays I would knit only a few stitches. Somedays I would press into it with the determination only a mother’s love can muster. And I did it!

The Princess got a teal mini Impasto:

Ravelry Project Page here. In short, I cast on roughly 2/3s of the original pattern and then just worked out the rest of the pattern from there. It really helped that I had knit it through once as written and knew what the instructions intended.

And The Munchkin got a pink one:

Ravelry Project Page hereI didn’t get around to taking photos until a few weeks ago, so they have already seen some wear. They are beloved handknits. What knitter could ask for a better outcome?