Imprint Shawl

I am a Brazilian woman currently living in Sweden but I have traveled to and lived in so many places due to my work. Home, or a place you can call and feel at home, is always something we seek as human beings since the beginning of the times. At the same time our roots and connections that
we make with people along the way also help to shape who we are and our sense of belonging.
When people travel or migrate, they usually need to keep a sense of being the same while living in a different environment. Small objects and pictures can serve as a reminder, or link, to the worlds that we leave behind. Looking at them or touching them can help to bring back to life those memories and create a feeling of being at-home, of belonging, while on the move.
The more I travel, the more I notice how humans around the world always try to make sense of nature - the natural world - and represent it in different ways. One of the ways that grasp my attention the most is the representation of nature using geometrical patterns, and in many cases those patterns are seen repeated throughout different cultures. They might come from different sources of inspiration,
but the effect on the observer is the same, a sense of home, of belonging, of heritage and of history.
In this piece, I tried to represent a pattern that reminds me of indigenous corporal painting in Brazil. The shawl, as it covers the body, imprints the painting and transports me immediately back home. I hope other people can relate with it through their own stories and heritages and feel the same as they wrap themselves into it.
This shawl is knitted in parts, one square at a time. The middle squares are knitted picking up stitches on the two bottom ones. Overall this is a simple meditative knitting piece.
 
Sizes
Single size: 135 x 65 cm (53 x 25.6 inches) not
counting the fringes.
 
Yarn
DK weight (252 yds/230 m/100 g)
C1 - 252 yards/ 230 m (100 g)
C2 - 351 yards/ 320 m (140 g)
 
Yarn Used
Baa Ram Wew Winterburn DK 50% Bluefaced
Leicester, 25% ecru Masham and 25% dark brown
Masham (252 yards/230 m/100 g)
C1 - 1 skein Endeavour
C2 - 2 skeins Viking
 
Suggested Needles
Main Fabric: US 6/4 mm – 32”/80 cm circular
(Use the needle size you need to achieve gauge)
 
Notions
Tapestry needle, picking up stitches, long-tail cast
on, simple stretchy bind-off and attaching fringes
on edges.
 
Gauge
18 sts & 32 rows = 4”/10 cm
Measured over stockinette stitch flat, after
blocking.