Following on from my post about our Laverton shawl pattern, I thought it'd be worth talking about how to wear shawls as it's something that comes up often.
How do you wear a shawl?
I see lots of people saying “I love making shawls but I never wear them”, and technically I could say the same. That is, I rarely wear shawls in a shawl-y way. You know - around the shoulders and pinned at the front. Occasionally if the back of my neck or shoulders are cold I’ll wear a shawl like a shawl, but I generally wear them as scarves, and if we’re talking about that then I can say that I wear them absolutely loads. Before I started knitting I used to wear those woven scarves that you get from places like Shared Earth. I still have them, but my point is that I used to wear them as an accessory through summer, then I’d swap to proper wool scarves in winter. Now it’s my hand knit shawls. I wear light silky ones as accessories in summer, and warmer ones in winter. They’re as much an accessory as a warmth-bringer for me.
So… here’s Laverton worn as a traditional shawl:
You can wear it like that but with one end flicked over the shoulder:
Or with both ends flicked over the shoulder:
But.. here’s how I would normally wear it:
How do you put it on like that? Well you hold the centre in front of you..
Bring the ends behind your head and cross them over..
Then bring them back to the front like so…
Another way I sometimes like to wear shawls is how I’ve seen them being worn in period dramas (I think Lark Rise To Candleford had lots like this in) - that’s with it as a traditional shawl, but then you cross the ends at the front and tie them at the back like an apron. This means you get the warm shoulders but the shawl stays in place. It’s definitely not a flattering look on me, but sometimes practicality has to win!
I'm sure there are many other ways to wear a shawl that are more stylish than I can manage! Do you have any?