I have really, really struggled to find the motivation or time to work on my shawl this week. It’s not that I don’t want to, but there always seems to be something more pressing on my plate, and when I finally do have the time for something other than writing lesson plans, I generally want to work on something that gives me a sense of instant gratification because I already know how to do it without thinking.

So, my learning goal for this week is to “keep working on shawl, improving fluidity and troubleshooting as problems come up, explore the history and origins of mosaic knitting through online research.”

Now, I’ll just be upfront with you right now: I haven’t touched my shawl since the last blog post I made. But fortuitously, part of my learning goal this week is to look more deeply into some background about mosaic knitting!

I remember adding this in to my learning plan way back at the beginning of the semester because I find having some background into where and how certain textile techniques originate from is really interesting and can sometimes make me more motivated to work on a project.

For example, when I read about traditional Aran sweaters, I wanted to make one. Same thing happened after reading a book about Fair Isle knitting techniques.

So, let the research begin!

The first thing I found out about mosaic knitting is that it is a relatively new knitting technique as compared to other forms of colour work. Although it likely existed in some for before the 1960’s, it wasn’t until then that someone named the technique, taking credit for its invention.

That person was Barbara G. Walker, a knitter, journalist and author devoted to feminism and writing about the occult.

Yep. The person who claims to have invented mosaic knitting spent most of her life writing and researching topics such as the occult, mythology, spirituality and neo-pagan feminism. Pretty interesting!

In fact, she claims that when she was first taught to knit as a child she didn’t take to it at all. Despite that, she ended up inventing some of the previous centuries most inventive knitting practices, such as knitting garments from the top down as opposed to bottom up.

Reading about Barbara did actually make me feel a little bit better about my knitting block. If she didn’t take to knitting at first, maybe my inability to get the hang of her technique right away isn’t such a bad sign!

Here’s to hoping…