Imagine, for a moment, a set of identical twins separated at birth. They’re reared on opposite sides of the U.S. and, just like in The Parent Trap, they meet years later at camp. Only this is a knitting camp and both are middle-aged and starting to sag a little. What are the chances they would both be working on the same project?
I ponder this question and have to conclude that, these days, with a tool like Ravelry around, the chances are pretty good.
Just a few weeks ago, I discovered that my mother and I had independently begun knitting the same Color Affection shawl pattern. We even started around the same time. Mom is done already (retired, you know). I still have two sections to finish.
In the days before Ravelry, achieving this sort of coincidence would have been a lot more complicated. We would have had to subscribe to the same knitting magazines and bought the same pattern books. Our local knitting shops would have had to independently decide to have samples displayed to tempt us. We would have had to have spies in one another’s households willing to provide specialized fiber-based intel. Now, all we have to do is spend too much time on Ravelry drooling over the “Hot Right Now” section on the “Patterns” page.
I freely admit that, even without Ravelry, the degree of coincidence in my case is a lot less dramatic. We’re not strangers, we both knit and dance, and neither of us will admit to sagging. Plus, the pattern has been very popular lately. Still, I was started by the serendipity of the discovery.
We’re both planning to wear our shawls to Yarnover next month. What fun. When I suggested the idea I thought, for a moment, how smart this idea would be, enabling us to easily spot one another in the crowd.. But then I remembered how popular the pattern has been. Spot one another? In these shawls? Hah! At that convention, we’ll stand out like two penguins on a vacation to the South Pole.
Related articles
- Crescent Moon Shawl (summityarnstudio.wordpress.com)
- Slacker (nellsknitting.wordpress.com)
- Found Rainbows (Old socks – new pics!) (belindafireman.wordpress.com)
All She Wants To Do Is Knit 
But we will be the only two penquins waddling around (loaded down under yarn purchases, of course) arm-in-arm!
Good grief. Did I not just talk about Twins patterns?
Those Twins patterns are darling. I was originally searching for an image of human twins knitting together. Preferably cute old ladies, but found this instead.
[…] Mom and I knitted our own versions of this shawl almost simultaneously this winter. And completely independently. We didn’t consult with each other; there were no household spies reporting our activities. […]