Sampler shawls have historically served as a living, physical stitch dictionary. Louis and Zélie Shawl accompanies the Lace Theory article in this issue of Cast On. The shawl can be worn, observed … contemplated. Perhaps when chasing off a chill while waiting in a doctor’s office, waiting at a grocery store, waiting for a light to change, or whenever there is a quiet moment, it might be nice to look at the stitch patterns and just notice things.

Zélie Martin was a very skilled French lace maker, so skilled in fact that her husband, Louis Martin, sold his watchmaking business to go into business with her. Louis and Zélie Martin are also the first married couple with children to be canonized together as saints. Their daughter Léonie Martin, who is believed to have been on the autism spectrum, is moving through the canonization process, and their youngest daughter is the “little flower,” St. Thérèse of Lisieux.