Shawl 4 of 6 in The Wives Shawl Collection

Vera Nabokov

“Vera’s vocation was to be married to Vladimir Nabokov and to be the mother of their son Dmitri. She did everything wives of that era were expected to do, and so much more. She was her husband’s editor, translator, assistant, secretary and typist. She was his chauffeur when he went to hunt butterflies. She carried a gun to protect him and she saved Lolita from burning. She even licked his stamps. No wonder he dedicated his work to her and said he would have been nowhere without her.” - Jane Sullivan

Very little of Vera is known to have survived, she destroyed her letters, she tried to make sure her husband did not attribute anything in print to her. Vera built what we know of Nabokov while she fiercely protected her own anonymity.
We do know she influenced his writings and caught butterflies for herself while Nabokov was writing and researching the science of lepidoptera. She was an amazing linguist and did not waste any words in any of the languages she spoke.
In dangerous times, she was a force to be reckoned with, she escaped both Nazi and Soviet tyranny, and created a new life in America.

This shawl is a nod towards the Blue Butterflies the Nabokovs chased across North America. The scientific theories Vladamir Nabokov created have since been proven as fact. The passion for butterflies crept into several of his stories as well.

The shawl used 350 yds of blue butterfly and 250 yds of the “black” (Alchemy is an amazing dark coloured yarn with hidden hues of other colours laying beneath) were used,