I purchased this pattern when it first came out; I was relatively new to knitting and not ready for it yet. What a joy it was to rediscover it in my library AND know I was more than capable of knitting it!

Seeing this Coeur De Lion shawl pattern a little jazzed up on the La Bien Aimée website propelled me to buy my first two skeins of Merino Singles and to immediately cast on this shawl.

I chose to knit it for a cousin who I currently spending time with on holiday in our corner of the world in l’Ain, near Aix-Les-Bains. I had asked her to tell me which colours she preferred and she gave me four: rose poudré, mordoré, jaune moutarde and bleu nuit. I opted for the last as I often use the other three and it is always enjoyable to step into someone else’ colour universe. I looked up the history of Midnight Blue, or Bleu Nuit and loved the fact it was first linked in France with opera settings. I then searched in Charles Perrault’s Peau d’Ane fairy tale as I was sure there would be an extract on nuit skies and stars. I was in luck. The Night Sky dress description gave me exactly the inspiration I needed:

“Le riche habillement fut fait au jour marqué,
Tel que le Roi s’en était expliqué.
Dans les Cieux où la Nuit a déployé ses voiles,
La Lune est moins pompeuse en sa robe d’argent
Lors même qu’au milieu de son cours diligent
Sa plus vive clarté fait pâlir les étoiles.”

And so I added a sprinkling of glass beads on the last row of the lace hearts just before adding on the lace border. Of course these were supposed to be stars in a midnight sky.

Thank you Nadia and Aimée for giving me so much joy whilst making this shawl.