Recently, I started knitting this simple lace shawl. I wanted something easy, with a pattern repeat that I could remember while watching television, or listening to music or an audio book. I also wanted something for summer, so I picked a linen blend yarn. I intended the shawl to be all red in color, as that is what I had in my stash. Somewhere in the course of knitting the shawl, we lost my husband’s cousin to cancer. He was my age, and lived with us, so he was like a brother to me. The family is Albanian, so I found some black yarn in my stash, and made one pattern repeat in black, to signify the colors of the Albanian Flag. The pattern is a feather and fan, reminiscent of the wings of the two headed eagle on the flag. I call the pattern Shprese, which means “hope” in Albanian. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this pattern will be donated to cancer research, in the hopes that one day, this disease that touches every family, will be eradicated.