If you, like me, have been knitting your way through the pandemic and scouring the knittisphere on social media for ideas day after endless day in this year(s)long weekend, then you already know: I am not Stephen West. Don’t get me wrong: I think I have above average self-esteem, have been described as “fun” and “funny,” and I’m getting better every day with the old yarn and needles, but in no way am I the gregarious, wildly prolific, color-pop of a showman superdesigner that Stephen West is.

And yet, a friend who follows my Instagram but who is not a knitter herself thought I was. She said, “Oh, I thought when you were posting about ‘Stephen West’ that was just your IG pseudonym.” I about died; for one thing, I wish I were that creative! And, for another thing, if I were going to use a pseudonym, I’d do better than to swap out the last three letters of Stephen Weber and replace them with an -st.

But I digress. She was referring to my posts during the #Hiberknitalong2020, during which time thousands of people around the world knitted one of two shawls designed by Stephen, posted about their progress throughout the month of January, admired each other’s work and congratulated each other along the way. Knitalongs (KALs) are not a Westian invention, but I first became aware of them as people I follow on IG were posting about the Mystery Knitalongs Stephen orchestrates, where he’ll release the sections of a pattern piece by piece every week, and the participants have no idea what’s coming or what the final product is meant to look like. Everyone’s posts from the fall Mystery KAL were a lot of fun, and I definitely felt that I was missing out, so I was determined to join his next event (which, fortunately, wasn’t too long after the fall Mystery KAL).

Here I should take a moment to describe for those who don’t knit what it is that’s so “fun” about knitting in general, and about knitting a Westknits project in particular. Folks who don’t knit but who have admired my own work have said, “Oh, that must be so relaxing!” and, of course, it is…..mostly. But there are definitely times when I’m working on something, especially something with a little complexity to it, and I’ll watch as the pattern develops…and I don’t want to stop! It’s exciting to watch the colors and textures unfold and blend together, and there are times when I’ll go to bed after a few hours of knitting and can’t fall asleep because my mind is still racing with the click of the needles and the image of the color and pattern development. I think the best analogy I can make is that several years ago I was a bit of a Candy Crush Saga addict, and when I’d try to go to sleep after playing too long, I’d remain wide awake still seeing the colorful screen in my head. Knitting isn’t that bad, but it must trigger some kind of stimulating chemical release in the brain, and this even more so when the work involves color changes and a variety of stitch patterns.

Westknits designs use ALL the colors and ALL the stitch patterns, and in such playful, surprising ways that so often I just did. not. want. to. stop!

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I’ve made it sound like I’ve knit many Westknits pieces when, in fact, the Hiberknitalong Woven Chevrons Shawl was my first and so far only (but not my last!). I’ve been an admirer of Stephen’s work since I first learned about him when I set up my knitting Instagram account a year ago, but at that point, initially, I thought his pieces were really cool and funky and beautiful and creative, but perhaps a little too “out there” for me. My preferred color palette consists almost entirely of neutrals and earth tones and has been that way for years — colors that allow me to blend in to most surroundings — and, as Westknits fans all know, one of Stephen West’s mottos is “Neon is a Neutral.” I feel comfortable saying that has never been true for me; if you’re wearing a Westknits garment, you want to be seen. So while I wanted the experience of knitting a Westknits piece and joining the #westknitsarethebestknits community, I figured I’d probably make it for someone else whose fashion sense is bolder than mine.

Well…as it happens…after a year of knitting voraciously almost every day, and of looking at hundreds of thousands of beautiful sweaters and socks and shawls and mittens and more from people around the world, I started to think, “Perhaps I would like to stand out a little…” I had decided to do the Hiberknitalong whether I liked the patterns he released or not, so when he made yarn kits available through Stephen & Penelope (the famous local yarn shop in Amsterdam of which he is part owner), and when I saw that one of them was a mix of wintry greens and blue-greens, I was all over it. Yes, the colors fit snugly in my comfort zone of hues, but the design (as I would discover) makes them vibrant, full of movement and life: definitely a more look-at-me! garment than I usually wear. Apparently I was one of the lucky few to snag one of the limited edition kits: when I went on IG to share my excitement about getting one, all I saw were upset people lamenting that they were too late and begging Stephen & Penelope to release more; such is the emotional drama of the knitting life. It didn’t feel right to gloat, so I never did share that I’d scored one of the kits (sharing it now; hopefully the pain has subsided for those unfortunate others). The yarn included in the kit was Mominoki‘s Finnwool line; so soft, super warm and perfect on these freezing cold days when I want to wrap my entire face up during my morning walk.

When he released the two shawl patterns on December 26th — St. Stephen’s Day, wouldn’tcha know… — I knew instantly that I’d be making the Woven Chevrons. The Winter Lights Shawl is also gorgeous (and I might make it another time), but the geometry of the woven chevrons, the dancing optical illusion of the thing — it blew me away. The pattern seemed complex at first, but there’s an aha! moment in every pattern where suddenly the logic of the thing makes perfect sense and you can pretty much knit the rest without looking. (Well, almost…). I’d say I internalized it just after I was finished with the first section of chevrons, so the rest of the project flowed easily as wave after wave of blue-green V’s descended from the needles. It was heavenly.

And now it’s done, which is great because I LOVE WEARING IT and I wear it everywhere (so much for being “out there”…), and I’ve already gotten many compliments around town. But it’s also a bit sad because I enjoyed working on it so much that I kind of didn’t want it to end. I suppose that’s the genius of a brilliant design.

So. While I am not Stephen West, I do now know that I enjoy knitting and wearing Stephen West garments, and I also know that by doing so I might be an even more vivacious Stephen Weber (but I’m still not Steven Weber from Wings; no amount of knitting will change that.)

If you’d like more information about Stephen West’s designs, follow him on IG @westknits and Ravelry, check out his wildly entertaining YouTube channel, and be sure to check out his store, Stephen & Penelope. Also, you can purchase the Woven Chevrons Shawl pattern on Ravelry and Gumroad.com.

Follow Mominoki Yarn at @mominokiyarn.

And if you’d like to see more of my own projects, you can follow me on IG @knitphen.

And finally, just because, here’s my favorite Westknits video. Makes me laugh every time (#BOOMyerinparis).

*All photos of Stephen West shared with his permission. Cover photo credit: Darren Smith, IG: @dsmithstudo