The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war. It represents a common or field poppy.

In 2014 the artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper used 888,246 ceramic poppies in their major art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London. The poppies (one for each fallen soldier in WWI) encircled the iconic landmark, creating not only a spectacular display visible from all around the Tower but also a location for personal reflection. The scale of the installation was intended to reflect the magnitude of such an important centenary and create a powerful visual commemoration.

I had the good fortune to be in London at the time and naturally I went to “see the poppies”. The sight was really overwhelming.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-storie...

I have always loved poppies. The cultivated ones in the gardens, the field poppies, poppies in paintings like the famous works created by artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and the small poppy pins that many people wear around Remembrance Day.

It doesn’t matter whether you have fond memories for a lost one, you simply like poppies or the design of this shawl, Remembrance can serve all these purposes. To create your own Remembrance shawl you will need three contrasting yarns of the same weight. Yarn A for the poppies and Yarns B + C for the meadow or field. If you use yarns with color gradients, you can use two balls of the same gradient for the meadow. Just make sure to start at a different point of the gradient so the different modules can be distinguished.

Remembrance can be knitted with almost any yarn: solids, semi solids, dip dyed yarns, and color gradients. The two versions presented here were knitted with fingering yarn but you can use other yarn weights. The widest part runs over 69 stitches and the narrowest part over 52 stitches.

The amount of yarn will depend on the length of your shawl. For the Schoppel Version (length / width) I used two balls of Zauberball Evergreen (Yarn B: 395y/360m - Yarn C: 300y/280m) and one skein of Wool Finest Ultra Rot (Yarn A: 175y/160m).

Remembrance is fully reversible. Although it is a modular knit there is no seaming involved as you will join all the modules as you go. All instructions are written AND charted, enriched with ample photo tutorials on the techniques of shaping and joining the modules. This makes Remembrance a doable project for most knitters.

If you would like to knit Remembrance at some point in the future, don’t hesitate to get your pattern now as this weekend (9th and 10th of November) it is on sale for 25% off the original price of $5.99 – no coupon code required. So grab it while you can!!!

Happy Knitting!
Ursa Major