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The Story:
As I get older, I get hot very easily and it’s difficult to wear the lovely sweaters I have knitted over the years. I’ve been trying different ideas for a basic shawl to wear when I go into a restaurant or theater—you never know what the temperature will be in public places. I wear a scarf with my coat but don’t want to carry a shawl along as well, so my inspiration for this shawl was to have both in one piece.
Silky Alpaca Lace seemed to be the perfect yarn for project. I’m not very good at knitting with a lace weight yarn, so I used two strands of the yarn held together—PERFECT!!! I wanted a very easy design to work on while traveling in the car or watching TV, but with a little interest. I saw someone in our office using the method in this pattern and decided to swatch it in Silky Alpaca Lace. The yarn, technique and garter stitch give the shawl a very nice drape—it’s lofty when bunched up for the scarf, but can be squished tighter or folded lengthwise to loop around the neck.
I’m really excited about this design because it’s great for a beginner—with a little shaping to move to the next step away from straight scarves. It is also a great project for the experienced knitter who wants to take a break from more elaborate designs.
I’m looking forward to also using this design with CEY’s Alpaca Sox—worked with a single strand of yarn. I think it will be fun to see how the colors work up as the length of rows change.
The Yarns:
Silky Alpaca Lace
70% alpaca, 30% silk
Silky Alpaca Lace is a lace-weight blend of 70% alpaca and 30% silk. The alpaca lends a soft halo to the yarn and provides warmth; silk adds a subtle sheen to the knitting, dressing up the stitches. The yarn’s fine gauge keeps the finished piece light and airy, even when it’s worked with two strands of yarn held together, as in this shawl. Its firm, 2-ply twist is great in stretchy garter stitch. Wear this shawl however you want to, it will always spring back to its original shape.
Silky Alpaca Lace comes in 16 colors: the palette includes soft and sensuous neutrals, rich saturated colors, and a few subtle and misty shades as well.
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The Pattern:
Here is the free downloadable Silky Alpaca Lace Shawl pattern.
If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try these:
page 1, page 2
The Stitches:
Judy’s shawl is a simple garter stitch rectangle. What makes it special is that it’s worked on the diagonal. To begin, cast on three stitches and as you knit, increase one stitch at the beginning of every row until the piece measures the desired width. Then, to maintain the diagonal direction of the stitches, work an increase at the beginning of one row, and a decrease at the beginning of the next row. When your shawl is as long as you’d like it to be, you decrease at the beginning of every row until 3 stitches remain.
The beauty of working a rectangle on the diagonal is that so little planning is involved. Once you know what needle size you want to use, you can begin on 3 stitches and increase until your piece is as wide as you want it to be. So easy!
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