Laylock
 
  view basket

Currently browsing: summer

Crescent-Shaped Shawls

shoals shawl

Allow me introduce you to two sisters: Shoals & Shore. They’re crescent-shaped shawls worked from the bottom up; Shoals (as her name implies) is shallow, while Shore is deeper and rounder like a sandy beach. They both begin with a lace border, but Shoals‘ body is smooth stockinette, whereas Shore‘s is an undulating garter stitch.

Crescent Shawls

Shoals + Shore
PDF Patterns + Worksheet

£8.00

Shoals‘ lace looks like waves, and swaying seaweed, and seashells all at once. She’s a dainty little creature who will keep the sun off your shoulders while you relax on the beach with a book. Knit in a vibrant colour like turquoise, she’ll add a flourish to a plain outfit, especially useful if you’re travelling with a limited wardrobe. She could totally pull off white too, though.

shoals shawl

Shore is sand lilies, mermaid’s purses, fishtails, and fins. Being a bit larger, she makes a good cover-up for the beach, tied nonchalantly around your hips or jauntily at your shoulder. She’ll also keep the chill off after your swim.

shore shawl

BONUS!

free short rows knitting class at craftsy.com
But I haven’t even told you the best part yet! The sisters bring with them a CRESCENT SHAWL SHAPING WORKSHEET which shows you the exact formula I used to design them in the first place. All you have to do is decide how rounded you want your shawl to be, fill in the blanks, and follow the pattern.

What does this mean to you?
1. It means that you can design your own crescent-shaped shawls using any stitch pattern you like for the border.
2. It means that you can modify patterns you already own to be shallower or deeper or A DIFFERENT SIZE!
3. It means that you can expand your knitting repertoire to include this intriguing knitting technique.

The worksheet elucidates the technique used in the beautiful Annis Shawl, designed by Susanna IC. I love this technique so much; it’s quite brilliant! If you haven’t tried it before, it works by decreasing at the end of each short row, so essentially the shawl is shaped in two ways. I think this worksheet will be of great value to you, because figuring out how these shawls work is by no means intuitive.

Don’t worry if you’re not good with maths, either. I’ve laid out the worksheet (which is 1 page, with an additional explanatory page) clearly and simply, so all you have to do is fill in the blanks, and perform some basic division. Perhaps you could use an abacus. :)

shoals shawl
See? Life’s a breeze when you have the formula; now I have all this spare time to relax on the beach. :)

shore shawl

many moons

If you’re as fond of visual puns as I am, then you will appreciate how many themes are ripe for a crescent shawl…

How about…
a crescent-shaped shawl for a honeymoon, whether it’s your own, or a friend’s?
a Luna Lovegood shawl to celebrate the final Harry Potter film?
a “cheer up” shawl for a loved one who’s been mooning about?
a shawl inspired by the croissant, for elegant brunches at a café?

Details

Shoals & Shore each have 4 sizes, and both written & charted instructions.

Shoals
Circumference: 140 [168, 196, 252]cm / 55 [66, 77, 99]in
Width at widest point: 21 [23, 25, 29]cm / 8 [9, 10, 11.5]in
Yarn: Sport-weight cotton or cotton blend, approx. 200 [235, 260, 290]m / 220 [260, 285, 320]yds.
Needles: 5mm.
Gauge: 14sts / 22 rows over 10cm / 4in in stocking stitch.

Shore
Circumference: 140 [196, 252, 308]cm / 55 [77, 99, 121] in
Width at widest point: 28 [35, 42, 49]cm / 11 [14, 16.5, 19]in
Yarn: Sport-weight cotton or cotton blend, approx. 240 [310, 350, 370]m / 260 [340, 385, 405]yds.
Needles: 5mm.
Gauge: 14sts / 26 rows over 10cm / 4in in garter stitch.

The sisters are only available as a pair, as they complement each other so well. The best part is that if you don’t like my sizes you can use the worksheet to create your own, so altering any of the shawls to work with other yarn weights and gauges is easy. You can also effortlessly configure Shoals to be more curved, and Shore to be shallower. The possibilities are endless! One thing’s for sure, you’ll be blocking your own shawls in no time…

shore shawl


27th July, 2011  // Balay, Ebooks, Technique // tags: , , , .

Wordless Wednesday

  • 3245 Loading
  • 2
  • »
    Share

shoals

seaside knitting

edging

20th July, 2011  // Balay, Photographs // tags: , , .

Weekending

  • 3585 Loading
  • 6
  • »
    Share

common%20blue

There’s been a profusion of butterflies here over the last few days, all fluttering madly and hardly ever landing during their fleeting lives. This little chap stopped for a drink just long enough that I could snap a few photos. Doesn’t he look like he flew a bit too close to a pot of blue pigment?

cotton
I love being by the Aegean. I love the landscape & the colours & the myths. I like to imagine the coastline without any of the buildings that now clutter it; it must have been even more achingly beautiful back then.

Some things never change though… I bought these skeins of lace-weight cotton at the market for 1.50TL (about 60p or 90¢) each. So cheap! But hand-winding lace-weight is disheartening work; the ball doesn’t get bigger and the skein doesn’t get smaller. The Turkish word for a skein is “çile”, which also means “suffering”. Coincidence? I only wish I looked half as cool and serene as the girls in this painting by Lord Leighton.

Leighton-Winding_the_Skein

The cotton is for a pair of shawls I’ve been working on, inspired by summer & classical literature. I’d say more, but perhaps they should remain a MYSTERY? ;)

lace-weight cotton

10th July, 2011  // Life, Photographs // tags: , , , .
1 2 3

Your Favourites ❤

  • Your favorites will be here.