Alexandra Shawl Pattern

Category:

Knitting

Type:

Accessory

Fit:

Plus-sized, Tall, Petite, Women, Girls

Item:

Shawl

Skill Level:

Intermediate

Basic Skills Necessary:

• Knit
• Purl
• Increase and decrease
• Familiarity with basic lace knitting
• Ability to work from charts or willingness to learn

Pattern Description:

Alexandra is a top-down, triangular lace shawl with great texture and bold design. This shawl was designed specifically for fingering weight, hand dyed yarn, although the design will look lovely knitted up in solid colors as well.

Alexandra is offered as a charted pattern with large, easy-to-read charts and detailed instructions on how to use them. For your convenience, the pattern includes separate charts for two sizes: a full-sized shawl and a smaller shawlette. Please note there is a slight design difference between the two sizes that is pictured on page 2 of the Pattern Notes.

Working with hand-dyed yarn can be challenging when two or more skeins are involved, as there always seems to be a line of demarcation wherever the new skein is added. I don't like alternating skeins but love the uniqueness of hand-dyed yarn, so I decided to incorporate the inherent differences between skeins into the design of the larger shawl size. A contrasting yarn color may also be used for the border on either size.

Because the shawl size requires two skeins of most fingering weight yarns, you can work the body with the first skein and switch to the second skein at the border. What might have looked like a mistake if the skeins were changed elsewhere now looks like an artistic design decision! Please make sure that you use a needle size that will get you fairly close to the gauge listed above in order to ensure you will have sufficient yardage to work the entire body with the first skein.

Whether you choose to go big or go small, I hope you enjoy knitting Alexandra.