My niece Emily is a talented artist whose charming artwork is featured on greeting cards, calendars and gift wrap, to name just a few of the things that she does. Emily is inspired by nature and memories of childhood – and the tiny people, animals, houses, birds and animals that are often featured in her work may appear to be simply drawn, but also convey her very unique style and point of view. Thus I chose tiny, simple, exquisite lace patterns for this design that also evoke nature and childhood, and combined them to create a unique knitted accessory. I used the sycamore lace for the cowl neck and the nested lace for the capelet border as reminders of one of my favorite holiday cards that Emily designed, showing a wooded area with tiny birds in every tree. The garland border between the cowl neck and shawl collar is described by Barbara Walker as being perfect for a child’s garment, and the cowl actually looks like a little girl’s dress when it is laid flat.

This capelet is designed to be knit with lace weight yarn, and the lengths of the cowl neck and the capelet body are totally adjustable. It is knit from the bottom up, and to ensure that there is plenty of stretch around the edge you will initially cast on a large number of stitches which will be decreased by half in your first knit row.The capelet in this photo has a diameter of 22” and a circumference of slightly more than 66”. The nested lace body of this capelet is 6 “ in length (7” if you include the garland border) and the cowl neck with the sycamore lace also measures 6” long with a circumference of 20”.

If you have any questions about this pattern, please email me directly here on Ravelry. Happy Knitting!