The Helen Stornaway shawl has that gentle curve along the top edge that helps a shawl stay in place on the shoulders. The pattern is designed for Wollmeise Pure and it can be knitted with or without beads (for a bit of sparkle).

This design is named for Helen Stornaway, the heroine of the Georgette Heyer novel The Tollgate. A strong and courageous woman in difficult times, she would wear a striking shawl like this.

The shawl has two lace options - either a short section of plain knitting followed by a deep section of lace, or a longer portion of stocking stitch and a shallower lace section. A beaded deep lace version in Campari Piccolo is shown here.

Helen is based on one of gannet’s secret code stitch patterns called Winter. Her approach to designing is fascinating and her unusual lace stitch patterns are very interesting to explore and adapt.

Helen starts with a garter tab cast on and uses single and double yarnovers, single and double decreases and 1/1 cables. Links to tutorials on cabling without a cable needle are provided. The optional beads are added during the knitting.

The pattern is fully charted and also has line-by-line written instructions and stitch counts for every row.

A yarn with good stitch definition is recommended, to make the small cables and decreases show up clearly. Solids and slightly tonal colourways are recommended - variegated yarn is not recommended. Size 6/0 beads are a good choice for this shawl.

Helen benefited greatly from the input of several excellent test knitters: KateB660, Frau12Emma, DianeSta, katisha, Fenlinka, Kiki1306, Canberra, Jani22 and Carmen73.